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 visited Fayette County on three occasions and added 28 species to his
list (Eastern Screech Owl, Great Horned Owl, Common Nighthawk,
Chuck-will's-widow, Yellow Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Orchard Oriole,
Common Ground Dove, Alder Flycatcher, Blue Grosbeak, Swainson's Thrush,
Ovenbird, Mourning Warbler, White-rumped Sandpiper, Blackburnian Warbler,
Black-throated Green Warbler, Canada Warbler, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Gray
Catbird, Great Kiskadee, Roseate Spoonbill, Hudsonian Godwit, Red-headed
Woodpecker, Glossy Ibis, Caspian Tern, Black Tern, American Redstart, and
Magnolia Warbler), bringing him up to 199 species in Fayette County so far
this year.
Thanks to the TOS meeting (which kept me out of the region one weekend) and
an injury of the lateral malleolar sort (which prevented me from driving
during another), I was only able to visit Crosby County twice during the
month but I made the visits count, adding 34 species (Blue Grosbeak,
Western Tanager, Dickcissel, House Wren, Solitary Sandpiper, Orchard
Oriole, Bell's Vireo, Virginia Rail, MacGillivray's Warbler, Mississippi
Kite, Swainson's Thrush, Common Nighthawk, Black-and-white Warbler, Great
Crested Flycatcher, Red-headed Woodpecker, Warbling Vireo, Yellow-headed
Blackbird, Tree Swallow, Stilt Sandpiper, Eastern Kingbird, Least
Flycatcher, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Eastern Wood
Pewee, Western Wood Pewee, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Wilson's Warbler,
Red-eyed Vireo, American Redstart, Northern Waterthrush, Gray Catbird,
Broad-winged Hawk, Willow Flycatcher, and Lesser Goldfinch), bringing me up
to 217 species in Crosby County so far this year.
Weighted for eBird history that puts Kostecke at just a hair over 75% and
Hewetson at just a hair under 75% with Kostecke maintaining the sort of
lead normally seen only at track events:)
June will be slow for us as a) we both have tons of professional
obligations during the month that keep us from going where we want to go
and b) we are down to the few breeding birds we have missed and a few of
the earlier post-breeding wanderers.
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
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