Birds! Big Year World Record Today!

Humans are competitive. We gauge our success in life by comparing ourselves to others around us. We live and die with our beloved sports teams, sinking billions of dollars and hours of our days into watching competition. Competition captivates us in the strangest and most entertaining of places: The Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on the 4th of July, lumberjack competitions on The Great Outdoor Games, The Air Guitar World Championships, and Redbull Flugtag. However,  the most unique competition I have ever heard of is the Big Year, a competition among birdwatchers every year to see the most number of species between January 1st and December 31st of a given year.

Turkey Vulture in the Tonto National Forest, AZ

I was first introduced to the Big Year in 2011 when I saw the film "The Big Year". Based on Mark Obamscik's book "The Big Year: a Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession", the film stars Jack Black, Steve Martin, and Owen Wilson. It follows 3 birders who embark on a big year, competing to see the most species of birds in North America. While it was a huge flop in the box office, I thought it was an outstanding movie and I really enjoyed it. Photographing and identifying plants and animals is one of my favorite things to do while hiking so it really struck a chord with me. However, it made me wonder "what kind of person takes a year off their life to go look at birds?! This is the craziest thing I've ever heard of."

Pyrrhuloxia in Saguaro National Park, AZ

Apparently alot of people. In fact, the first Big Year on record was done in 1939 by a businessman named Guy Emerson, who would use his business trips at peak birdwatching seasons to see 497 species of birds in North America. Big Years have expanded to include international, national, state-wide, and regional competitions. 1998, the year that the current record of 745 birds spotted within the American Birding Association's boundaries (North America north of Mexico essentially), became the subject of Obamscik's book and subsequent 2011 film.

Western Tanager in Prescott National Forest, AZ

After following the Audubon Society on Twitter, I began to follow the efforts of Noah Strycker, an Oregon based birder who has been spending 2015 attempting to see 5,000 species of birds around the world. Audubon Society would retweet his tweets about his Big Year and I found myself suddenly rooting for a complete stranger in an informal competition to see birds. Today (day 259), with over 3 months left in his Big Year, Noah saw his 4,342nd bird species, a pair of Sri Lankan Frogmouths. At his current pace he is more than likely going to reach his 5,000 species goal.

Sandhill Cranes in Glacial Park, IL

While I won't be breaking any Big Year records anytime soon, it's pretty cool to see someone care so much about the environment and the beautiful birds that we have in the world. Hopefully Noah's efforts raise awareness among us about the importance of conservation and the wonders of nature.

Western Bluebird in Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

Northern Cardinal in Algonquin, IL