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 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 2017 will not
cause these totals to go up: 264 and 290 remain fixed for purposes of the
contest.
Rich was only able to visit Fayette County once during the month and that
visit netted him a grand total of - wait for it - wait for it - one new
species (Bronzed Cowbird) bringing him up to 200 species in Fayette County
so far this year.
Thanks to a ridiculous Breeding Bird Survey schedule and some badly timed
poor weather I was, likewise, restricted to a single visit during June. I
did a wee bit better than Rich, though, managing to add four species
(Red-shouldered Hawk, Chuck-will's-widow, Summer Tanager, and Green Heron),
bringing me up to 221 species in Crosby County so far this year.
Weighted for eBird history, I have retaken the lead but it is a pretty fine
lead. My 221 out of 290 puts me at 76.21% while Rich's 200 out of 264
puts him at 75.76%. This is not what anybody would call a comfortable
lead:)
Both of us anticipate a more productive July (some returning shorebirds
that we have missed, post-breeding wanderers, in Rich's case a few breeding
species remaining to be found, in my case a few early songbird migrants)
and I think both of us hope to get in more visits than we managed in June.
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
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