In 2025 I foolishly suggested to my family that we watch The Big Year (2011) with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and Steve Martin. My dad and I have for a long time made jokes about bird watching so I challenged him to a Big Year in 2026 he lives in California and I live in Illinois so we would be seeing completely different birds. He agreed and I thought we would just text each other, “I saw a bird today #birdwatched” but no, he’s playing to win and therefore so am I.
Since we are playing just for fun and it’s just the two of us, we decided to make our own rules like birds in zoos or captivity don’t count, but pet’s do because it’s funny. Ostrich’s on an ostrich farm don’t count, but if you go to a farm and there are chickens wandering around those count.
In addition to the competition of seeing the most birds, I am learning how to use my Nikon DSLR camera so follow for bird updates and mediocre bird photography that will hopefully become excellent bird photography by the end of the year.
Also, I wrote into My Brother, My Brother, and Me about this situation and they gave some solid advice that I will be following. Give a listen here
If we’re describing a fictional scenario, then we might as well be doctor-teachers in it, right? We’ve got a dual PhD in borrowing chickens,
