Buy a bird - now!

If you live in Ohio, and are a birder, you undoubtedly know all about the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II. For six years, ending last season, the Atlas organizers toiled to see that every nook and cranny of the Buckeye State was thoroughly canvassed for nesting birds. Many of the readers of this blog have contributed data towards this effort, yours truly included.

Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II was preceded by the inaugural statewide census, which collected data from 1982-87. That initial effort makes Atlas II all the more important, as we have a three decade old benchmark to compare the current state of affairs. Of course, distilling and publishing the vast reams of data generated by Atlas II requires publication of a book, and I know it'll be cool. But books, they are not inexpensive to make...

That's where your help can work wonders. Buy a bird! The atlas chieftains have cooked up a great scheme to help raise the necessary funds to publish a richly detailed chronicle of the breeding birds of the great state of Ohio.

Every bird species documented as nesting in Ohio during the Atlas's run (2006 - 2011) is up for auction. As that encompasses 195 species, bidders have lots of choices, including this Least Bittern.

No one, amazingly, has yet bid on this gorgeous Prairie Warbler. Opening bids start at $50.00 - chump change for the good that your financial support will do. By successfully bidding on a species, your name will be linked with that species as a sponsor, and perhaps more importantly you'll be helping to enable publication of the Atlas book. Throw down on this Prairie Warbler RIGHT HERE!

Perhaps not surprisingly this showy Summer Tanager has sparked a minor bidding war. Four bidders have run its price up to $250.00, thus far. One up all of them - do I hear $300.00?

I was astonished to see that no one had thrown down cash for the Savannah Sparrow. I changed that - it's mine so far, with an opener of $50.00. Hey, take me out if you can! I've got a bid in on another species, but I'm not saying which. One bidding war is enough. Of course, you may see my other bird should you scroll through the species, as bidders and their bid are listed.

The auction closes all too soon - May 31st - so GO TO THIS SITE now, and bid on your favorite species. If someone already has, outbid them! No need to instantly pony up the cash; if you're the winning bidder, you can pay later. Supporting the publication of the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II book by "buying" a bird is a simple and fun way to help science, and by extension help the birds themselves. All of the auction details are RIGHT HERE.