Every January 1, a quirky crowd storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year -- a grand, expensive, and occasionally vicious 365-day marathon of birdwatching. For three men in particular, 1998 would become a grueling battle for a new North American birding record. Bouncing from coast to coast on frenetic pilgrimages for once-in-a-lifetime rarities, they brave broiling deserts, bug-infested swamps, and some of the lumpiest motel mattresses known to man. This unprecedented year of beat-the-clock adventures ultimately leads one man to a record so gigantic that it is unlikely ever to be bested. Here, prize-winning journalist Mark Obmascik creates a dazzling, fun narrative of the 275,000-mile odyssey of these three obsessives as they fight to win the greatest -- or maybe worst -- birding contest of all time.
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In one of the wackiest competitions around, every year hundreds of obsessed bird watchers participate in a contest known as the North American Big Year. Hoping to be the one to spot the most species during the course of the year, each birder spends 365 days racing around the continental U.S. and Canada compiling lists of birds, all for the glory of being recognized by the American Birding Association as the Big Year birding champion of North America. In this entertaining book, Obmascik, a journalist with the Denver Post, tells the stories of the three top contenders in the 1998 American Big Year: a wisecracking industrial roofing contractor from New Jersey who aims to break his previous record and win for a second time; a suave corporate chief executive from Colorado; and a 225-pound nuclear power plant software engineer from Maryland. Obmascik bases his story on post-competition interviews but writes so well that it sounds as if he had been there every step of the way. In a freewheeling style that moves around as fast as his subjects, the author follows each of the three birding fanatics as they travel thousands of miles in search of such hard-to-find species as the crested myna, the pink-footed goose and the fork-tailed flycatcher, spending thousands of dollars and braving rain, sleet, snowstorms, swamps, deserts, mosquitoes and garbage dumps in their attempts to outdo each other. By not revealing the outcome until the end of the book, Obmascik keeps the reader guessing in this fun account of a whirlwind pursuit of birding fame.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
There is a well-known competition among birders called the Big Year, in which one abandons one's regular life for one whole year in order to see more species of birds in a geographic area than one's competitors. Environmental journalist Obmascik follows the 1998 Big Year's three main competitors--a New Jersey roofing contractor, a corporate executive, and a software engineer--as they crisscross the country in search of birds. Whether looking for flamingos in the Everglades, great grey owls in the frozen bogs near Duluth, or Asian rarities on the Aleutian island of Attu, these obsessed birders not only faced seasickness, insects, altitude sickness, and going into debt, they also faced each other. Their drive to win propelled all three past the rarified count of 700 species seen, and the winner saw an extraordinary 745 species--a number that will probably never be equaled. With a blend of humor and awe, Obmascik takes the reader into the heart of competitive birding, and in the process turns everyone into birders. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
Sandy Komito was ready. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Sandy Komito was ready. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By "rav10"
Format:Hardcover
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Mark Obmascik has documented the "Big Year" of three extreme birders - Sandy Komito, Al Levantin and Greg Miller - as they try to beat a record and each other during 1998. This is more a sporting competition than natural history or science. They could just as easily had been train spotting for the largest number of different boxcars. The goal is of course to record the largest number of bird species seen in one year and they have a tough standard to play against. James Vardaman had recorded 699 birds in 1979, Benton Basham had seen 711 in 1983, Komito himself had gotten 721 in 1987, and Bill Rydell had gotten 714 in 1992. In 1998 all were trying to beat 721 and all were unbelievably driven. I won't tell you who won, but it certainly is a remarkable tale indeed!
As a sometimes birder who is a professional biologist I understand the thrill of the chase and at least these listers are not killing their quarry. However, I am a bit astonished at the amount of money and time some of these extreme birders will spend to get over 700 birds on their list in a year. I have only about 250 birds on my life list (I'm not against listing) and I doubt that I will ever make 500 for my life.
The story of their competition to reach over 721 birds in a single year is gripping, but I tend to agree with at least one of the left behind wives that they are also a little bit out of their minds. Everybody has a right to follow their dream (as long as they don't hurt others in the process) and birding is relatively harmless. I personally would prefer to get to know the birds a bit better than that. Perhaps that is a bit of academic snobbishness, but it is also my individual taste.
In any case I recommend this book to anyone who would like to try to understand the drive to record the maximum number of birds seen in a year.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Sue Hirst
Format:Paperback
This is a book about obsession.
Mark Obmascik tells the story of three birders - Greg Miller, Sandy Komito and Al Levantin - who take this most mild-mannered of hobbies to a new level in their desire to smash the existing record for a Big Year. A Big Year is a single year in which a birder aims to see as many north American birds as possible and in 1998, the number to beat was well over 700. There are no prizes, no huge international recognition, no kudos or accolades beyond obscure birding circles...no reason to do this...unless you're obsessed by birds.
The exploits of these three guys are more of an extreme sport than the genteel pastime involving binoculars and sanwiches that birding is usually considered to be. These guys are prepared to charter helicopters to fly snowy peaks after Himalayan snowcocks, throw up over the back of ocean-going vessels to chase pelagic birds that never come to shore, yomp across frozen mud in freezing sleet on the remote island of Attu to see rarities blown off-course by winter storms, and canoe through alligator-infested swamps after flamingos. It's birding Jim, but not as we know it!
The book is easy to read. Obmascik has stuck a good balance between drawing portraits of the three men, providing details about the birds and the locations they are found and he doesn't over-emphasise the lunacy of the pursuit...he doesn't need to! I'm only a on-off, kitchen-window kind of a birder but I enjoyed this book.
Mark Obmascik tells the story of three birders - Greg Miller, Sandy Komito and Al Levantin - who take this most mild-mannered of hobbies to a new level in their desire to smash the existing record for a Big Year. A Big Year is a single year in which a birder aims to see as many north American birds as possible and in 1998, the number to beat was well over 700. There are no prizes, no huge international recognition, no kudos or accolades beyond obscure birding circles...no reason to do this...unless you're obsessed by birds.
The exploits of these three guys are more of an extreme sport than the genteel pastime involving binoculars and sanwiches that birding is usually considered to be. These guys are prepared to charter helicopters to fly snowy peaks after Himalayan snowcocks, throw up over the back of ocean-going vessels to chase pelagic birds that never come to shore, yomp across frozen mud in freezing sleet on the remote island of Attu to see rarities blown off-course by winter storms, and canoe through alligator-infested swamps after flamingos. It's birding Jim, but not as we know it!
The book is easy to read. Obmascik has stuck a good balance between drawing portraits of the three men, providing details about the birds and the locations they are found and he doesn't over-emphasise the lunacy of the pursuit...he doesn't need to! I'm only a on-off, kitchen-window kind of a birder but I enjoyed this book.
Want to see more reviews on this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 103 reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read
I loved this book, and finished it in 2 days. Mark Obmascik has done an exceptional job capturing the excitement (and obsession) of birding. Read more
Published on May 22 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not for birders only!
THE BIG YEAR tells the stories of three men determined to set a new record in North American birding. Read more
Published on May 21 2004 by Gwyneth Calvetti
4.0 out of 5 stars
A tale of obsession, competition and, oh yes-birds!
The Big Year : A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik chronicles the 1998 "Big Year" Birding competition through the experiences of three participants. Read more
Published on April 13 2004 by David J. Gannon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Are you doing a Big Year this year ?
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. Read more
Published on Mar 27 2004 by J. Guild
5.0 out of 5 stars
What fun to read!
This book is terrific--so long as one doesn't think about the thousands of dollars these three men spend in pursuit of their obsession. Read more
Published on Mar 22 2004 by D. McDiffett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Seeing Is Believing
Mark Obmascik's descriptions of the birds and the people who chase them are fabulous. What a great adventure they all had and I enjoyed it as well by reading about it. Read more
Published on Mar 20 2004 by Kate
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Big Year is a quick fun read.
As an expeienced birder I often find books about the subject less than entertaining. Not the case with The Big Year. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed every page. Read more
Published on Mar 15 2004 by haans Petruschke
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great fun
Mark Obmascik can write! His wit and writing skills make this book a delight to read, even if birding is not your sport. Read more
Published on Mar 9 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Tale
I agree with what Kenn Kaufman and David Sibley said on the cover about this book. It's a "gripping page-turner" and it has been "the source of many daydreams". Read more
Published on Mar 8 2004 by Summer Tanager
4.0 out of 5 stars
Into the Hunt
Mark Obmascik can really write. I enjoyed this fast moving, insightful story about the world of competitive bird watching. Read more
Published on Mar 8 2004
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Humour & Entertainment > Humour > Sports
- Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Animals > Birds & Birdwatching
- Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecology
- Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Essays
- Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Fauna > Birds & Birdwatching
- Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Nature Writing
- Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Reference
- Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Humour
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
