Lest we lose sight of the earlier message about the North American Bird
Phenology Program, I offer this report on the data entry experience.

I'm delighted to say that the process could not be easier.  First, you need
to sign up:

   1. When you access the USGS BPP site (
   http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bpp/index.cfm), select"BECOME A PARTICIPANT"
   from the menu on the left.
   2. Create a logon using your email address and a password.
   3. Within a few minutes, you will receive a confirmation email at the
   email address that you entered in the previous step.  Click on the link in
   this email to confirm your registration.
   4. Return to the BPP site, log on, and click on the data entry option.
   You're ready to go!

I strongly recommend viewing the data entry tutorial before you try entering
data.  You can view the tutorial as a Quicktime or Flash "movie" (if you
don't know which to use, try the Flash option).  The tutorial shows how to
enter data from the scanned cards, which are shown on the Web page.  The
tutorial takes perhaps 15 minutes; be aware, though, that the tutorial is a
rather large download, so it could be rather a painful wait on a slow
internet connection.

Entering data is quite easy and requires no ornithological knowledge at
all.  Data from each card image may take a minute or two to enter, if that.
Entering card data is a perfect activity for those times when you aren't
birding (because it's the middle of the night or it's raining or....) and
have already entered your own data into eBird -- in other words, those times
that you might otherwise waste  watching ancient reruns on TVLand.

And the data itself is fascinating.  Not only do you see potentially
interesting data about birds, but the sense of direct connection to
observers years ago is almost palpable.  I found myself wondering just who
some of these people were.  Is Miss Laughlin (yes, there are observer names
on the cards) still around?  She could be; her data was entered in 1942; if
she was a young lady at the time, perhaps she is still here and could tell
us tales of seeing birds in the same areas that we still find them.  No
doubt Mr. Helmister, who entered his data in 1892, is gone now, but I can
see him counting loons on his lake, perhaps as fascinated as we still are by
these wonderful creatures.

You get the idea.  It's fun, it's easy, and it's for a good cause.  You can
enter data from a few cards or hundreds; you can take care of some cards,
take a short or long break, and come back for more later.  Give it a try.

--
Bill Heck

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