First Phase of Historical Records Entry Project Complete

The first phase of our data entry project is essentially complete. Under the guidance of Walter Marcisz and with eBird assistance from Matthew Cvetas, 886 checklists dating from April 20, 1926 to October 13, 1979 were entered by the following COS members and friends:
John Adams, Suzanne Checchia, Pat Durkin, Jill Anderson, Craig Taylor, Terry Johnson, Phyllis Petrelli, Nathan Goldberg and Sigrid Schmidt.

The data represent 303 species found in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Amy Baldwin was the most frequently listed observer. Her name appeared on 516 lists. Walter Marcisz compiled some interesting statistics from our project which can be found at the following links:

We celebrated the completion of data entry with a dinner at Nana Restaurant on March 3, 2013.

The next phase of our project entails finding a permanent home for the actual checklists. We would like them to be preserved for posterity and for future use in research projects if needed. Alex Bloss has volunteered to help us with this endeavor.

- post contributed by Sigrid Schmidt