Planning for My Small Big Year in 2024

On a recent drive to our holiday home on Phillip Island, I took the opportunity to listen to an episode of The Weekend Birder where the host Kirsty Costa spoke at length to Charuka Abhayawickrama about his accidental big year. It was a fascinating podcast as Kirsty discussed with Charuka his love of wildlife photography and appreciation of the variety of birds in his adopted homeland of Australia. With time and assets at his disposal, Charuka was fortunate to be able to pursue his passions and travel across our beautiful country in an effort to reach his goal of not only finding 600 birds, but photographing them as well. His accidental big year resulted in him seeing 773 birds in total!

Wait I hear you ask – what is a big year?
Glad you asked! According to Wikipedia: A big year is a personal challenge or an informal competition among birders who attempt to identify as many species of birds as possible by sight or sound, within a single calendar year and within a specific geographic area.

For serious twitchers with time and money on their hands, they will travel by land, air and sea across the geographic area chosen, often taking spontaneous flights or ocean voyages (pelagics) on a whim (actually on a sighting) to record specific birds to add to their list. Given there are around 850 species of birds in Australia (46% are endemic) having this goal to try and see them all in 365 days is quite something.

Although I can’t ever hope to emulate Charuka’s impressive feat, the podcast did also talk about planning your own big year. So I thought to myself – I could do this. I can start with a small target and make Phillip Island the focus of my big year. Given I am now working part-time this will no doubt be challenging, but I have a sort of plan…which is better than no plan at all right..??

First I have all the questions:

How do I plan for something like this? What equipment will I need? How many places will I need to visit? And how many times during the year will I need to visit these sites to catch itinerant birds like migratory waders? What seasonal issues will I need to take into account? Will I need to take a pelagic trip…? What weather will I encounter and need to prepare for? Will I collaborate with anyone or do it all myself? How many birds can I expect to see on Phillip Island? Do I count only wild birds or include birds in reserves or enclosed conservation areas? What online or physical resources will I need? Should I try and photograph the birds I see, even if the photos may not be great?

Ok so I’ll admit there’s bit to do…but the good news is that I have the rest of the year to try and answer these questions and fine tune my plan so I can get started on January 1 2024. I have a pretty good idea of where to see birds on Phillip Island so that’s a good first start, and I can do some targeted reconnaissance for places and sites when I’m down there at times this year. Some basic research will give me an idea of the number of species I can expect to find, and using resources like lists on eBird and using it for recording sightings will also be useful. Not keen on a pelagic trip, but there are cruise options off the coastline off the Island. And some night outings might be required…

Tell me – what do you think? Is this doable? Am I completely mad? Have I bitten off more than I can chew..?? I’d love to know your thoughts and I am definitely open to suggestions to answers to any of my questions!

Now I’ve put it in writing I have to make it happen!

Will you follow my crazy birding journey in 2024?