"Robbins and Easterla offer the most comprehensive treatment of the birds recorded in Missouri since Otto Widmann's landmark publication at the turn of the century. Birds of Missouri couples an exhaustive literature review with much unpublished information to present a historical perspective, as well as an up-to-date assessment of each species recorded in the state."--Publishers website.

The Missouri Breeding Bird Atlas Project, conducted from 1986 through 1992, sought to document the status and distribution of the bird species that breed in Missouri. The primary goal was to develop a distributional map for each species that depicts as accurately as possible its true breeding range in the state. The resultant information was intended to: 1) provide baseline data against which future changes in the status and distribution of Missouri's breeding birds could be measured, 2) determine the location of rare species, 3) identify significant habitats and 4) develop a factual database to assist environmental planners in making wise decisions about resource use in Missouri. During the process of collecting the distributional and status information, data were also obtained on species' abundance, breeding phenology and Brown-headed Cowbird brood parasitism. --from Introduction (p. 1).