Greetings All:
This year's competition finds Rich Kostecke working over 960 square miles
of Fayette County as Anthony Hewetson flails away at 902 square miles of
Crosby County. Both counties have a nice mix of habitats, though
Kostecke's is a bit less agricultural and a bit more wooded and watered.
On the other hand, Hewetson has some nice canyon cuts and, possibly, a
better selection of grasslands. To make things a bit more fair this year
lists are going to be weighted using the cumulative eBird total of ABA
countable for both birds as reported by 31 December 2016. That means that
Rich's efforts will be divided into a total of 264 species for Fayette
County whereas Anthony's efforts will be divided into a total of 290
species for Crosby County. Species we add to the county lists during 2017s
will not cause these totals to go up: 264 and 290 remain fixed.
The results for January are in. Rich paid three visits to his county in
January, racking up 105 species, weighting in at 40%. Anthony paid two
visits to his county in January, racking up 117 species, weighting in at
40%. If one wishes to quibble, Hewetson holds the narrowest of leads with
40.34% to Kostecke's 39.77% - hopefully things will spread out a bit as the
game goes on and we won't have to resort to numbers beyond the decimal
point:)
Many folk may want to stop reading at this point but, in response to
requests from previous years, I will list all of the birds that we have had
to date. Species seen by only one person, so far, are in *bold* with
A=Anthony Hewetson and R=Rich Kostecke.
*Greater White-fronted Goose (A)*
*Snow Goose (A)*
*Ross's Goose (A)*
*Cackling Goose (A)*
*Canada Goose (A)*
Wood Duck (A, R)
Gadwall (A, R)
American Wigeon (A, R)
Mallard (A, R)
*Blue-winged Teal (R)*
Northern Shoveler (A, R)
Northern Pintail (A, R)
Green-winged Teal (A, R)
Canvasback (A, R)
Redhead (A, R)
Ring-necked Duck (A, R)
Lesser Scaup (A, R)
Bufflehead (A, R)
*Common Goldeneye (A)*
*Hooded Merganser (A)*
*Common Merganser (A)*
Ruddy Duck (A, R)
*Northern Bobwhite (A)*
*Scaled Quail (A)*
Wild Turkey (A, R)
Pied-billed Grebe (A, R)
*Horned Grebe (A)*
Eared Grebe (A, R)
*Western Grebe (A)*
*Clark's Grebe (A)*
Rock Pigeon (A, R)
Eurasian Collared Dove (A, R)
White-winged Dove (A, R)
Mourning Dove (A, R)
*Greater Roadrunner (A)*
American Coot (A, R)
Sandhill Crane (A, R)
Killdeer (A, R)
Least Sandpiper (A, R)
Wiklson's Snipe (A, R)
*Spotted Sandpiper (R)*
Greater Yellowlegs (A, R)
*Bonaparte's Gull (A)*
Ring-billed Gull (A, R)
*Herring Gull (A)*
Neotropic Cormorant (R)
Double-crested Cormorant (A, R)
Anhinga (R)
American White Pelican (R)
Great Blue Heron (A, R)
Great Egret (A, R)
*Black-crowned Night Heron (R)*
*Black Vulture (R)*
*Turkey Vulture (R)*
*Osprey (R)*
Northern Harrier (A, R)
*Sharp-shinned Hawk (A)*
Cooper's Hawk (A, R)
*Bald Eagle (R)*
*Red-shouldered Hawk (R)*
Red-tailed Hawk (A, R)
*Ferruginous Hawk (A)*
*Barn Owl (A)*
*Great Horned Owl (A)*
*Barred Owl (R)*
Belted Kingfisher (A, R)
*Golden-fronted Woodpecker (A)*
Red-bellied Woodpecker (A, R)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (A, R)
Ladder-backed Woodpecker (A, R)
*Downy Woodpecker (R)*
Northern Flicker (A, R)
*Pileated Woodpecker (R)*
*Crested Caracara (R)*
American Kestrel (A, R)
*Merlin (A)*
*Peregrine Falcon (R)*
*Eastern Phoebe (R)*
Loggerhead Shrike (A, R)
*White-eyed Vireo (R)*
*Blue-headed Vireo (R)*
Blue Jay (A, R)
American Crow (A, R)
*Chihuahuan Raven (A)*
*Common Raven (A)*
*Horned Lark (A)*
*Cave Swallow (R)*
*Carolina Chickadee (R)*
*Tufted Titmouse (R)*
*Black-crested Titmouse (A)*
*Bushtit (A)*
*Red-breasted Nuthatch (A)*
*Brown Creeper (A)*
*Rock Wren (A)*
*Canyon Wren (A)*
*House Wren (R)*
*Winter Wren (A)*
Marsh Wren (A, R)
*Carolina Wren (R)*
Bewick's Wren (A, R)
Golden-crowned KInglet (A, R)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (A, R)
Eastern Bluebird (A, R)
*Mountain Bluebird (A)*
Hermit Thrush (A, R)
American Robin (A, R)
*Curve-billed Thrasher (A)*
*Brown Thrasher (A)*
Northern Mockingbird (A, R)
European Starling (A, R)
*Cedar Waxwing (R)*
House Sparrow (A, R)
American Pipit (A, R)
House Finch (A, R)
*PIne Siskin (A)*
American Goldfinch (A, R)
*McCown's Longspur (A)*
Orange-crowned Warbler (A, R)
Common Yellowthroat (A, R)
*Pine Warbler (R)*
Yellow-rumped Warbler (A, R)
*Spotted Towhee (A)*
*Rufous-crowned Sparrow (A)*
*Canyon Towhee (A)*
Chipping Sparrow (A, R)
Field Sparrow (A, R)
Vesper Sparrow (A, R)
Lark Sparrow (A, R)
Savannah Sparrow (A, R)
*Grasshopper Sparrow (R)*
*Le Conte's Sparrow (A)*
Song Sparrow (A, R)
Lincoln's Sparrow (A, R)
Swamp Sparrow (A, R)
Fox Sparrow (A, R)
*White-throated Sparrow (R)*
White-crowned Sparrow (A, R)
*Dark-eyed Junco (A)*
Northern Cardinal (A, R)
Pyrrhuloxia (A, R)
Red-winged Blackbird (A, R)
Eastern Meadowlark (A, R)
Western Meadowlark (A, R)
Brewer's Blackbird (A, R)
*Common Grackle (R)*
*Great-tailed Grackle (A)*
Brown-headed Cowbird (A, R)
I suspect February will see some consolidation of winter species and
residents - as both competitor have a few holes to fill in the above list.
Kostecke will probably start to see the influx of spring bird towards the
end of February (swallows and such) while Anthony is hoping to see the
arrival of some winter species by the end of February (a Harris's or
White-throated Sparrow would be nice). This looks to be a fun competition
and eBird might just have a better handle on both counties by the end of
the year.
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
