We’d like to highlight some of the amazing atlasers who made the first year of the Atlas a success. We are grateful for everyone’s participation but some people went above and beyond in their dedication to the project. The Atlas Outreach subcommittee selected five categories to award top marks and randomly selected a winner from the top 10 atlasers in each category. Here are the top atlasers in each category (and number of species, blocks, or checklists). Winners received a special prize mailed to their home and their profiles are (or will be) featured on the Atlas website.
Highest Number of Species Confirmed Breeding
- Jay McGowan (157)
- Brendan Fogarty* (153)
- Chris Wood* (131)
- Jeff Bolsinger* (124)
- Livia Santana (122)
- Alan Belford (120)
- Lisa Scheppke (113)
- Stacy Robinson (111)
- Gale VerHague* (103)
- Michael DeWispelaere (100) – winner!
Most Species in a Block with a Breeding Code
- Andrew Guthrie (131) – winner!
- Arnie Meier (120)
- Jay McGowan (120)
- Wesley Hochachka (109)
- Janet Allison (109)
- Alejandra Lewandowski (109)
- Chris Wood* (106)
- Willie D’Anna (105)
- Bill Ostrander (104)
- Chris Wood* (103) – a second block!
Most Priority Blocks Visited (with a complete checklist)
- Ian Davies* (111)
- Brendan Fogarty* (99)
- Chris Wood* (98)
- Alison Van Keuren (85)
- Mark Fitzsimmons (76)
- Jay McGowan (66)
- Jeremy Collison (60)
- John Roosenberg (58)
- Michael Gullo (54) – winner!
- Nick Kachala (53)
Most Complete Checklists Submitted in Peak Breeding Season (June and July)
- Wesley Hochachka (850) – winner!
- Bill Purcell (560)
- Chris Wood* (413)
- Jay McGowan* (381)
- Brendan Fogarty* (331)
- Mark Fitzsimmons (307)
- Dave Spier (265)
- John Sepenoski (262)
- Alison Van Keuren (237)
- Lindsey Duval (232)
Most Nocturnal Checklists
- Wesley Hochachka (108)
- Ian Davies*^ (96) – winner!
- Chris Wood* (83)
- John Roosenberg (71)
- Jeff Bolsinger* (49)
- Matthew Medler* (37)
- Joel Strong (35)
- Tom Auer (31)
- Jay McGowan (27)
- Stacy Robinson (26)
^Ian Davies is a member of the Atlas Steering Committee and chair of the Outreach Subcommittee. While he was involved in organizing this award scheme, he was not involved in the random selection process.
*Regional Coordinator or Member of the Atlas Steering Committee