Greetings All:
This year the competition will feature three competitors and their
counties (Brandon Best with Hill County, Anthony Hewetson with Floyd
County, and Rich Kostecke with Lee County).
Again, we will be weighting our county totals to eBird county totals
which, at the end of 2017, stood at 225 species in Floyd County, 230
species in Hill County, and 251 species in Lee County. Species added
to the counties during 2018 will not become a part of this weighting.
A change introduced this year - to make things fairer in terms of
people's work schedules - is that we only get two visits (to last no
longer than one day) to our counties per month.
The counties are close to each other in size and varieties of habitat
available with Hill County having the advantage of most permanent
water, Lee County having the advantage of a more southerly location,
and Floyd County having the advantage of a potentially better blend of
eastern and western species.
The results at the end of August: Anthony had a fairly solid lead with
210 species (out of 225) or 93.3333%, Brandon remained in second place
with 199 species (out of 230 species) or 86.5217%, and Rich remained
in third place with 215 species (out of 251) or 85.6574%.
September, thanks to conditions favorable for migrants and not so
favorable for birders, proved to be a tough nut to crack for all three
of us.
Brandon got out to Hill County on 9/3/18 and picked up two species
(Black-throated Green Warbler and Solitary Sandpiper) bringing him up
to 201 species (87.3913%) barely maintaining a lead over Rich who got
out to Lee County on the same day and picked up four species (Marbled
Godwit, Willet, Short-billed Dowitcher, and Black-bellied Whistling
Duck) bringing him up to 219 species (87.2510%).
Anthony made his first visit to Floyd County on 9/8/18 and worked
surprisingly hard for one addition (Gray Catbird) bringing him up to
211 species (93.7778%).
Mr. Best went out again on 9/22/18 struggling valiantly with Hill
County to no avail, remaining at 201 species (87.3913%) while Mr.
Hewetson was minimally more successful in Floyd County on the same
date picking up 1 species (Sora), moving on up to a total of 212
species (94.2222%).
Mr. Kostecke made his last move for the month on 9/29/18 garnering 1
more species (Red-breasted Nuthatch) for his Lee County list, moving
up to 220 species (87.6494%).
To sum up: after all was said and done Anthony remained in first place
with 212 species in Floyd County (94.2222%), Rich made a bold move
into second place with 220 species (87.6494%), and Brandon fell into
third place with 201 species (87.3913%).
October has great potential if waters dry down enough for some
birders, some rains finally fall for other birders, and we get at
least one system that slows some late migrants down.
Anthony Hewetson; Lubbock
