Big Year : A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik (2004, Hardcover)

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THE BIG YEAR: A TALE OF MAN, NATURE, AND FOWL OBSESSION By Mark Obmascik - Hardcover **BRAND NEW**.

About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherFree Press

ISBN-100743245458

ISBN-139780743245456

eBay Product ID (ePID)5950394

Product Key Features

Book TitleBig Year : a Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession

Number of Pages288 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2004

TopicGeneral, Birdwatching Guides

IllustratorYes

GenreNature

AuthorMark Obmascik

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight13.2 Oz

Item Length8.8 in

Item Width5.8 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2003-062421

ReviewsStefan Fatsisauthor of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble PlayersRed-breasted nuthatches! Himalayan snowcocks! Spotted woodpeckers! Nutting's flycatchers! The Big Year is the Gumball Rally of birding -- a rollicking, nonstop, trans-continental adventure. Mark Obmascik brings the doggedness of an investigative reporter, the grace of an accomplished storyteller, and the compassion of a fellow-traveling obsessive to this alluring quest for avian supremacy., Kenn Kaufmanauthor of Kaufman Focus Guides: Birds of North AmericaIf you didn't think that a bird book could be a gripping page-turner, The Big Year will blow you away. Mark Obmascik has captured the best and the worst of birding, the euphoria and insanity of bird-chasing as an extreme sport, in this vivid, well-crafted epic., Jeff Corwinwildlife biologist, executive producer and host of Animal Planet's The Jeff Corwin ExperienceThe Big Year is big fun. A rollicking, feather-ruffler of a read, this uproarious adventure of three men who flew over the cuckoo's nest in their search for avian glory will have you cawing with laughter., T. R. ReidWashington Post's Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief, regular commentator on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and author of Confucius Lives Next DoorHere's a rare species: a book on birdwatching that turns out to be charming, engrossing, and educational even for people who can't tell a mudhen from a magpie. It was so much fun, I didn't want the big year to end. When it did, there was only one thing to say: "Where'd I put those binoculars?", David Allen Sibleyauthor of The Sibley Guide to BirdsMark Obmascik understands birders, and in this book he has ventured bravely into the fringes of the hobby to report on a sort of extreme birding: the big year. It's the best and the worst of birding in one grueling yearlong contest, and you have to admire the rare passion and dedication that a big year attempt requires. The rest of us must be content with daydreaming about it, and this book will undoubtedly be the source of many daydreams.

Dewey Edition22

TitleLeadingThe

Dewey Decimal598/.07/234

Table Of ContentContents Introduction1. January 1, 19982. A Birder Is Hatched3. The Early Birds4. Strategy5. Bodega Bluff6. Whirlwind7. El Niño8. The Wise Owl9. Yucatán Express10. The Big Yak11. The Cradle of Storms12. The B.O.D.13. Doubt14. Forked15. Conquest16. Cape Hatteras Clincher17. Two in the Bush18. Nemesis19. Honorbound20. December 31, 1998EpilogueAcknowledgmentsBibliographyIndex

SynopsisEvery year on January 1, a quirky crowd of adventurers storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year -- a grand, grueling, expensive, and occasionally vicious, "extreme" 365-day marathon of birdwatching.For three men in particular, 1998 would be a whirlwind, a winner-takes-nothing battle for a new North American birding record. In frenetic pilgrimages for once-in-a-lifetime rarities that can make or break their lead, the birders race each other from Del Rio, Texas, in search of the rufous-capped warbler, to Gibsons, British Columbia, on a quest for Xantus's hummingbird, to Cape May, New Jersey, seeking the offshore great skua. Bouncing from coast to coast on their potholed road to glory, they brave broiling deserts, roiling oceans, bug-infested swamps, a charge by a disgruntled mountain lion, and some of the lumpiest motel mattresses known to man.The unprecedented year of beat-the-clock adventures ultimately leads one man to a new record -- one so gigantic that it is unlikely ever to be bested...finding and identifying an extraordinary 745 different species by official year-end count. Prize-winning journalist Mark Obmascik creates a rollicking, dazzling narrative of the 275,000-mile odyssey of these three obsessives as they fight to the finish to claim the title in the greatest -- or maybe the worst -- birding contest of all time. With an engaging, unflappably wry humor, Obmascik memorializes their wild and crazy exploits and, along the way, interweaves an entertaining smattering of science about birds and their own strange behavior with a brief history of other bird-men and -women; turns out even Audubon pushed himself beyond the brink when he was chasing and painting the birds of America. A captivating tour of human and avian nature, passion and paranoia, honor and deceit, fear and loathing, The Big Year shows the lengths to which people will go to pursue their dreams, to conquer and categorize -- no matter how low the stakes. This is a lark of a read for anyone with birds on the brain -- or not.

LC Classification NumberQL677.5.O27 2004