RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s Second Breeding Bird Atlas website is now complete, giving researchers, educators, birders and the public access to detailed information about the state’s breeding bird populations and how they have changed over the past three decades.

The website for the atlas originally launched Oct. 31, 2025, following more than a decade of data collection, analysis and content development. Ten additional pages have since been added, completing the project’s planned online rollout.

The new material includes resources for K-12 educators, information on changes in bird distributions over the past 30 years and explanations of how Virginia’s geography, climate and habitats affect breeding bird populations.

The site also outlines how atlas data can be used to support conservation efforts involving declining bird species.

“This new content significantly enhances the conservation impact of the Atlas website, which was always intended to be a living document that can be modified and added to,” said Sergio Harding, a bird conservation biologist with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

Harding said researchers are also being encouraged to propose new ways to analyze the atlas’s raw data.

Nearly 1,500 individuals and organizations contributed to the project. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Virginia Society of Ornithology and Conservation Management Institute at Virginia Tech led the effort.

Scott Klopfer, director of the Conservation Management Institute, said the project has given Virginia some of the most detailed avian data available in the country and credited birders across the state for much of the work.

The Virginia Society of Ornithology said the completed site will also help guide conservation planning and provide educators with tools for introducing students to bird science and environmental issues.

The atlas is intended to serve as a long-term resource for tracking Virginia bird populations, supporting research and informing conservation decisions.

Information from a release. Edited by Dan McDermott.