Greetings All:
This is really more of a thank you note. I have had so much fun doing this
and, though, being somewhat inclined towards solitude, I was on my own for
much of the birding ... I was never alone in my birding. I received tips
from birders, of all stripes, from every region in the state. I don't know
how many good folk responded to the following plea over the years - Does
anybody know where there is public access to good water in _______ County?
- but it was a lot ... and I thank you all.
One doesn't like to mention specific names (due to the risk of leaving out
somebody truly special) but I really need to express my love for and
appreciation of a few people as best, given my not always graceful way with
words, I can.
First, I spent a truly astonishing amount of time birding huge chunks of
Texas with my ex-wife, Aveline Hewetson, during our years together and she
made every trip we were on better and much more fun. I have worked my way
through literally hundreds of pages of field notes, written in her hand,
and I don't believe I ever got around to thanking her enough for being such
a patient and skilled critter-chasing partner. Anybody willing to put up
with me on a long field trip can't be thanked enough:)
Second, though my brother, Martin Campbell, got me started on this quest
there is nobody I have spent more time birding Texas with than Rich
Kostecke. Us inclined to solitude folk make our own families as we grow up
and Rich Kostecke, despite the fact that he has attempted to kill me on
many occasions via death marches through treacherous terrain, is, well and
true, a person I am glad to call 'brother'.
Brandon Best was another birder who helped me along the way, particularly
in my region, and I am very glad to hear that he is coming back to Texas.
Hopefully, I will get to help him a lot if an when he gets into the TCC
game.
Other local notables who have tipped me to great stuff throughout my region
and the panhandle as a whole include Phillip Kite, Rob Lee, Cliff Stogner,
Jim Crites, Tom SoRelle, and tons of graduate students (you know who you
'too numerous to name' folk are).
Though I am not sure I ever actually scored a new county for my TCC list
with Sandi Wheeler and Helen Rezjek I have enjoyed the heck out of birding
with them and their raucous lot on some of their TCC trips - may
Yellow-headed Blackbirds ever grace your view through the sunroof.
These folk are just the tip of a mighty big iceberg but I really wanted
them to know how much I appreciated their companionship and knowledge.
Some organizations deserve a shout out as well. The Llano Estacado Audubon
Society has given me a local 'home' and, though few in number, the members
of this Audubon chapter are mighty in terms of local knowledge and helped
me out a lot when I got started in the region. It was a big transition
from Oregon. More recently, the Texas Ornithological Society has both
provided an incentive to get this thing done and afforded many
opportunities to explore needed regions - and they put up with me at board
meetings.
This leaves out literally hundreds of birders that have provided me with
tips either while I was planning trips or while I was staggering about
looking for birds. I am not exaggerating and I wish I was better with
names so that I could sit down with a legal pad, get the names down and
alphabetized, and subject y'all to another of my endless lists:)
And last of all though none of them will read this: the operators of
countless hotels, restaurants, and bars that put up with my mud-coated
boots, damp clothes and, to be frank, stinky self ... as I (dis)graced your
premises with my presence.
Thank you all, so much, for making me feel a part of Texas birding.
I can't wait to see who gets all 254 next and I hope they share.
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; recently of Mineola, currently of Lubbock
