Big years – the most competitive aspect of bird watching. You would think that bird-watching does not get competitive, but that is far from the truth. Some avid birders will save thousands of dollars, study and prepare, take a year off from work, and travel across the US trying to spot as many birds as they can before the year runs out.
I read Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder by Kenn Kaufman, which initially made me more intrigued about a big year. He spent a year hitchhiking across America and receiving information about where to find rare birds from people he meets along the way. What could go wrong with that? Hitch-hiking never hurt anyone. I definitely would never try to do what he did (I don’t think I could make it as a hitchhiker), but it did get me thinking about possibly doing one in the future. It would take many years of training and preparation, but one day it may be a fun adventure. I do enjoy the relaxing aspect of bird-watching, but a little competition never hurt.
There is a surprising amount of media out there about big years; dozens of books, blogs, podcasts, documentaries, and movies all centered around this year-long intense competition of persistence and numbers. I think this has to do with the fascination around the topic of bird-watching itself. There is a common misconception that all bird-watchers just are retired people walking slowly through local woods. While bird-watching could be that, it is also people of all ages bonding over their love of nature by exploring all different kinds of environments and collaborating to spot birds to help conservation efforts. Big years show that there is a lot more to the hobby than something to do after retirement.
Big years have also been controversial for their environmental effects. Conservationism and environmentalism go hand in hand with bird-watching; we want to protect what we love. To get competitive numbers for a big year, many birders drive for hours and take many flights, which goes completely against one of the main pillars of birding: to protect birds. This has started the idea of a “green year” where bird-watchers will try to stay as environmentally friendly as possible by biking, taking public transportation, and walking to locations. I am all for this idea, and I think it is a great way to combine environmentalism and birding.
Currently, the worldwide big year record is 6852 species by Arjan Dwarshuis, which is completely mind-boggling considering there are roughly 10,000 bird species in the world. To put that into perspective, local “master” birders near me typically have seen 600 to 1000 in their entire life. I think if I were to do a big year, I would keep it within the United States since I am most familiar with bird species here.
Big years are such a unique aspect of birding, but they do not define a bird-watcher. Some bird-watchers will explore the world and see thousands of species, and others will stick to their backyard. The only two things you need to call yourself a bird-watcher are love and passion for birds.
You added a lot of great phrases and sentences to ‘garnish’ your writing, which made this post fun to read! For example, I really liked when you acknowledged the audience at the beginning by stating, ‘you would think that bird-watching does not get competitive.’ That is true — I did not realize that some people were ‘birders.’ This was so interesting to read and learn more about!! I can tell you are an expert in bird watching, which makes these blogs really fun to read because I don’t know anything about it yet.