Historical 200 Club and High Annual Totals

When Jon K. Boone counted 200 bird species in Howard Count in 1984, the county species list was much shorter and communication among birders was slow and difficult making his total a significant milestone. Those were the days of landline phones in homes and pay phones scattered throughout the county. Anyone observing an unusual bird species who wanted to notify others, drove home or to the nearest payphone, put a coin in the slot, and hoped the birder being called was at home and in a position to notify others on his contact list. No smartphones; no eBird, no Merlin.

In the 1980s in The Maryland Yellowthroat, Norm Saunders began compiling bird locality lists by county showing both annual and all-time numbers. It was not until 1989 when Joanne Solem logged 207 out of a possible 278 species that any Howard birder other than Jon Boone reached at least 200. The highest one-year total was tallied in 2012 when both David Cummings and Joe Hanfman reached 231species! A listing of Howard County life lists was also maintained. The 300 mark has been passed with Jo Solem’s total of 301 in 2023. When MOS no longer published the locality lists, the Howard County lists were moved to the HCBC website.

Instant communication and an expanding county species list have made it less of a challenge to reach 200 species annually, and other venues (primarily eBird) have made the compilation less necessary. Fewer people saw the necessity of providing records to a second site, while the accuracy of a few personal lists made the effort questionable.

Birders Whose Howard County Lists Totaled 200 or More thru 2025

Following are the names of birders whose Howard County list includes 200 or more species. An asterisk following a name indicates that Howard County is the primary MOS chapter (or was, when the record was submitted). A dagger indicates the person is deceased. The lists were compiled by Jo Solem and later by Joe Hanfman,

Howard County All-Time High Annual Lists thru 2025

Following are the names, totals and years of the all-time high annual Howard County lists.

** Jon K. Boone is the first known person to tally 200 species in Howard County in a single year.