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

Another good book on the subject of doing a Big Year in birding.There have been others written before.The classic for North America is "Wild America" by Roger T. Peterson and James Fisher written in 1955 when their goal was to see 600 birds in one year.There have been others since, which pushed the bar to the 700 level.One of the best in my estimation was Kenn Kaufman's "Kingbird Highway" personal story of getting 671 birds in 1972.He did this at 18 without a car,or even a driving license,all for under 1000 dollars,including half of which went for plane flights to Alaska.Now there's a challenge to beat!
This new book now has birders competing in the 700's.Where is the limit,who knows.You'll have to read the book to find out which of the three won.I will tell you this much,715 was not enough.
While an excellent book;I believe there is a screaming ommission.There should have been a checklist showing which birds each one got as well as those missed.This would have taken only a few pages and would have set the standard for future books of this type.The book would also have benefited from the inclusion of some photos of several of the people involved.
There was an excellent article about this book in the 19 January 2004 edition of Sports Ilustrated.It included several photos and several of my non-birding friends told me they really enjoyed it.
A great read for all birders as well as anyone who enjoys competition and perseverance.

What an eye-opening fabulous journey this book was - - I had no idea the degree to which people sought out birds for their life lists. I have done a little bird watching and found it fun. This was an amazing adverture and I was so swept up by the story I have ordered copies for friends that I want to share this with - - it is much too good to keep to myself!

I read the excerpt of this book in my son's Sports Illustrated (January 19, 2004 issue) and immediately ordered a copy The Big Year. Who would have thought that three bird watchers offer the story for an article in Sports Illustrated. But this is a story of an "extreme" sport. Bird watching at the level described in The Big Year is competitive, compulsive, and compelling. When I received the book last weekend I could not put it down until I found out who won the competition and how the year ended for the three competitors. The writing is outstanding and the picture drawn of the three competitors leaves you thinking you know them. The Big Year is a great read.

If you enjoyed Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder, Wild America: The Record of a 30,000 Mile Journey Around the Continent by a Distinguished Naturalist and His British Colleague or anything by Scott Weidensaul, you'll enjoy Obmascik's account of an unlikely collection of birders bent on breaking records.

The concept of the Big Year is pretty simple: see as many birds as possible. Since its inception, this simple concept has ballooned into a circus of maxed out credit cards, exorbitant helicopter flights and boat rides, visits to dumps on the Mexican border, and Christmas dinners in isolated Chinese restaurants. This book chronicles three competitors and their attempts at Birdwatching glory: Sandy Komito (the hardcore favorite, record-holding former construction worker), Greg Miller (the longshot computer programmer, working with limited resources) and Al Levantin (the rich, passionate retired chemical company tycoon).

As I see it, this book has two real strengths:

1.) For those of us who dream of dropping everything, getting in a car with a pair of binoculars and seeing all the birds that had previously only been pictures in field guides, this book is both fulfilling and inspiring. Fulfilling, in that at the end of a long day, its a passable substitute for having the time to actually go out and see the rare birds. Inspiring, in its affirmation that anybody--even you--can do it, as long as you're willing to sacrifice.

2.) The subjects of the story are developed into character so nicely in journalistic prose. You'll learn to root for the underdog, respect their sacrifice, and pity all of them for their clinically obsessive behavior.

I'd encourage anyone interested in adventure or birding to read this book. You won't be disappointed, and probably won't be able to put it down.

To categorize "The Big Year" as simply a birding book is to sidestep the universality of this crisply written narrative. Three men spend 365 days to satisfy a burning desire to observe more species of birds than anyone else in North America. The ultimate prize is no more than bragging rights and a place in the record books. This is obsession, nothing more or less, at its finest.

How many people are actually able to pursue their dreams? Going after a big year record takes the willingness and ability to hop a plane at a moment's notice, to travel to the kind of locales that people a little less loony would eschew, to spend copious amounts of time and money pursuing birds who very well might not be there by the time you arrive.

Obmascik captures the whole picture in a lively book that reveals the occasionally desperate spirit of the competition, the nature of the competitors and, with finely researched science and historical writing, enough background information to help the new initiate understand just why this particular sport is interesting and how it came to be. This isn't simply a book for birders. It's an actively written account that transcends birding, one that offers up a unique slice of humanity to the interested reader.