FOWL HYSTERIA 2024: ROUND THREE
THE TENSION IS PALPABLE.
WHAT a ride this year’s Fowl Hysteria is turning out to be. You’ve got twists! You’ve got routs! You’ve got nail-biters! It’s everything you could ever want from the world's first-ever bird-themed bracket tournament.
Round Two was wild. Feathers flew. Beaks battled. Tails tussled. Out of that maelstrom emerged eight birds—each an icon of the skies (or seas, or even undergrounds!) And the matchups in Round Three—words fail. Let’s just get to it. Here’s the bracket.
Now, a reminder of how this works: We’ve created polls for every single matchup, and made sure to provide you with the links to the relevant bird blogs so you can refresh your memory if you need. All you have to do is vote for the bird of your choice in each poll! You have a week to vote.
OK. Round Three. Starts. NOW.
Bat Falcon vs. Antarctic Shag
Both of these birds just made it out of Round Two. The bat falcon squeaked past the painted bunting 51-49, and the Antarctic shag had the grackle on its tail the whole time, winning 52-48. Now they meet each other, and you have to decide: do you want a bird that thrives on the ice or one that owns the air?
Dracula Parrot vs. Resplendant Quetzal
Both of these birds are brain-melting to look at, and both of them thrashed their challengers by about the same amount in Round Two. So which magnificent specimen do you want to win now?
Freckled Duck vs. Burrowing Owl
The freckled duck saw the Scott’s oriole off with relative ease, and the burrowing owl barely had to pop its head out of the ground to send the California brown pelican packing (seriously, it won 85-15!!) Now these two awe-inspiring avians have nowhere to turn but towards each other.
Cock-of-the-Rock vs. Peregrine Falcon
Despite pleas from readers, the falcon brushed the belted kingfisher aside and zipped to a victory, though not in pulverizing fashion (the final was 59-41). The cock-of-the-rock had an easier time of things, leveling its weirdo stare at the cowbird and sauntering off with a 72-28 win. And now they meet in the Fowl Hysteria arena: one the apotheosis of glorious goof-dom, the other an international emblem of predatory grace. Over to you.
HOW are you going to decide this??? Guess we’ll find out. See you next week….for the FINAL FOUR.
A reminder: you can check out our complete Bird of the Week list here, and get in touch with your bird suggestions at hello@discourseblog.com.
I knew this would be a rough tournament when four of my favorites got packed together in one section of the bracket, but even my backup picks keep crashing out.
Digging in to back the burrowing owls all the way!
Away with the freckled water fowl I say. My underground hooting king is an unstoppable runaway mine cart (because he’s underground).