Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World

Strycker (The Thing with Feathers), a birder and adventurer, chronicles the record-setting year he spent trekking the globe, succeeding in his aim “to see 5,000 species of birds—about half the birds on Earth—in the ultimate round-the-world journey.” He begins in Antarctica on Jan. 1, 2015, and ends on December 31 in Australia, traveling to every continent and spotting more than 6,000 species. Strycker traces his lifelong interest in ornithology to his Pacific Northwest childhood and a fortuitous set of bird-related events that took place in his life at age 10. In this volume Strycker tracks what he saw during his “big year” and describes his planning process and the ground rules he established. Every bird he counted, for example, would need to be “seen by at least one other person.” His companions had to be local, too, “living in the same country where we went birding together.” This would prevent loneliness on his solo trip and help to give him the inside scoop. Even readers who wouldn’t know a marvellous spatuletail from a southern ground hornbill will be awed by Strycker’s achievement and appreciate the passion with which he pursues his interest. Photos. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary. (Oct.)