Product Description

Each year, hundreds of people set out across North America determined to set a new record in a spectacularly competitive event. Is it tennis? Golf? Racing? Poker perhaps? No, it's bird-watching, and a contest known as the Big Year - a grand, gruelling, expensive (and occasionally vicious) 365-day marathon to identify the most species. THE BIG YEAR is the rollicking chronicle of the 275,000-mile odyssey of three unlikely adventurers who take their bird-watching so seriously it nearly kills them. From Texas in pursuit of the Rufus-capped Warbler to British Columbia in search of Xantus' Hummingbird, these obsessive enthusiasts brave roasting deserts, storm-tossed oceans, infested swamps and disgruntled lions (not to mention some of the lumpiest hotel mattresses known to man) as they vie to become North America's number one bird-watcher in what would prove to be the biggest Big Year of them all...In this captivating tour of human and avian nature, of courage and deceit, of passion and paranoia, prize-winning journalist Mark Obmascik reveals the extremes to which Man will go to pursue his dreams, to conquer and to categorize - no matter how low the stakes. Wonderfully funny, acutely observed and hugely entertaining, THE BIG YEAR is a lark of a read.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #199970 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 309 pages

From the Back Cover
…a strange but true tale of Man, Nature and Fowl obsession.

Each year, hundreds of people set out across North America determined to set a new record in a spectacularly competitive event. Is it tennis? Golf? Racing? Poker perhaps? No, it’s bird-watching, and a contest known as the Big Year – a grand, gruelling, expensive (and occasionally vicious) 365-day marathon to identify the most species.

And this is the rollicking chronicle of the 275,000-mile odyssey of three unlikely adventurers who take their bird-watching so seriously it nearly kills them. From Texas in pursuit of the Rufus-capped Warbler to British Columbia in search of Xantus’ Hummingbird, these obsessive enthusiasts brave roasting deserts, storm-tossed oceans, infested swamps and disgruntled lions (not to mention some of the lumpiest hotel mattresses known to man) as they vie to become North America’s number one bird-watcher in what would prove to be the biggest Big Year of them all…

In this captivating tour of human and avian nature, of courage and deceit, of passion and paranoia, prize-winning journalist Mark Obmascik reveals the extremes to which Man will go to pursue his dreams, to conquer and to categorize – no matter how low the stakes. Wonderfully funny, acutely observed and hugely entertaining, The Big Year is a lark of a read.

About the Author
Mark Obmascik has been a journalist for two decades, most recently at the 'Denver Post', where he was lead writer for the newspaper's Pulitzer Prize in 2000 and winner of the National Press Club Award for environmental journalism in 2003. An obsessed birder himself, he lives in Denver with his wife and sons.

Customer Reviews

Witty and informative - the best birding book I've read
An entertaining and informative account of the race between three birders to beat the Big Year record in 1998. The Big Year is a competition to see the most species on the United States and Canada in a single calendar year. Mark Obmascik's book uses the diaries of the three twitchers as well as recollections from fellow birders as they pile on the air miles, criss-crossing the continent to hopefully see reported rarity and vagrant species.

Obmascik writes in a witty anecdotal style and really gets under the surface of the three otherwise very diverse individuals as they race, unwittingly at first, for the same prize. As well as the humour and entertainment value, his book is also very informative chronicling, for example, the history of man's discovery of bird migration as well as the introduction of new species to the US such as the Himalayan Snowcock.

The Big Year is an excellent, enlightening read and is highly recommended for anyone interested in birding or the psychology of those obsessed enough to travel the length of the country to possibly see a singe, new rare species.