To all MD and DC Birders,

After many hours of effort and coordinating with some very helpful individuals, I have completed the List Report Form for 2011, attached. Please begin using it to submit your lists! I look forward to receiving your data!

The form looks quite a bit different than in previous years, and that's because a number of new categories have been entered: Month Lists, Month Closeouts, Eastern and Western Shore Lists, and County "Club" status (i.e, who's seen at least 100 birds in each county, 125, 150, etc?) are all new options this year. There is also a new feature to vote for the top bird seen in the MD/DC region.

PLEASE do not fret over the extra categories...if some of them just seem like too much work or trouble for you, then simply leave them blank. If you only want to submit your life lists for the state and one county, that's just fine too. Your lists are still welcome! The bottom line is that this should be fun and interesting or else it just becomes another chore. HAVE FUN WITH IT!

I really considered adding more categories for DC, such as the Month Lists like I did for Maryland, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to do it. The amount of data that will come in is already quite extensive and adding several dozen more data fields for an area that is smaller than most of the MD counties just didn't meet my cost/benefit rationale. It would simply be too much data for one compiler to handle. I'm sorry if any DC birders are put off by this and I hope it doesn't discourage any of you from submitting. Bill Hubick and I are going to try to find a way to totally automate all data over the next year and I would be happy to add any category that birders deem useful when that happens.
 
That being said, if any DC birders wish to send me month life lists, etc. similar to what I've put on the form for MD, email me separately and I will see what I can do as time allows. :)

I really want to thank Bill Hubick, Joe Hanfman, Jared Fisher, Norm Saunders, Phil Davis, and Tyler Bell for all the assistance and feedback provided in getting the form completed. And, of course, Norm for carrying this ball for so very long!
 
I hope you all enjoy the new form, and I look forward to hearing from you all!

Sincerely,

Russ Ruffing
Woodstock, MD

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