Greetings All:
This year the competition will feature three competitors and their counties
(Brandon Best with Hill County, Anthony Hewetson with Floyd County, and
Rich Kostecke with Lee County).
Again, we will be weighting our county totals to eBird county totals which,
at the end of 2017, stood at 225 species in Floyd County, 230 species in
Hill County, and 251 species in Lee County. Species added to the counties
during 2018 will not become a part of this weighting.
A change introduced this year - to make things fairer in terms of people's
work schedules - is that we only get two visits (to last no longer than one
day) to our counties per month.
The counties are close to each other in size and varieties of habitat
available with Hill County having the advantage of most permanent water,
Lee County having the advantage of a more southerly location, and Floyd
County having the advantage of a potentially better blend of eastern and
western species.
We all found something to whinge about during the month (Floyd County is
badly beset by drought, Hill County has lots of big water but waterfowl are
hard to find, Lee County has little deep water to look at and, funny story
here, Lee County in Texas has a much higher total than Lee County in
Georgia meaning that Rich is now up against a total of 251 species rather
than 238). To be fair, Brandon and I probably find the Lee County story
more amusing than does Rich.
The results at the end of the first month. Anthony is ever so slightly in
the lead with 95 species (out of 225) or 42.2222%, Brandon is ever so
slightly behind with 97 species (out of 230) or 42.1739%, and Rich is
dragging with 98 species (out of 251) or 39.0348%. February should see a
turnaround as early migrants get to Rich and Brandon first and as Anthony's
region dries out even more. Such is life.
This will be the longest post as I have decided to go ahead and provide a
full list of what each of us has so far - from this point on I will only
list additions to each competitor's list for each month but folk claimed
that a baseline for each county would be worth putting out. Please note
that I am stubbornly sticking to the AOU taxonomy as we live in the region
covered by the AOU.
Anthony Hewetson in Floyd County has:
Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Cackling Goose
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Northern Bobwhite
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon'
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Greater Roadrunner
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Wilson's Snipe
Greater Yellowlegs
Great Blue Heron
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Barn Owl
Eastern Screech Owl
Great Horned Owl
Short-eared Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Prairie Falcon
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
Chihuahuan Raven
Common Raven
Horned Lakr
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren
Bewick's Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Mountain Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Curve-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
House Sparrow
American Pipit
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Lapland Longspur
Chestnut-collared Longspur
McCown's Longspur
Spotted Towhee
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Bunting
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Brandon Best in Hill County has:
Greater White-fronted Goose
Wood Duck
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Common Ground Dove
Mourning Dove
Greater Roadrunner
American Coot
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Forster's Tern
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Barn Owl
Short-eared Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted x Black-crested Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
American Pipit
American Goldfinch
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Harris's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Rich Kostecke in Lee County has:
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Forster's Tern
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Cattle Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
White-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Brown Creeper
House Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
American Pipit
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
White-trhoated Sparrow
Harris's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Anthony Hewetson; Lubbock