The COMAL (Challenge Of Missouri Annual List) numbers seemed to just jump higher with fall migration. Nancy VandenBrink, Susan Eaton, and Charley Burwick indicated that they have outpaced previous personal highs with their COMAL performances to date this year. Needless to say, they are happy! And, they still have two more months to see even more birds!
 
Nosey me.
 
I've know couples (married and otherwise) who wouldn't count a life bird unless they both saw it. (I assume it helped maintain harmony in their lives!) So I emailed the Moroz's asking what their policy on life birds was. And, I wondered what two birds had been separating their COMAL count so consistently this year. Pete's reply follows.
 
"No, I will not catch JoAnn this year in all likelihood. The two that she has that I don't are Worm-eating Warbler and Red-breasted Nuthatch. The Red-breasted Nuthatch is a highly likely probable for the Fall/Winter this year. The Worm-eating is a done deal. JoAnn is blessed with keen hearing while mine has been dulled by too many years in noisy steel plants. She heard Worm-eating in several places this spring, but alas, I did not, even though we were birding together. Of course, it is possible that I may see a Purple Finch at our feeder when she is not home, as I did last year when I had one more COMAL species than she did.

We do most of our birding together, so the odds that one of us will see a life bird that the other does not is less likely, but we each have birds on our world life lists that the other hasn't seen, but not many. And of course her hearing tips us off to the presence of birds that I would not even know are there, so who am I to complain."

So there you have a very harmonious report from one of our more serious birding couples. How about the rest of you? Any tales you'd like to share about the familial birding challenge?
 
 
 COMAL - October 2003

NAME

CITY

DATE

# SPECIES SEEN

Kathleen Anderson

Columbia

10/31/03

239

Jim Arl

Eureka

07/31/03

212

Lisa Berger

Springfield

11/02/03

247

Judy Bergmann

Silva

11/02/03

199

Charley Burwick

Springfield

11/04/03

252

Will Chatfield-Taylor

Johnson County, KS

06/30/03

129

Frances Cramer

St. Joseph

Bean Lake Cabin

05/31/03

05/31/03

153

77

Steve Dilks

Linn

05/31/03

236

Anne Downing

Edina

10/31/03

247

Kyle Driggers

Liberty

06/30/03

259

Barb Duncan

Jefferson City

10/31/03

166

Joe Eades

St. Louis

09/30/03

281

Susan Eaton

Kirkwood

11/01/03

193

Bob Fisher

Independence

10/31/03

243

Matt Gearheart

Overland Park, KS

09/30/03

209

Patrick Harrison

Shelbyville

10/31/03

289

Rhonda Harrison

Shelbyville

06/07/03

123

Donald Hays

Union

07/01/03

184

Susan Hazelwood

Columbia

10/31/03

249

Bonnie Heidy

Columbia

05/01/03

141

Larry Herbert

Joplin

06/30/03

166

Jim Hickner

St. Louis

10/31/03

192 (all within 50 mi limit of St. Louis)

Jan Horton

Springfield

08/31/03

166

Gareth (Gary) Johnson

Kansas City

10/31/03

244

Scott Johnston

Jefferson City

09/30/03

163

Steven Juhlin

Sullivan (soon to be Cape Girardeau)

06/02/03

195

Leslie Keith Koller

Sikeston

06/30/03

157

Larry Lade

St. Joseph

11/01/03

261

Bob Lewis

Farmington

09/03/03

229

Pat Lueders

Webster Groves

10/31/03

246

Jim Malone

Chesterfield

08/31/03

268

Gale March

Macon

05/02/03

119

Kim March

Macon

05/02/03

123

Nicholas March

Macon

05/02/03

118

Rachel March

Macon

05/02/03

120

Kristi Mayo

Kearney

10/31/03

239

Lynn Miller

Lone Jack

11/04/03

125

Terry L. Miller

Kearney

04/30/03

121

JoAnn Moroz

Lee's Summit

10/31/03

259

Pete Moroz

Lee's Summit

10/31/03

257

Maggie & John Mundhenk

Bellflower

01/31/03

28

Adam Nisbett

St. James

08/31/03

167

Mike Niles

Kearney

04/30/03

132

Stephen Painter

Kansas City

09/30/03

144

Robert Partridge

Kearney

05/01/03

103

Ralph Pike

Overland Park, KS

04/01/03

57

Debra Fortenberry Priest

Hannibal

11/01/03

103

Jim Rathert

Jefferson City

08/31/03

229

Bill Reeves

Farmington

06/02/03

220

Brandon Routh

St. Joseph

04/30/03

191

Lee Schiffel

Columbia

10/31/03

245

Chris Snook

Columbia

04/25/03

136

Josh Uffman

Ferguson

10/31/03

292

Nancy VandenBrink

Springfield

11/01/03

162

Denise Vultee

Columbia

07/31/03

145

Edge Wade

Columbia

10/31/03

244

Mike Warnock

Columbia

10/31/03

259

Clare Wheeler

Lake Ozark

06/30/03

138

Doug Willis

Farmington

01/31/03

91

 
Susan Hazelwood
Columbia, MO
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