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2017 Western Palearctic Big Year (7 Viewers)

Mohamed

Interesting comparisons.

The Noel Strycker thread started on 9th April 2015 so a quarter of the year was gone. The Arjan Dwarhuis thread started before the year so ran for a third longer.

The 2016 ABA thread started in January but really picked up when it became a true contest in the way of the original 1998 contest immortalised by Mark Obmascik.

The 2017 ABA thread was really a bit of an afterthought half way through the year and is played out less in the public eye so we are dependent really on Joe's peerless and expert knowledge of such contests.

The WP one probably resonates with more people on this forum but is really a man against list contest rather than a competition as such. I suspect that it has had broader informed comment and that in itself will have made it the most popular thread. It is also novel and has run for an entire year.

All the best
 
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Black-headed Heron on Boa Vista per Tarsiger. Anything else out there in case one of them wishes to sneak off without telling the others and be sole record holder?

3:)
 
Several commenters clearly need to do WP Big Year '2018 themselves and perhaps in competition with each other. ;)

In the meantime, I am curious how much money it approximately cost the Swedish team. The decision of doing it three together actually helped them, because they split cost of hotels, cars and petrol three ways.
 
It might be a long time before anybody else gives the WP record a serious go. I think most European birders keen enough to do this sort of thing would consider that there are much more rewarding ways to spend the time and money required than flogging around places they've already visited to see birds they've already seen.

For the same money, they could go to Attu and see common Asian vagrants instead of common American ones ;)
 
Here are some trivia stats, a searched "big year" and recorded the replies and views generated by each thread I found:

- World big year 2015 by Noah Strycker: 1,119 replies and 175,210 views.

- World big year 2016 by Arjan Dwarshuis: 2,078 replies and 362,095 views.

- ABA Big Year 2016: 1,823 replies and 281,997 views. There is another ABA big year in 2017, but I don't know why it generated less interest here in birdform.

- WP Big Year 2017 (this thread:king:): 2,797 replies and 363,948 views (and counting).

Everyone is free to compare!

Do I get a badge for starting the longest and most read thread on this forum? :king: 8-P :-O
 
It might be a long time before anybody else gives the WP record a serious go. I think most European birders keen enough to do this sort of thing would consider that there are much more rewarding ways to spend the time and money required than flogging around places they've already visited to see birds they've already seen.

For the same money, they could go to Attu and see common Asian vagrants instead of common American ones ;)

This is something I can't understand about ventures like this. A global year list is a different matter but unless you are long term wealthy, it's money that could be better spent but hey, it's their money!

The money they've thrown at this, could have raised my World list comfortably by 1500-2000.


A
 
This is something I can't understand about ventures like this. A global year list is a different matter but unless you are long term wealthy, it's money that could be better spent but hey, it's their money!

The money they've thrown at this, could have raised my World list comfortably by 1500-2000.


A

Yes, but they'd have been unlikely to go give it to you ...

;)
 
This is something I can't understand about ventures like this. A global year list is a different matter but unless you are long term wealthy, it's money that could be better spent but hey, it's their money!

The money they've thrown at this, could have raised my World list comfortably by 1500-2000.

A

Andy

I suspect that the next person to try this will be doing it solo and full-time in the year. (Sufficient funding would be useful.) Many consider world lists beyond them simply because they are time poor so may be able to find the year to prioitise a WP yearlist but not build a world list as such. (I think that most accept that Noah's and Arjan's efforts whilst fantastic are not the best way to learn unfamiliar birds on a world scale for a world novice.)

What this total has done is put the WP record at a level that cannot be beaten without twitching.

All the best
 
Andy

I suspect that the next person to try this will be doing it solo and full-time in the year. (Sufficient funding would be useful.) Many consider world lists beyond them simply because they are time poor so may be able to find the year to prioitise a WP yearlist but not build a world list as such. (I think that most accept that Noah's and Arjan's efforts whilst fantastic are not the best way to learn unfamiliar birds on a world scale for a world novice.)

What this total has done is put the WP record at a level that cannot be beaten without twitching.

All the best

Paul,
I understand what you mean but as a birder, I want, as the Yanks say, more birds for my buck.

They've all spent a lot of money and as I said, it's their money but as a birder, I can think of much better things to do with such an amount, especially if you are not wealthy in the long term.

I would have done a once in a life time trip to e.g PNG which I'll probably never have the money to do.

With your knowledge of the WP and financial clout, why don't you have a crack Paul, think of all those spread sheets...8-P


A
 
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Paul,

With your knowledge of the WP and financial clout, why don't you have a crack Paul, think of all those spread sheets...8-P

A

Andy

A WP & British yearlist always on the bucket list for me (as well as travelling further afield once done). That would mean finally mothballing the British & Irish list obsession.

But for the time being, time poor so I snatch my birding mainly locally and with British & Irish twitching.

Toying with a New Year's Resolution of seeing how many ebird counties I get through 100 yearlists in 2018 to snatch more birding.....

All the best
 
In the end it's down to what each person wants to do with the time and resources they have. Personally, I've never felt a great incentive to spend a lot of money twitching a species just to get it onto my British list when I've seen it abroad. I think it's fun to try and build up county lists but, again, I wouldn't want to invest a lot of time traveling to, say, Berkshire in order to tick off familiar species. At my age, a world record attempt would be madness but I enjoy following the exploits of those who go for it.
 
It's seems it may not be over yet...

Greater Yellowlegs found in Sweden, think the guys are on the move for this one in the hope it's still there in the morning.
 
With just two days to go two new possibilities have just turned up and could be chased tomorrow: Killdeer on Scilly and Laughing Gull in Denmark. I have no clue however if they are going to do anything or if they have already decided that their year is now over...
 

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