The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession

#66
Title: The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl ObsessionAuthor: Mark Obmascik
Publisher: Free Press
Year: 2004
Genre: Biography, birdwatching
 268 pages

Note that my paperback copy has the cover above, which Powell's shows as the hardback cover.

In birding, a Big Year typically refers to a birder's attempt to see as many species as possible within a year in a constrained geographic area. In the case of the present book, that's North America, and three birders vie to beat the record and each other. The narrative follows all three men as they pursue totals of over 700 species each in the course of a year. Their travels are often unpleasant and expensive, highlighting the difference between avid birders whose motivation includes pleasure in the process, and competitive birders, who may well appreciate birds and finding them, but who are also driven by and enjoy competition.

This would be an enjoyable companion to Snetsinger's Birding on Borrowed Time (reviewed below, q.v.), and Koeppel's To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession, which are about the pursuit of a life list (total number of species seen in a lifetime). By the way, the winner of the 1998 Big Year detailed in the present book still holds the record. Want to try for a Big Day? Instructions can be found here.