And although the primary goal of the Lab's Birds in Forested Landscapes (BFL) project is to gather vital data on woodland birds--data that can be used to create effective guidelines for the management and conservation of these species--an important secondary goal is to help participants develop a closer connection with their surroundings as they do their fieldwork. We want BFL to be a learning tool for birders of all abilities. Fortunately, we appear to be succeeding in this goal, and some BFL participants are even rediscovering their own backyards. As our field season winds down, we'd like to share what a few of our citizen scientists discovered during BFL's inaugural year.

Many BFL participants shared fascinating excerpts from their field notes. Montana's Adrienne Kennedy wrote, "The understory was so thick, it was actually scary. I crawled under full, mature yellow twig dogwoods, and I came upon a little bird on her nest. After the shock wore off, I thought, this is a thrush. The thrush quietly left the nest. After two minutes another bird appeared, making a soft peek sound. A Swainson's Thrush."

An Ovenbird prompted Pennsylvania's Shirley Wagoner to write, "Finding the Ovenbird's nest was a special event for me. Had it not been for this study, I would never have seen either the birds or the nest."

We've also learned which species have been responding to the calls on our CDs and cassette tapes. As British Columbia's Jim Tuck noted, "The Hermit Thrush call seems to evoke responses from other species to a far greater extent than the other thrush or tanager vocalizations. I have had two black bears, a wolf, a raven, a cowbird, and an Ovenbird approach within 20 meters in response to the Hermit Thrush call on your tape."

In addition, BFL participants might find species of birds breeding in areas where these species have not yet been documented. Duvall Jones was conducting a BFL survey in a stand of pines in the Sand Hill Nature Preserve in Pulaski County, Indiana--a state where Hermit Thrushes have never been known to breed. He saw a pair of the birds and observed them performing distraction displays and other territorial behaviors, which he reported as evidence of breeding. Unfortunately, he did not find a nest at the site.

BFL participants live throughout North America and come from a variety of backgrounds. Our site coordinators, who serve as local contacts for participants, generally work in or have related experience in the field of biology. Lise Hanners, a site coordinator who works for The Nature Conservancy at the Devil's Den Preserve in Connecticut, offered many helpful comments about BFL and its protocols, which we took into consideration when we produced our 1998 materials. According to Hanners, her volunteers felt they had learned a great deal while taking part in BFL and that their observation skills had improved markedly.

Virginia's Gemma Dehnbostel, who started working on a graduate degree in environmental biology at Maryland's Hood College last fall, noted, "I found this project useful in teaching me some scientific methodologies and different ways of doing research. This knowledge will help me as I pursue my graduate program."