num_pages: 268
description: 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.
language: English
title: The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession
titlecomplete: The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession
genres: Biography, Memoir, Animals, Nature, Science, Adventure, Birds, Travel, Humor, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 5145
publisher: Atria Books