Since the birding Big Year notion was what inspired my decade-long concept, this should be the most straightforward aspiration to plan for, right? Just get out there, the two of us, blissfully ticking as many birds as we can over 365 days . . . why not? But it’s not that simple. It seems pointless to aim at an Australia-wide tally, for there are so many birders out there far more talented and conscientious than we are. A global ticking year might make sense but with precisely what aim? Maybe it would be better, and more time- and cost-conscious to just focus on our state of Victoria. Or is there some other “tick the feathered creatures” concept out there that might resonate?
To help with thinking, I’ll read “One More Warbler: A Life with Birding” by Victor Emanuel (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MU1K9G5).