Setting the Stage
In the USA birding world, a big year is an annual competition to see the most species of birds in a particular geographic region. Traditionally that region is the ABA area, a combination of the lower 48 states plus Canada and Alaska. Recently, Hawaii has been added to that definition. Other popular big years are state big years and county big years. So what is a “Biggest Year”? First, a little history to set the stage appropriately. The first Big Year attempt was orchestrated by Roger Tory Peterson, The Father of American Birding, author of the Peterson Guide to Birds (1934), and inspiration for the Peterson Identification Guides published by Houghton Mifflin. His year-long effort in 1956 was chronicled in his book Wild America. He described observing more than 600 species while traveling throughout the USA and Canada, which became known as the ABA area, or the region served by the American Birding Association. In 1974, Kenn Kaufman was the first to attempt the covete