John Weigel

By Birding-Aus, on May 18th, 2016

>> Hi All,
>>
>> As some are aware but others may not be John Weigel is doing an American big year in true Weigel fashion. He has not been home since late December and won’t be until January 17. You can follow his blog here although at present it’s simply a running list as his time is consumed by chasing rarities that has not stopped www.birdingfordevils.com/?m=1 !
>>
>> He hadn’t published his list until several days ago and since doing so it’s fair to say he has been slandered by his competition who wasn’t aware John was doing the big year 2016 and Is perhaps caught a little by surprise. He has even had his sightings questioned! See here olafsbigyear.blogspot.com.au/2016/05/free-nipple.html?m=1
>>
>> Johns previous Australian ‘big years’ have left no doubt about his credibility. He photographed almost every single bird! He has done the same this year but has been unable to edit his 40,000 photographs and post them. He will in due course.
>
> The year is shaping up to be the stuff movies are made of!! He’s also raising funds for Devil Ark (Tasmanian devil breeding facility) throughout the year).
>>
>> John is currently on the world famous Attu chasing Megas and cannot respond at present. I encourage Australian birders to follow the action and support John!
>>
>> He is a great bloke and I trust this group will enjoy following and Aussie take it internationally!
>>
>> All the best!
>
> Sincerely Tim Faulkner

Sent from my iPhone

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

peter

May 21, 2016 at 6:28 pm

I wonder if any of the authors of our field guides or our bird finding guides were into “big lists”.

Peter Shute

Sent from my iPad

May 20, 2016 at 11:37 am

The way I see it, it’s mainly other big year participants who want proof. It’s true that no one wins a million dollars, but they’ll want to protect the time and money they’ve invested in their year.

May 20, 2016 at 10:33 am

Kim, my point wasn’t about the morality of big years, but about the decreasing practicality of them. Apart from the increasing cost due to the higher counts required, the burden of proof required for such a high stakes game may be getting too difficult to meet. Do you have to photograph every bird now, where once only one’s word, or the occasional photo was sufficient? And do you also have to prove that you took the photos yourself, at the place and time your claim to have taken them?

May 20, 2016 at 10:26 am

I’ll take your word for that, I’ve only read one (incomplete) line from the book.

May 20, 2016 at 9:41 am

It might be true that Kaufman’s attitude changed, but from the tiny relevant snippet of the book that I can see in the google search, it would appear that his attitude only changed after he’d beaten the previous record. I wonder if it would have changed if he hadn’t.

May 19, 2016 at 9:40 pm

I haven’t read Kingbird Highway, but I see that it’s set in 1973. I believe Roy Wheeler and Kevin Bartram, who did their Australian big years not that long after, also didn’t drive.

I think it would be impossible to break the record these days without a driving licence, and a lot of time and a lot of cash, let alone the organisational and birding skills and luck that have always been required.

Given the increasing difficulty of breaking the record, can these attempts continue indefinitely? Surely a time will come when the personal cost won’t be worth the tiny chances of beating the record. And surely, as the record gets harder to beat, the temptation to take “shortcuts” will increase, and with it the need to provide the proof that is being asked of John Wiegel. It’s a big ask to expect someone to get a photo of every bird, and as we saw in a recent Victorian big year, even a photo can be insufficient proof.

Are big years becoming impractical?

Birding-Aus

John Weigel

6 comments to John Weigel

Mailing List

Book Search

Meta