On behalf of the Florida Ornithological Society (FOS), it is a pleasure to present the second Breeding Bird Atlas​ of Florida​ (BBAII).​The​ BBAII is a product of the FOS and hundreds of volunteers​​, working together and independently, based on a scientific survey design and in concert with the U.S. Geological Service (USGS) scientists at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Publication of BBAII was made possible through the expertise and technological participation of the University of South Florida Libraries, Special Collections.  

The field surveys for the first Florida Breeding Bird Atlas (BBAI) were conducted between 1986-1991. At that time, it was generally accepted that the surveys should be repeated every 25 years to best use the immense information collected about the birds that rely on Florida’s habitats to raise their young. Thus, FOS President Jerry Jackson initiated a discussion of the BBAII at a Board Meeting in 2009. Rick West became a vocal advocate for the project and lobbied for the effort to be undertaken; eventually, he became the BBAII coordinator. 

The goal of BBAII was to document the locations where each species breeds across Florida. The BBAII data allow comparison of current breeding distributions to those recorded during BBAI and, combined with results from other states, potentially will document changes in breeding ranges throughout the individual species’ breeding ranges. 

As planning began for BBAII, it became clear that Audubon Florida and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would not be able to participate actively in a partnership with FOS to undertake BBAII as had been the case in BBAI – and that neither organization would provide funding for BBAII. The FOS Board, led by President Adam Kent, spurred on by Rick West, and supported by the FOS membership, agreed to undertake this expansive project with volunteers. BBAII surveys began in January 2011 – and the BBAII was underway! 

FOS President Adam Kent welcomed Mark Wimer, Wildlife Program Manager for the Ecosystems Mission Area, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, to the FOS Spring 2012 meeting at Camp Weed in Live Oak. Describing USGS and Florida BBAI survey methods, Mark gave a talk about breeding bird atlases across America and led FOS’s continuing BBAII surveys. Rick West collected the data submitted by the 50 participants at the FOS meeting that weekend, and the BBAII database was initiated. During the survey, Florida’s BBAII data were compiled by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, a prodigious effort, with over 160,000 records entered into the database. 

Literally hundreds of Florida’s citizen-scientist birders and ornithologists worked for 5 years every spring, volunteering thousands of hours, visiting their assigned quads, recording their observations, and submitting them to Rick, Patuxent, and the BBA II database. FOS Presidents Dave Goodwin, Adam Kent, Todd Engstrom, and Jim Cox worked with Rick West and the volunteers to guide the BBAII data collection. David Goodwin and others participated in block-busting efforts in several otherwise under-studied regions. Jim received the data sheets, collated the data, and devoted hundreds of patient hours to collating the information for each species into a GIS database to generate comparative maps depicting the distribution of Florida’s breeding birds. BBAII stands on the shoulders of BBAI, as the comparative maps display the similarities or differences in the breeding bird ranges across the state after a period of 25 years. 

In fall 2021, the FOS Board initiated an effort to update the status of the birds that breed in Florida by interpreting the mapped survey results combined with reviewing contemporary literature for each species. A BBAII Committee worked once more through 2022 to recruit volunteers. Dozens of citizen scientists and ornithologists have prepared written species accounts, analyzing current changes in the ranges of the birds that nest in Florida. The BBAII Committee members undertook writing the introduction, methods, results, and conclusions sections. Special Publications Editor Ann Hodgson edited the accounts and oversaw preparation of the BBAII publication in coordination with the Special Collections Division at the University of South Florida Libraries.  

The University of South Florida’s Dean of the Libraries Todd Chavez committed his talented staff led by Dr. Amanda Boczar, Curator, Digital Collections, to accomplish the online publication of the BBAII, allowing the combined efforts of all the volunteers who contributed to the preparation of the BBAII to be shared with the global Digital Commons community, in truth, with the world. 

Publication of a document of this scope is a remarkable achievement. We should all be proud. And please allow me, again on behalf of the Board of Directors of the FOS, to thank you all so much for working together towards the successful completion of the BBAII. 

– Ann Paul, Fall 2023