In 1996, W. Douglas Robinson published Southern Illinois Birds: An Annotated List and Site Guide, a resource that documented the birds of southern Illinois by surveying published literature and the field notes of active observers.
Challenged by his publisher to update his twenty year old book, Robinson took on the arduous task using the field notes of The Meadowlark: A Journal of Illinois Birds and data contributed to eBird. Once completed and faced with the prospect of having to pay $3000 of his own money to publish it, Robinson decided to forego printing and distribute the book as widely as possible via the Internet.
The result is Birds of Southern Illinois, an online resource summarizing knowledge of birds in the seventeen southernmost counties of Illinois and designed to be regularly updated. Site guides are missing from the updated version, but Robinson mentions that “all of that information is easily accessible on eBird via the Hotspot Explorer.” What remains are species accounts with comments on status and abundance, arrival and departure dates for migrants, preferred habitat, and records of note.
Check out this great resource and help the author keep this book current by adding your data to eBird. And, who knows? Maybe your records will make it into the next version.