Another sly reference to the Wilde oeuvre comes from Richard at Sparroworks, who is coordinating and promoting the Big Green Year aka “BIGBY.” Like any other big year, the idea is to list as many birds as possible. The green aspect is the limitation that all birds must be reached on foot, via self-propelled vehicles, or by using local public transportation. In other words, birds you see out your window at home, during a walk, or while biking are okay, but birds seen on trips involving planes, trains, or automobiles are not. The hidden advantage, for you Wilde and crazy birders, is that you can add “bigbying” to “bunburying” in your repertoire of excuses to avoid life’s necessary evils.
Since I am primarily a backyard birder, I like this idea. Who knows, maybe it will encourage me to get out and walk more. In the meantime, just this morning while still more or less sedentary, I saw nine species out back: American Crow, American Goldfinch, Canada Goose, Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch, House Sparrow, Mallard, Mourning Dove, and Northern Cardinal. A photo of a treeful of finches is above, but that’s only a small portion of the flock that was hanging around mooching safflower seed and staring down the sparrows.
So I’ve added a link in the sidebar for anyone who wants to keep track of what I’m seeing without needing carbon offsets. Richard indicates 180 birders signed up as of this evening. Corey at 10,000 Birds has announced his own Antiglobal Warming Big Year for 2008, so this may be the year of laid-back listing.
sparroworker – 218 is an impressive turnout – my list is only at 11 so far, but I am optimistic about spring.
Update from the Bigby Bunker … there are now 218 registered Bigbyists at least and a few more who are doing it anyway … Canada, US, Taiwan, Australia, Guatemala, Ecuador, France, Germany, England and Scotland. Do join us –
Richard Bigby
hi, sparverius, and welcome to wrenaissance. Like you, I see a lot of the “usual suspects” but over the course of the year, the number of species add up. I’ll look forward to seeing what you come up with.
I’ve just started my BIGBY list as well, and liked how you’ve got your side bar list set up. I’m going to borrow your idea and keep track of mine the same way. Mostly what I have right around my home are starlings and house sparrows. So it will be fun to keep track of those Flickers, Steller’s Jays, and Robins that sometimes come by.
mon@rch – spread the word! I think the idea is simple enough to appeal to a lot of non-listers.
lana – i love sharing information – thanks for reading and commenting.
larry – it may be a short list, but I’ll be interested to see what passes nearby. Over time, it will be interesting to compare year-to-year.
That’s a great concept! I do an awful lot of birding by foot-I’m not good at sticking to lists for a long time-I’m doing one for january + have a life list-that’s it.-I will keep an eye on your list.
Cool idea! Thanks for the info.
I think this is a wonderful thing to do! I have not heard about this and will look into it! Good luck!