[TN-Bird] Update on John Vanderpoel's Big Year
- From: kbreault <kbreault@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 20:59:51 -0800 (PST)
With a Pink-footed Goose in Nova Scotia John Vanderpoel has 732 birds and
surpasses Robert Ake on the all-time list of Big Years. John is now in 2nd
place
behind Sandy Komito and has fourteen birds to get to the top (746) in the
remaining 52 days.
Recently, David Chaffin correctly focused on an important impediment for those
attempting a Big Year, the fact that Attu has been less available for birders
over the years (after the last Attour trip in 2000, Victor Emmanuel Nature
Tours
had a trip in 2006, that included TN birder Mike O'Malley, followed by a trip
by
Zugunruhe Birding Tours in 2010, and note that Zugunruhe plans two trips for
the
2012 spring season). And while Vanderpoel's recent efforts and those of Ake,
Irwin and Maxwell in 2010 (731, 724 & 724, respectively), and Barber in 2008
(723), suggest that the lack of regular Attu trips may not be fatal for a Big
Year, only time will tell if one's chances of reaching the top spot on the list
is inevitably foreshortened by the record 1998 year on Attu, the year Sandy
Komito was there (41 Asian species were seen on the 1998 trips, including one
North American record). I'm an optimist and so I'm rooting for John. And
perhaps
in another great weather year the 755 of the recent movie might just be
possible. Let's hope!
Kevin Breault
Brentwood, TN
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