I posted this to the forum last year, I will do it again this year. Every year, I’ve made it a tradition to do Migration Madness, a fun pastime to vote for your favorite North American birds. This starts tomorrow at 12:00/3:00 am PST/EST. And I’m certain that most of us are still trying to process last March, so if you need a little stress reliever, you can vote every day on my blog’s Facebook page. If you do not have a facebook account, I will count your vote if you post to the forum as long as it before the matchup closes. You can use this thread as a discussion for matchups or suggestions for next year’s new additions since 68 species is such a small sample for 1,000 species region.
Schelude
March 18: First Four (4 matchups)
March 19-22: Round of Sixty-Four (8 matchups per day)
March 23-26: Round of Thirty-Two (4 matchups per day)
March 27-30: Sweet Sixteen (2 matchups per day)
March 31-April 3: Elite Eight (1 matchup per day)
April 4-5: Final Four (1 matchup per day)
April 6: Championship
Contestants
First Four
16 Bobolink
16 Green-winged Teal
12 Yellow-breasted Chat
12 Lewis’s Woodpecker
16 Yellow Warbler
16 Long-billed Dowitcher
12 Willet
12 Bullock’s Oriole
East
1 Pileated Woodpecker
16 Bobolink or Green-winged Teal
8 Northern Mockingbird
9 Double-crested Cormorant
5 Blue Jay
12 Common Tern
4 Downy Woodpecker
13 Herring Gull
6 Red-shouldered Hawk
11 Great Blue Heron
3 Osprey
14 Red-breasted Nuthatch
7 Cedar Waxwing
10 Song Sparrow
2 American Kestrel
15 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
West
1 Black-capped Chickadee
16 Varied Thrush
8 Mountain Bluebird
9 Killdeer
5 Snow Goose
12 Yellow-breasted Chat or Lewis’s Woodpecker
4 Northern Flicker
13 Greater Sage-Grouse
6 American Goldfinch
11 Mallard
3 Sandhill Crane
14 Least Sandpiper
7 California Scrub-Jay
10 Violet-green Swallow
2 Western Tanager
15 Sora
This sounds cool, but I don’t really understand. Could you explain it to me further? Are we just choosing between the sets of two, and if so what happens after that? And what do the numbers before each name mean?
This is just a pick your favorite out the two and it works like a NACC bracket. For example, one of today’s matchups is Yellow Warbler vs Long-billed Dowitcher. I fancy the warbler so that’s what I’m choosing. And whoever wins will face the Harlequin Duck in the next round.
The number or seed rank represents the bird’s popularity last year. The Pileated Woodpecker won the East division last year so it gets the #1 seed rank. The Northern Saw-whet Owl lost the division title last year to the Harlequin Duck, so it gets a #2 rank this year. Ranks 1-8 are all the species that won at least once in their respective divisions last year. Ranks 9-12 are transferred to other divisions to shake up the bracket a little bit. 13-16 plus First Four round are all new contestants. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the clarification. I don’t have a facebook account, so I hope it’s okay if I vote here. My choices for the First Four are: Bobolink, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Bullock’s Oriole.
I also have no Facebook account and have never seen any of these birds in real life but can I still vote for the ones I like the best from pics. @birdwhisperer
Certainly! No experience is required to vote. There’s a few on the list even I haven’t seen like cardinals and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. And I do not think experience should dictate who you decide. I still think the Greater Lophorina is my favorite bird-of-paradise even though I’ve never one.
I don’t have a facebook account so I will vote here. My votes for First Four are Green-winged Teal, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Willet.