Noah Strycker’s Big Year: A Companion Guide - DAYS 1 to 175: THE AMERICAS, WESTERN PALEARCTIC (Noah Strycker’s Big Year: A Companion Guide - COMPENDIA)
In 2015 Noah Strycker achieved something truly remarkable. Setting out from Antarctica on the first of January, he birded every spare moment of every day of the year, travelling the world and visiting 41 countries.

Noah’s objective was to record 5000 different birds that appear on the species list of The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World. In fact, he far exceeded this target and reached a total of 6042.

The aim of this Companion Guide series is to help birders and bird lovers all over the world share in Noah’s remarkable feat of endurance, and at the same time learn more about the birds he encountered on his amazing journey.

Here is a summary of his itinerary:

PART ONE: SOUTHERN AMERICA
New birds 981 Year List 981

PART TWO: NORTH-WEST SOUTH AMERICA
New birds 999 Year List 1980

PART THREE: MIDDLE AMERICA and NORTH AMERICA
New birds 770 Year List 2750

PART FOUR: WESTERN PALEARCTIC
New birds 314 Year List 3064

PART FIVE: SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
New birds 1140 Year List 4204

PART SIX: MIDDLE EAST, INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, EASTERN ASIA
New birds 931 Year List 5135

PART SEVEN: SOUTH-EASTERN ASIA, AUSTRALASIA, India (second visit)
New birds 907 Year List 6042

This Companion Guide covers days 1 to 175 of Noah's remarkable itinerary as he travelled from Antarctica through South America, Middle America, Jamaica and USA, Europe and Asia Minor – recording 3064 birds in 131 families.

The three compendium guide volumes that are available are:
Noah Strycker’s Big Year: A Companion Guide - DAYS 1 to 175
THE AMERICAS, WESTERN PALEARCTIC
Noah Strycker’s Big Year: A Companion Guide - DAYS 176 to 365
AFRICA, ASIA, AUSTRALASIA
Noah Strycker’s Big Year: A Companion Guide - OVERVIEW
Summary, Facts and Figures

For those readers who would prefer to concentrate on one particular part of the world, there are seven smaller guides available, each covering just one of the itinerary PARTs listed above.

Every Companion Guide includes:
- A mapping of the birds on The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World used by Noah Strycker to those that appear on The IOC World Bird List maintained by the International Ornithological Congress
- Birding days grouped into Sections for easier navigation of the species list published on the website of the National Audubon Society
- A one line summary of each day’s birding
- The new birds for each day listed in sequence
- Each bird identified by the day number it was first recorded and its position on the species list
- Geographical pointers to the sites visited by Noah
- Notes to explain differences between the Clements list and the IOC bird list
- Notes relating to other points of interest or to explain apparent anomalies
- Birds searchable by both Clements English name and IOC English name
- Regional listings in taxonomic order
- Country endemics found by Noah on his travels
- A record of his progress through the taxonomy of bird species as the year progressed
- All bird lists formatted for easy reading on a Kindle or tablet
- Embedded hyperlinks in IOC English names of birds to internet search results pages

The WORLD REGIONs covered by this Companion Guide are SOUTHERN AMERICA, NORTH-WEST SOUTH AMERICA, MIDDLE AMERICA, NORTH AMERICA and WESTERN PALEARCTIC.