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The Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 8: Ellen and Jerry Horak's Big YearsWelcome to another episode of The Big Year Podcast. I’m your host and guide to the world of Big Year birding, Robert Baumander. It’s December 1, 2025 and you’re listening to the Season Three Finale. That’s right, l have been blathering on now for nearly three years. When I began this podcast in January of 2023, with my big year birding mentor, Sandy Komito, I had no idea where this would lead. Actually, I’m not sure exactly where this has lead me, other than to accomplishing a desire since childhood to host my own talk show. Back then I wanted to...
2025-12-0138 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 8: Ellen and Jerry Horak's Big YearsWelcome to another episode of The Big Year Podcast. I’m your host and guide to the world of Big Year birding, Robert Baumander. It’s December 1, 2025 and you’re listening to the Season Three Finale. That’s right, l have been blathering on now for nearly three years. When I began this podcast in January of 2023, with my big year birding mentor, Sandy Komito, I had no idea where this would lead. Actually, I’m not sure exactly where this has lead me, other than to accomplishing a desire since childhood to host my own talk show. Back then I wanted to...
2025-12-0138 min
The Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 7: Liam Ragan’s Victoria Island, BC Big YearIt’s a rainy day in Birderland. It’s October 30, 2025 and I am writing this on night before Halloween. I won’t claim that this is going to be a spooky episode, but there are one or two scary birding stories from our guest Liam Ragan. Liam broke the record for a Vancouver Island, British Columbia Big Year, but beyond that, he does a lot of fine conservation work out west, for the Rocky Point Bird Observatory. His job gave him the freedom to travel around the island while also allowing him to go after his Vancouver Island Big Year reco...
2025-10-311h 03The Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 7: Liam Ragan’s Victoria Island, BC Big YearIt’s a rainy day in Birderland. It’s October 30, 2025 and I am writing this on night before Halloween. I won’t claim that this is going to be a spooky episode, but there are one or two scary birding stories from our guest Liam Ragan. Liam broke the record for a Vancouver Island, British Columbia Big Year, but beyond that, he does a lot of fine conservation work out west, for the Rocky Point Bird Observatory. His job gave him the freedom to travel around the island while also allowing him to go after his Vancouver Island Big Year reco...
2025-10-311h 03The Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 6: On the Road, AgainIt was the perfect way to begin The Big Year Podcast On the Road, Again, with discovery of a very rare bird, right here in my backyard, near Cambridge, Ontario. A young birder by the name of Nathan Hood found a Spotted Redshank, a rare visitor lost on its way back from Eurasia. Almost every birder I know in Ontario, from within 2 to 3 hours drive, has shown up to see this amazing rarity.
It’s September 1, 2025 and I t's hard to believe summer's nearly over and that fall migration is really underway. It certainly got started in a big...
2025-09-0138 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 6: On the Road, AgainIt was the perfect way to begin The Big Year Podcast On the Road, Again, with discovery of a very rare bird, right here in my backyard, near Cambridge, Ontario. A young birder by the name of Nathan Hood found a Spotted Redshank, a rare visitor lost on its way back from Eurasia. Almost every birder I know in Ontario, from within 2 to 3 hours drive, has shown up to see this amazing rarity.
It’s September 1, 2025 and I t's hard to believe summer's nearly over and that fall migration is really underway. It certainly got started in a big...
2025-09-0138 min
The Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 5: 2012 Ontario Big Year with Andrew KeavenyWelcome all to The Big Year Podcast. I’m Robert Baumander and you’re, well, you. It’s the end of July, 2025, and you know what that means? Certainly an all new episode of the Big Year podcast, naturally, but mostly, we’re smack-dab in the heat of the summer and the lack-of-birds blues. In July and August, it's more about the butterflies and bees than the birds in the trees.
It's hot, humid, and clammy. You get soaked with sweat and barely see or hear any birds. Nothing makes you look forward to fall migration more than the heat o...
2025-08-0158 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 5: 2012 Ontario Big Year with Andrew KeavenyWelcome all to The Big Year Podcast. I’m Robert Baumander and you’re, well, you. It’s the end of July, 2025, and you know what that means? Certainly an all new episode of the Big Year podcast, naturally, but mostly, we’re smack-dab in the heat of the summer and the lack-of-birds blues. In July and August, it's more about the butterflies and bees than the birds in the trees.
It's hot, humid, and clammy. You get soaked with sweat and barely see or hear any birds. Nothing makes you look forward to fall migration more than the heat o...
2025-08-0158 min
The Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 4: Ingrid and Ethan Whitaker's Lower 48 Big YearHappy Canada Jay Day. It’s July 1, 2025 and for most people it’s a holiday and a chance to barbecue, picnic, get away from the house and watch or set off fireworks after dark. For birders,(those poor souls that have to work for a living during the week), it’s a day to celebrate birds and go birding with friends, family, or just get away on your own and and listen to the summer breeding birds in a quiet forest, park or glen. As I write this, I’m sitting on a quiet bench in Long Point, Ontario at the Long...
2025-07-0153 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 4: Ingrid and Ethan Whitaker's Lower 48 Big YearHappy Canada Jay Day. It’s July 1, 2025 and for most people it’s a holiday and a chance to barbecue, picnic, get away from the house and watch or set off fireworks after dark. For birders,(those poor souls that have to work for a living during the week), it’s a day to celebrate birds and go birding with friends, family, or just get away on your own and and listen to the summer breeding birds in a quiet forest, park or glen. As I write this, I’m sitting on a quiet bench in Long Point, Ontario at the Long...
2025-07-0153 min
The Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 3: Alberta Bider and Guide, Gavin McKinnonWell, thank you once again for joining me on the Big Year podcast. As May turns to June, spring migration is coming to a close. I've been busy all the merry month of May, birding in Long Point Provincial Park, where we got to see a Summer Tanager, Rondeau Provincial Parks for a Mourning Warbler, and Point Pelee National Park for Prothonotary Warblers and a Yellow-breasted Chat and Hillman Marsh for a Neotropic Cormorant and American Avocets. I’ve taken trips to Toronto where I just saw a Western Kingbird at Humber Bay East and a Western Grebe at Colo...
2025-06-0138 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 3: Alberta Bider and Guide, Gavin McKinnonWell, thank you once again for joining me on the Big Year podcast. As May turns to June, spring migration is coming to a close. I've been busy all the merry month of May, birding in Long Point Provincial Park, where we got to see a Summer Tanager, Rondeau Provincial Parks for a Mourning Warbler, and Point Pelee National Park for Prothonotary Warblers and a Yellow-breasted Chat and Hillman Marsh for a Neotropic Cormorant and American Avocets. I’ve taken trips to Toronto where I just saw a Western Kingbird at Humber Bay East and a Western Grebe at Colo...
2025-06-0138 min
The Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 2: Natasza Fontaine and Robert Gundy Florida Big Year and Artist of theHappy Podcast day, one and all! Welcome to back to The Big Year Podcast. Thank you once again for joining me. It’s April 15, 2025 and spring migration is well underway here in southwestern Ontario. It’s actually a bit of a miracle that I finished this episode on time because the last 2 weeks have been very busy for me and my fellow birders. It started with a Western Grebe in Port Credit, a Black-headed Gull, at Port Colborne, followed by a Long-billed Dowitcher right here in Brant County. The fun continued with over 50 American White Pelicans at Holiday Beach and a fema...
2025-04-1559 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 2: Natasza Fontaine and Robert Gundy Florida Big Year and Artist of theHappy Podcast day, one and all! Welcome to back to The Big Year Podcast. Thank you once again for joining me. It’s April 15, 2025 and spring migration is well underway here in southwestern Ontario. It’s actually a bit of a miracle that I finished this episode on time because the last 2 weeks have been very busy for me and my fellow birders. It started with a Western Grebe in Port Credit, a Black-headed Gull, at Port Colborne, followed by a Long-billed Dowitcher right here in Brant County. The fun continued with over 50 American White Pelicans at Holiday Beach and a fema...
2025-04-1559 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 1: Jean IronYes, The Big Year Podcast is back.
And after a long, cold, snowy winter, the temperatures are finally on the rise and the birds are finally on migration.
It’s March 15, 2025 as I sit down to write this, I’m looking out my front window, here Brantford, Ontario to bright blue skies and hearing Northern Cardinals in full song, a sure sign of spring and the migration season to come.
I hope you are all in the spring migration spirit, shedding those layers and putting on your fancy spring birding plumage. As for me, I...
2025-03-1550 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 3, Episode 1: Jean IronYes, The Big Year Podcast is back.
And after a long, cold, snowy winter, the temperatures are finally on the rise and the birds are finally on migration.
It’s March 15, 2025 as I sit down to write this, I’m looking out my front window, here Brantford, Ontario to bright blue skies and hearing Northern Cardinals in full song, a sure sign of spring and the migration season to come.
I hope you are all in the spring migration spirit, shedding those layers and putting on your fancy spring birding plumage. As for me, I...
2025-03-1550 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 9: The Season FinaleIt is December of 2024 and we’ve come to the end of another season of The Big Year Podcast. Welcome one and all as we look back on another year of birding or are looking forward to next year and possibly your own Big Year. If so, let me know and we can have a chat, sometime. I love to hear your stories, big or small.
Today, we have a mixed bag of birding guests. Over the course of 2024 I've recorded a few short conversation with birders I’ve met during my travels and I’ll have a preview o...
2024-12-0543 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 9: The Season FinaleIt is December of 2024 and we’ve come to the end of another season of The Big Year Podcast. Welcome one and all as we look back on another year of birding or are looking forward to next year and possibly your own Big Year. If so, let me know and we can have a chat, sometime. I love to hear your stories, big or small.
Today, we have a mixed bag of birding guests. Over the course of 2024 I've recorded a few short conversation with birders I’ve met during my travels and I’ll have a preview o...
2024-12-0543 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 8: Josh Gant, 2020 Ocean County, NJ Big YearWell, it's Friday, November 7, 2024.
I'm now five weeks late for my latest podcast, this episode with Joshua Gant, which was supposed to have appeared on October 1st.
Well, I got busy in October, actually in September as well, and I started a project that kept me pretty busy.
Not only was I building a set of cat shelves in the living room for the cats to play on this winter, I was building a dream project of mine.
I was born in 1960, and in 1966, the TV show Star Trek appeared, and...
2024-11-0847 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 8: Josh Gant, 2020 Ocean County, NJ Big YearWell, it's Friday, November 7, 2024.
I'm now five weeks late for my latest podcast, this episode with Joshua Gant, which was supposed to have appeared on October 1st.
Well, I got busy in October, actually in September as well, and I started a project that kept me pretty busy.
Not only was I building a set of cat shelves in the living room for the cats to play on this winter, I was building a dream project of mine.
I was born in 1960, and in 1966, the TV show Star Trek appeared, and...
2024-11-0847 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2 Episode 7: Danny Bernard and his Accidental Michigan Big YearWell, it’s September 1, 2024, the Dog Days of Birding are behind us and fall migration is underway, signalling the end of the summer breeding season and birds booking their flights south for the winter. Happily for birders, there are no direct flights from the breeding grounds in the north to the wintering grounds in the south, which means we are graced by the presence of southern migrants. When the wind is just right, shorebirds and seabirds pass through, many of them stopping to refuel at various mudflats. rivers, lakes and ponds, where they fill their bellies with enough food to g...
2024-09-0143 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2 Episode 7: Danny Bernard and his Accidental Michigan Big YearWell, it’s September 1, 2024, the Dog Days of Birding are behind us and fall migration is underway, signalling the end of the summer breeding season and birds booking their flights south for the winter. Happily for birders, there are no direct flights from the breeding grounds in the north to the wintering grounds in the south, which means we are graced by the presence of southern migrants. When the wind is just right, shorebirds and seabirds pass through, many of them stopping to refuel at various mudflats. rivers, lakes and ponds, where they fill their bellies with enough food to g...
2024-09-0143 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 6: Marcus Legzdins and his 2023 HSA Big YearWelcome, 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 ov...
2024-08-0237 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 6: Marcus Legzdins and his 2023 HSA Big YearWelcome, 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 ov...
2024-08-0237 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 5: Trailblazing Extreme Birder Lynn BarberToday’s episode, features a trailblazer, who was the first woman to do a full out ABA Big Year and has been an inspiration to women in the birding world ever since she saw 723 species in 2008, one more than Sandy Komito’s first Big Year in 1986. Lynn Barber is an author and artists and had done two Texas Big Years prior to her ABA Big Year and has since done Alaska and Wisconsin Big Years, Her first Book, Extreme Birder is a must read for anyone considering doing their own big year. She now lives in Wisconsin and is working...
2024-07-0144 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 5: Trailblazing Extreme Birder Lynn BarberToday’s episode, features a trailblazer, who was the first woman to do a full out ABA Big Year and has been an inspiration to women in the birding world ever since she saw 723 species in 2008, one more than Sandy Komito’s first Big Year in 1986. Lynn Barber is an author and artists and had done two Texas Big Years prior to her ABA Big Year and has since done Alaska and Wisconsin Big Years, Her first Book, Extreme Birder is a must read for anyone considering doing their own big year. She now lives in Wisconsin and is working...
2024-07-0144 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 4: Brett Forsyth's 2022 Human Powered Green Big YearWell, happy birding to everyone who has chosen to join me here today. It is Saturday, June 1st, 2024, as I type. I'm Robert Baumander and this is The Big Year Podcast. My guest is Brett Forsyth, who, in 2022, did a self-powered Big Year, which means he never got in the car to go to see any bird, only walking or cycling from home. So that was a grind of a Big Year because he cycled nearly every day, in every type of weather, sometimes 150 to 300 kilometres and in single day. And I can safely say he now has the all...
2024-06-0239 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 4: Brett Forsyth's 2022 Human Powered Green Big YearWell, happy birding to everyone who has chosen to join me here today. It is Saturday, June 1st, 2024, as I type. I'm Robert Baumander and this is The Big Year Podcast. My guest is Brett Forsyth, who, in 2022, did a self-powered Big Year, which means he never got in the car to go to see any bird, only walking or cycling from home. So that was a grind of a Big Year because he cycled nearly every day, in every type of weather, sometimes 150 to 300 kilometres and in single day. And I can safely say he now has the all...
2024-06-0239 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 3: Krissi Martin's 2022 Double Big YearWelcome back to The Big Year Podcast. Sorry to have been gone so long, but birding seemed to drag me away from editing more often than not in April. Not to mention that I was recovering from a severe hand injury, when I fell after seeing both Ross’s and Snow Geese in Burlington in March. I hyper extended all the fingers on my right hand, using it to brace myself and protect my camera as tripped over a rock and fell to the ground.
It is May 2, 2024 and I was supposed to publish this episode yesterday, but on...
2024-05-0241 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 3: Krissi Martin's 2022 Double Big YearWelcome back to The Big Year Podcast. Sorry to have been gone so long, but birding seemed to drag me away from editing more often than not in April. Not to mention that I was recovering from a severe hand injury, when I fell after seeing both Ross’s and Snow Geese in Burlington in March. I hyper extended all the fingers on my right hand, using it to brace myself and protect my camera as tripped over a rock and fell to the ground.
It is May 2, 2024 and I was supposed to publish this episode yesterday, but on...
2024-05-0241 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 2, Part Two: Bruce DiLabio’s Canada Big YearHello there everybody,
Welcome back to The Big Year Podcast. This is part 2 of my chat with the new all time record holder for a Canada Big Year, Bruce DiLabio. As I type this, it’s a sunny spring day in late March and the excitement of migration season is just around the corner. It’s what all birders crave after a long, cold winter in the northern US and Canada.
However, for those in the southern US, migration gets going an about month earlier. And one of the best places to be in April...
2024-03-2631 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 2, Part Two: Bruce DiLabio’s Canada Big YearHello there everybody,
Welcome back to The Big Year Podcast. This is part 2 of my chat with the new all time record holder for a Canada Big Year, Bruce DiLabio. As I type this, it’s a sunny spring day in late March and the excitement of migration season is just around the corner. It’s what all birders crave after a long, cold winter in the northern US and Canada.
However, for those in the southern US, migration gets going an about month earlier. And one of the best places to be in April...
2024-03-2631 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 1, Part One: Bruce Di Labio’s Canada Big YearHello Birders, welcome back to The Big Year Podcast. I am so excited to be back for a second season. I wasn’t sure we’d get renewed but the birds tweeted their approval and desire to hear from even more Big Year birders, so here I am and boy do I have a great line up of guests ready to share their stories.
Over the course of the spring and summer, you will get to hear form Lynn Barber, the one of the great ABA Big Year birders, and author of many books, including Extreme Birder: One Wo...
2024-03-1537 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 2, Episode 1, Part One: Bruce Di Labio’s Canada Big YearHello Birders, welcome back to The Big Year Podcast. I am so excited to be back for a second season. I wasn’t sure we’d get renewed but the birds tweeted their approval and desire to hear from even more Big Year birders, so here I am and boy do I have a great line up of guests ready to share their stories.
Over the course of the spring and summer, you will get to hear form Lynn Barber, the one of the great ABA Big Year birders, and author of many books, including Extreme Birder: One Wo...
2024-03-1537 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 14: Kelly-Sue O’Connor and Birding with Mental Health Issues
Hello birders, and other non-feathered friends, and welcome to Episode 14 and the final episode of Season 1 of The Big Year Podcast. I am thrilled to have Kelly-Sue O’Conner, who runs Birder Brains, who along with myself and many other birders, live with various mental health issues, including Attention Deficit-Hyperactive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Post-concussion Syndrome. In my case all three plus a few other, including Social Anxiety Disorder. Boy, do I hate the word "disorder" as a descriptive.
Anyway in this episode I did something very different. Because of the subject matter...
2023-12-1540 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 14: Kelly-Sue O’Connor and Birding with Mental Health Issues
Hello birders, and other non-feathered friends, and welcome to Episode 14 and the final episode of Season 1 of The Big Year Podcast. I am thrilled to have Kelly-Sue O’Conner, who runs Birder Brains, who along with myself and many other birders, live with various mental health issues, including Attention Deficit-Hyperactive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Post-concussion Syndrome. In my case all three plus a few other, including Social Anxiety Disorder. Boy, do I hate the word "disorder" as a descriptive.
Anyway in this episode I did something very different. Because of the subject matter...
2023-12-1540 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 13: Tiffany Kersten’s 2021 Lower 48 Big Year, Part 2We are back. Welcome once again to the show about birders and their Big Years. I had the pleasure of speaking with Tiffany a while back and in a previous episode we were discussing the life changing events that accidentally pushed her into doing a Big Year in the Lower 48 states. And today as we continue with our discussion we shall see how life changing doing a Big Year was for Tiffany. At a crossroads in her life, during the pandemic and as a single, unemployed new home owner, she threw caution to the wind, and set out on an...
2023-11-1625 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 13: Tiffany Kersten’s 2021 Lower 48 Big Year, Part 2We are back. Welcome once again to the show about birders and their Big Years. I had the pleasure of speaking with Tiffany a while back and in a previous episode we were discussing the life changing events that accidentally pushed her into doing a Big Year in the Lower 48 states. And today as we continue with our discussion we shall see how life changing doing a Big Year was for Tiffany. At a crossroads in her life, during the pandemic and as a single, unemployed new home owner, she threw caution to the wind, and set out on an...
2023-11-1625 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 12: Tiffany Kersten‘s Record Breaking Lower 48 Big Year: Part OneWelcome to Episode 12 of The Big Year Podcast.
For those of you here for the first time, my name is Robert Baumander, but I spent 41 years as Captain Video for the Toronto Blue Jays. Along the way I performed as a magician and Escape Artist, managed the computer system for Pizza Pizza, volunteered in elementary schools and The Hospital for Sick children doing magic and story telling and science classes. I have done a variety of Big Years in North America since I became a birder in 2012, and now spend my time, since my Canada Big Year in...
2023-10-3132 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 12: Tiffany Kersten‘s Record Breaking Lower 48 Big Year: Part OneWelcome to Episode 12 of The Big Year Podcast.
For those of you here for the first time, my name is Robert Baumander, but I spent 41 years as Captain Video for the Toronto Blue Jays. Along the way I performed as a magician and Escape Artist, managed the computer system for Pizza Pizza, volunteered in elementary schools and The Hospital for Sick children doing magic and story telling and science classes. I have done a variety of Big Years in North America since I became a birder in 2012, and now spend my time, since my Canada Big Year in...
2023-10-3132 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 11: Kiah Jasper’s Record Breaking Ontario Big Year.And a hearty welcome to episode 11 of the Big Year Podcast. I'm Robert. Baumander, and I'm your guide to the life of the big year birding experience. Late in the year 2011, which seems like a lifetime ago, I saw a little movie called, not surprisingly, The Big Year.
One of my favorite actors, Steve Martin, was starring in it. I was also a fan of Jack Black and remembered him from way back when I saw High Fidelity. And who doesn't love Owen Wilson? So I told Sue that I'd like to see it and from the pre...
2023-10-0640 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 11: Kiah Jasper’s Record Breaking Ontario Big Year.And a hearty welcome to episode 11 of the Big Year Podcast. I'm Robert. Baumander, and I'm your guide to the life of the big year birding experience. Late in the year 2011, which seems like a lifetime ago, I saw a little movie called, not surprisingly, The Big Year.
One of my favorite actors, Steve Martin, was starring in it. I was also a fan of Jack Black and remembered him from way back when I saw High Fidelity. And who doesn't love Owen Wilson? So I told Sue that I'd like to see it and from the pre...
2023-10-0640 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 11 Kiah Jasper’s Record Breaking Ontario Big YearWelcome to Episode 11 of The Big Year Podcast. In 2022 I completed a Canada Big Year. According to eBird, I finished one short of the all time record. But they don’t include the Indian Peafowl that live and breed in Victoria, British Columbia. And if that darn Limpkin had just flown far enoughacross the Niagara river into Canadian airspace, I’d have counted 458 species for my Canada Big Year, and would have had the all time record.
But, if “ifs and buts…”
However, in Ontario in 2022, one young man did break a record. Kiah Jasper, at the age of 20, broke the all time record...
2023-09-1233 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode X: Ezra Campanelli’s 2022 Ontario Big YearWelcome to Part 4 of my 5 part series on the Birders of the Ontario 2022 Big Year. Today I will be talking to Ezra Campanelli who was one of the 3 birders that broke the all time record for species in an Ontario Big Year with 357 species seen. He is one of a crop of young birders who are taking Ontario and the birding world by storm. These young birders are so knowledgeable that they are teaching some of the veteran birders a thing or two along the way. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed tal...
2023-08-1836 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode X: Ezra Campanelli’s 2022 Ontario Big YearWelcome to Part 4 of my 5 part series on the Birders of the Ontario 2022 Big Year. Today I will be talking to Ezra Campanelli who was one of the 3 birders that broke the all time record for species in an Ontario Big Year with 357 species seen. He is one of a crop of young birders who are taking Ontario and the birding world by storm. These young birders are so knowledgeable that they are teaching some of the veteran birders a thing or two along the way. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed tal...
2023-08-1836 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 9: William Konze’s Ontario Big Year 2022Welcome to Part 3 of my 5 episode series on the birders of the 2022 Ontario Big Year. Three birders broke the all time record, including William Konze, who didn't even set out to do a Big Year, let alone break the record. Though he didn't end up on top, his accomplishment is still a testament to his dedication and hard work.
Travel in Ontario, which is even bigger than Texas, can be exhausting, sometimes chasing birds hundreds of miles away, driving 6 to 8 hours and in severe winer weather. If you're planning on doing an Ontario Big Year in the com...
2023-08-0229 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 9: William Konze’s Ontario Big Year 2022Welcome to Part 3 of my 5 episode series on the birders of the 2022 Ontario Big Year. Three birders broke the all time record, including William Konze, who didn't even set out to do a Big Year, let alone break the record. Though he didn't end up on top, his accomplishment is still a testament to his dedication and hard work.
Travel in Ontario, which is even bigger than Texas, can be exhausting, sometimes chasing birds hundreds of miles away, driving 6 to 8 hours and in severe winer weather. If you're planning on doing an Ontario Big Year in the com...
2023-08-0229 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 8: Andy Nguyen’s Ontario Big Year, 2022A 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 each other and became good birding buddies here in Southwestern Ontario. We birded many weekends and even drove out...
2023-07-1937 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 8: Andy Nguyen’s Ontario Big Year, 2022A 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 each other and became good birding buddies here in Southwestern Ontario. We birded many weekends and even drove out...
2023-07-1937 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 7: Susan Nagy’s Ontario Big YearWelcome 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 or anyone else doing a big Year would do. Big Year birders brave the weather and more in quest of their goals.
This...
2023-07-0233 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 7: Susan Nagy’s Ontario Big YearWelcome 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 or anyone else doing a big Year would do. Big Year birders brave the weather and more in quest of their goals.
This...
2023-07-0233 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 6: What Was Your Spark Bird?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 road to Point Pelee National Park, Long Point and Rondeau Provincial Parks and City View Park in Burlington, Ontario. I walked up to birders I...
2023-06-0333 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 6: What Was Your Spark Bird?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 road to Point Pelee National Park, Long Point and Rondeau Provincial Parks and City View Park in Burlington, Ontario. I walked up to birders I...
2023-06-0333 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 5: Laura Keene 2016 Record Breaking Photographic Big YearToday 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 cancel our last trip there, as the Covid Pandemic Lockdowns were just being felt in the spring of 2020.
Down in Texas, the “winged” migration begins a little earlier, and in fac...
2023-05-0144 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 5: Laura Keene 2016 Record Breaking Photographic Big YearToday 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 cancel our last trip there, as the Covid Pandemic Lockdowns were just being felt in the spring of 2020.
Down in Texas, the “winged” migration begins a little earlier, and in fac...
2023-05-0144 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 4: Karen Miller 2017 New BrunswickI 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 early Christmas present, in the form of a Green-tailed Towhee, another crazy-rare bird to show up in New Brunswick,(all that on top of...
2023-04-0340 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 4: Karen Miller 2017 New BrunswickI 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 early Christmas present, in the form of a Green-tailed Towhee, another crazy-rare bird to show up in New Brunswick,(all that on top of...
2023-04-0340 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 3: Christian Hagenlocher 2016 ABA Big YearOn 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,(link below). He is now a middle school teacher in Washington State and recently returned from an Antarctic adventure.
Christian and I met...
2023-03-0838 minThe Big Year PodcastEpisode 3: Christian Hagenlocher 2016 ABA Big YearOn 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,(link below). He is now a middle school teacher in Washington State and recently returned from an Antarctic adventure.
Christian and I met...
2023-03-0838 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 1, Episode 2: Yve Morrell 2017 ABA Big YearEpisode 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 Debbie Shearwater in Californian and met again on the boat. The highlight...
2023-02-1640 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 1, Episode 2: Yve Morrell 2017 ABA Big YearEpisode 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 Debbie Shearwater in Californian and met again on the boat. The highlight...
2023-02-1640 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 1, Episode 1: Sandy Komito’s Record Breaking Big YearsEpisode 1 of The Big Year Podcast features Sandy Komito, who twice broke the ABA Big Year birding records in 1987 and again in 1998.
2023-01-3033 minThe Big Year PodcastSeason 1, Episode 1: Sandy Komito’s Record Breaking Big YearsEpisode 1 of The Big Year Podcast features Sandy Komito, who twice broke the ABA Big Year birding records in 1987 and again in 1998.
2023-01-3033 minThe Big Year PodcastThe Big Year Podcast PreviewThe 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, Provence, State, country, or the biggest of Big Years, in the ABA,(American Birding Association), Area.
2023-01-2500 minThe Big Year PodcastThe Big Year Podcast PreviewThe 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, Provence, State, country, or the biggest of Big Years, in the ABA,(American Birding Association), Area.
2023-01-2500 min