The Big Year Podcast

Welcome, birders and non birders who have to put up with the birders in their lives, to the Big Year Podcast, with me, the one, the only,(thankfully), Robert Baumander. As I sit and type this introduction, it is August 1, 2024 and the unofficial start of The Dog Days of Summer. Actually, for birders in Ontario, at least, the birding really begins to slow down near the beginning of July. But even so, there have been a few rare birds to chase, including a Brown Booby and a Ruff. Boobies are quite rare in Ontario, but I’ve seen a few over the years. Of course, if you want to really see boobies in their natural habitat you just need to visit south Florida in the spring.

And what’s a Ruff? My research has found that it is named for the feathers it displays with its tufts, or ruff extended. The Ruff is a medium sized sandpiper and on its breeding grounds the males put on the most spectacular displays worthy of any fashion show catwalk. Alas, though I have seen plenty of boobies, I have never seen a Ruff display. For that you need to visit a Lek in Northwestern Alaska.

Now, to get to today’s episode. We are returning, once again to Ontario and will meet a young man, who in 2023, after watching so many of his fellow birders do Big Years the previous year, decided that he would enjoy trying one himself. Marcus Legzdins was in his final year of high school, and was birding in the Oakville area when, in December of 2022, decided to do an HSA Big Year. What’s the HSA you ask? I had heard of it, but just thought it was where birders who lived in Hamilton reported their sightings. But it has exact boundaries and strict rules for reporting species for official records. It is a circle, 25 miles,(about 40 kilometres) centred on downtown Hamilton. Yes, we birders are sticklers for details. If you see the bird on the wrong side of the road, well, you haven’t really seen it in the HSA until it crosses that invisible boundary. I wonder if it’s bad form to coax the bird over the line with calls or sunflower seeds?

You don’t have to be crazy to do a Big Year, as Marcus showed me during our chat, but it doesn’t hurt either. A common theme I have found is, even if it’s not to the level of my obsessiveness, a desire to make sense of the world, whether it’s making bird lists, or traveling to exotic places to see things you’ve never seen before, and in some cases, never imagined seeing. It’s the desire to collect, not just things, but memories, and stories of adventures you can share with the world. Many birders love taking photographs but a lot do not. To them it’s the experience that makes it rewarding. Though I’m not sure I ever met a Big Year birder who wasn’t also a photo buff.

Exotic locals and photo memories are not necessary to enjoy many aspects of a Big Year, or birding in general. Marcus birded in a pretty good patch, but as he told me, anywhere you live, you can find that one spot where you’ll almost always have good birding. Big Years can be really small or really big. And can be in any patch you find. Anyway, Marcus was perfectly located in Oakville to begin his year long quest.

So sit back, relax, since August birding is so slow anyway, and enjoy…