The Big Year

I’m still cheating and not reading books on my “Now Reading” list to the right.  Oh sure, I could change the list, but I really intend to read those books (or finish reading them, as I’ve started two titles), so I’m leaving it as is.  For now, I’ll write about the book I completed last night, The Big Year by Mark Obmascik.  I didn’t even know this book existed or I probably would have read it when it was released last year.  It’s subtitled, “A tale of man, nature, and fowl obsession”, and it chronicles a year (1998, to be specific) in the lives of three men who compete in a bird-watching competition.  Called, “The Big Year”, the competition begins anew every January 1st, as birders try to be the person who can spot the highest number of bird species in a single year.  Serious birders will devote an entire year of their lives to this venture, travelling tens of thousands of miles and spending tens of thousands of dollars on airfare, boat excusions, tour guides, etc.  It does require 365 days of committment, and the current record of 745 birds is unlikely to ever be broken for a number of reasons—it was set during an El Nino year when many non-native species turned up in North America because of unusual weather patterns, travel to the Aleutian island of Attu is no longer permitted by the US military, and last-minute airplane travel to spot rare species has become more difficult since September 11th.  After you read this book you’ll probably be glad you have an excuse to not attempt a Big Year, anyway, as just reading about it is exhausting!  I like the concept of bird-watching, but competitive bird watching seems to take some of the joy out of it.  I think it’s best left to the people who like to turn everything into a game, rather than those of us who just like to relax and kick back.  While I’d still be interested in keeping a “life list” of all the birds I’ve seen in my lifetime, I’ve no desire to race against the calendar to do it.  So, the book convinced me that competitive birding isn’t the life for me, but it did remind me to pay more attention to the birds flitting around in our backyard.  I even tried to take a picture of a beautiful purple finch yesterday, but it flew away as soon as I took the camera out—that’s why you got a photo of a spider instead wink

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 03/24 at 06:15 PM

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