The bracket is made!

I think this year’s lineup is an improvement over last year. Based on what I’ve seen, all the opening matches look very competitive. My goal was to fix some of the lop-sided wins we had, and I’m feeling good about how this schedule looks.

There’s going to be some tough choices for you guys. Much like last year, I’m glad I don’t need to decide, but I’m still going to have to accept some painful loses at some point. I try to keep impartial during the tournament, but I definitely have some personal favorites. Sooty vs GHO is one where I’m not looking forward to saying goodbye to either one.

You guys didn’t nominate my beloved Spotted Wood Owl. Buff Fronted got in, which I was happy for, but its first opponent is last year’s winner.

I’m excited to see the Battle of the Southern Hemisphere between Australia’s Barking Owl and NZ’s Morepork.

We’ve got Eurasia’s biggest owls going head-to-head.

Snowy, Burrowing, and Buffy are all up against some flashy newcomers where we could have a surprise victory like the unexpected triumphs the Flammulated Owl had last year,

I think I will start the games Wed, 4 DEC after I get back from some travel. Then we’ve got a little over 2 weeks of excitement to crown this year’s winner. I’ll put the final 4 owls in the banner again and the winner gets the icon.

Got a personal favorite you’re ready to cheer on to victory?

Let me know which matches you are most looking forward to or dreading the most!

  • anon6789OP
    1•5 hours ago

    I didn’t see any pics or videos of any owls actually with the porcupine but there was an article about an Eagle Owl that was eating porcupines, and this Facebook post where they are removing quills from this GHO’s face. I took a still for those who are Facebook averse.

    I picked all the owls last year, and the event was a big hit, but there were a few matches that were one sided, which makes sense since all the owls were ones I picked.

    This year I took the 16 that you guys moved one from the first round last year.

    Then I took the 16 that lost the first round and I put them up for vote to give another chance to anyone that lost just because of a tough pairing, like Great Horned losing in the first round. I kept the top 8 of the poll there.

    For the final 8, I picked 16 more owls based on posts you guys have most up voted this year, plus 8 that have either never been posted here or only once or twice. I kept the top 8 of those, filling the last spots.

    I seeded them by looking at the average upvotes from last year for the returning ones and the results from the 2 qualifiers. The resulting bracket looks much more competitive now that I had data from you guys to work with.

    Those camels are intense eating that! It was like watching someone eat glass! 😧