The Big Year Podcast

A long time ago in an era known as the Covid-19 Lockdowns, I met Andy Nguyen on a berm above the Grand River in Brantford, Ontario.  We were looking or a California Gull and before finding it, I ran off to look for a Yellow-browed Warbler in Oakville.  Because Andy was wearing a mask, as it was back in Covid times, I did not recognize him the next time we met.   But after a while, we got to know e...

Welcome to another episode of the Big Year Podcast!  My journey across North America to talk to and see what makes Big Year Birders Tick.  It’s July 2, 2023 as I broadcast from my Secret Big Year recording location, deep in the basement of my Brantford home.  It’s a rainy day so I am stuck indoors, not willing to brave the elements for anything but the rarest birds sighting.  A far cry from what I...

The month of May in Southwestern Ontario is all about songbird migration and seeing as many warblers as possible.  I knew I wasn't going to have time to edit previous podcasts and, naturally, no birders were going to have time to do sit down interviews that may cost them a Big Year Bird or Lifer, or just a skulking Mourning or Worm Eating Warbler. So, instead, I took my recording device on the roa...

Today is May 1, 2023 and it is the official start of Spring Migration here in Southern Ontario.  Birders from far and wide, some doing their own Big Years, are beginning their own migration to Canada’s spring birding hotspot, Point Pelee National Park to welcome the songbirds home.  Down in Ohio, many birders will be making their way to The Biggest Week in American Birding.  Sue and I had to cance...

I met Karen Miller on Canada Day in 2022.  I was running out of options to get close enough to Bill's Island, off of Grand Manan, New Brunswick, so I could see American Oystercatchers.  If the ferry had not been late, I'd have never met Karen and her husband Bill, who had been ferrying birders out to the island all day, to see these rare visitors to Canada. Then, on December 21 I was given an earl...

On today's episode we talk to Christian Hagenlocher.  At the age of 26 he did his 21st century version of a Big Year on a budget,(a tight budget), and saw 752 species. He was the youngest birder to ever pass 750, making it an even greater accomplishment.  Christian is creator of The Birding Project and author of the book, Falcon Freeway: A Big Year of Birding on a Budget. You can find it on Amazon...

Episode 2 of the Big Year Podcast features Yve Morrell. I first met Yve Morrell in 2017 during her Big Year.  I had flown down to Texas to search for a Jabiru.  A bunch of us, including Yve, searched in vain for it for most of the day.  Many of us did get a Black Rail that day, so it wasn’t a total loss for ether of us.   What we didn’t know at the time is we were both booked on a pelagic with Deb...

Episode 1 of The Big Year Podcast features Sandy Komito, who twice broke the ABA Big Year birding records in 1987 and again in 1998.    

The Big Year Podcast, begins January 30, 2023. Having just completed a Canada Big Year in 2022, birding across the country for 365 days and seeing 456 species, I am now putting my obsessions, ahm, efforts into talking to the birders of the Big Year. Birders who have had the same commitment,(some should be committed according to their spouses), to see as many birds as possible in a local county, Pr...