I’m only at 31, but I found that a good head start in any county is really
helpful. Go to the TOS meetings and sign up for the CC field trips. Check
field trips for any Audubon chapter in range. You always see more with other
birders, especially when they know where to look locally. Christmas Bird
Counts are great too. By nature they are looking to find every species they
can, including the hard to find ones. You always see more with other birders,
especially when they know where to look locally.
And eBird Target Species will help you determine the most productive months to
visit each county to finish it off. I didn’t take full advantage of it until
last spring.
Bob White
Jacksonville, TX
On May 29, 2020, at 7:08 AM, Bill <texaskingbird@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Congratulations to the newest members.
In answer to John Faber's question. I was 70 when I first heard about the
TCC. Even though I had been birding either seriously or opportunistically
since I was in 7th grade, I did not keep many records. I re-constructed what
I could. Aransas at 99 species was the closest I came to 100 species in a
county.
I figured it might take 10 years to achieve century status in 100 counties,
if my health permitted.
It took me an average (mean) of 6.5 visits per county. The median was 5
visits. The mode was 8. The low number of visits was 1 and the high was 16.
It took a total of 97 months, 8 years and 1 month, to finish 100 counties.
My best year I completed 16 counties. These were nearby where I also had a
good head-start on 100.
Why did I take 16 visits to finish one county? I was making weekly visits.
That doesn't work well. I quit that immediately. This was one of my earlier
counties to reach 100 species.
After that I started working on 4 to 7 counties at a time. Typically visiting
a different one each week. I started working on counties that were nearby and
as I completed them, I would work on the next "tier" of counties. Mostly I
made day trips. At the end I was working on counties that were 3 hours away.
I even made a couple of 4 hour day runs. But those are tough.
When I reached 100, there was only one county under 3 hours away for which I
did not have 100 species. I think I only had 3 species in it. The southern
part of Newton county was 2 hours away. The northern part 3 hour with hot
spots at both ends. This is a tough county and not well birded. But with 9
visits, I got it to 100+
Bill Wright
Houston
