Wednesday, 28 December 2011

Anticipation

I am surprised how my excitement for the New Year and the start of a strange and wacky adventure, at least for me, keeps building each day.
Seems unfair that any birds I see prior to January 1 don't count for my Big Year. Do I go an see the Smew prior to new years day just to see it, since there is a good chance that it might be gone by then? But I can't count it and I would have to find it again anyway.

Such are my thoughts as 2011 draws to a close. I will begin an adventure I never even imagined six months ago.

Starting in the Toronto area and then heading all the way to California. A Big Year, and one I am not even prepared for, nor even qualified to do. Guess, I really am crazy.

Tuesday, 27 December 2011

New Years Day plans

Well, my original thought was to go for a snowy owl as my first big year bird, but there might be a chance for a smew on January 1, as I begin my quest.

There is a sentence I never imagined I would type . I am not really a birder. I love to look at birds and take great pleasure in photographing them, but until I learned there was such a thing as a Big Year, the idea of chasing them never occurred to me. But now, it seems to have become my newest obsession. Starting Sunday morning and for the next 365 days I will be hunting birds with my ears, eyes and camera.

I am not going to break any records, but I intend to enjoy every minute of the quest

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Pre Big Year Thoughts

A big year is a grand undertaking. I have no desire to break any records but do have a goal I hope to reach.