Turtles and Crocodilians Challenge (Jan-May): Kenneth Bader dominated the challenge with 46 observations and 16 species, Ashley Tubbs won second place with 12 species. There is a link to Kenneth’s observations below. Collectively we documented 24 species with 573 observations. This includes several high priority species like Alligator Snapping Turtle, Western Chicken Turtle, Cagle’s Map Turtle, and Texas Diamondback Terrapin.

1st: Kenneth Bader aka @kucycads a signed copy of the new Texas Turtles & Crocodilians field guide.
2nd: Ashley Tubbs aka @ashleytubbs a signed copy of the new Texas Turtles & Crocodilians field guide.

Snake Days (June 1-6): Romey Swanson showed us that last year was not a fluke, and he raised the bar by documenting 43 species with 78 observations in just five days! There is a link below to see what he found. His main competition this year was his wife, Erin Swanson, who found a total of 35 species. Even when you don’t count their duplicate obs, she still came in second place. Combined the Swansons won every single prize during the event, but we are going by the one prize per person rule. In addition, I can’t win since I’m the coordinator, so here are the official winners:

1st, Most Species: Romey Swanson aka @romeyswanson wins a Stump Ripper from Animal Equipment by Stoney LLC and a copy of the newTexas Turtles & Crocodilians field guide.
2nd, Most Species: Erin Swanson aka @eyswanson wins a Standard Hook from Animal Equipment by Stoney LLC and a copy of the new Texas Turtles & Crocodilians field guide.
Most species of Snakes: Ben Walker aka @benwalker505 wins a Viper Hook from Animal Equipment by Stoney LLC and a copy of the new Texas Turtles & Crocodilians field guide.
1st, Most observations: Drew Harvey aka @dh1303 wins a 1st edition copy of Snakes and Snake Hunting by Carl Kauffeld donated by @skystevens (Thank you Sky!).
2nd, Most observations: Chris Harrison aka @sandboa wins a Field Book of North American Snakes by Raymond L. Ditmars donated by @chris_mcmartin (Thank you Chris!).