The Big Year: a Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession.THE BIG YEAR: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession MARK OBMASCIK If someone mentions extreme sports extreme sports Sports events characterized by high speed or high risk. Such sports include aggressive inline skating, wakeboarding, street luge, skateboarding, and freestyle bicycle events (wherein tricks such as back flips are performed on a bicycle). , what probably comes to mind is freestyle snowboarding or maybe stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States and Great Britain held largely on oval rings of between approximately a quarter-mile and 2. . But one of the most grueling annual competitions actually involves bird-watching In the contest known as the North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. Big Year, hundreds of bird enthusiasts spend 365 days trotting across thousands of miles of rough terrain in an effort to spot the most bird species in that period. Hundreds of people participate. Potential specimens number in the thousands. There are few rules and no referees. The competitors submit their results to the American Birding Association The American Birding Association (ABA) is a non-profit organization of people interested in birding. Membership is open to all, but many of its publications and programs have historically been aimed at birders who like making difficult field identifications and finding rare species. , which publishes the results. Pulitzer prize-winning author Obmascik followed three competitors in the 1998 North American Big Year, through a 275,000-mile odyssey that involved scaling mountains and braving blistering deserts--all to log bird sightings. By his own admission, Obmascik's interest in birds borders on obsession. He wanted to meet the people who have taken that interest to the next level. He follows those folks to scores of birding paradises and makes their inhabitants
The game is based loosely on the concepts from SameGame. come to life for armchair enthusiasts who'd rather forgo the adventures of Big Year competition. Free Pr, 2004, 268 p., hardcover, $25.00. |
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