Noah Strycker (wearing cap) celebrates with guides in India on December 29, 2015, after spotting his 6,000th bird species during his global Big Year. Photo by Noah Strycker.

There’s not a birder anywhere who has seen all 10,600 of the world’s bird species, but for the first time in history, someone has seen three of every five, or close to it, in a single year. That person is the 30-year-old American Noah Strycker, author of the recent books The Thing with Feathers and Among Penguins.

Taking no days off between January 1 and December 31 last year, in 42 countries and on every continent, he pursued his big year. His stated goal was to see 5,000 species, more than enough to break the previous record of 4,341 set in 2008 by British birders Alan Davies and Ruth Miller, but as the sun set on the final day of 2015, his year list stood at 6,042, an amazing accomplishment.

Coming in our June issue:

Which was Noah Strycker’s top birding moment during his record-setting big year? Bowerbirds in Queensland? The rarely seen Golden Masked-Owl in Papua New Guinea? Awe-inspiring Harpy Eagle in Brazil? Strycker will reveals his top 10 birding moments in a special article in our upcoming June 2016 issue. Watch for it at Barnes & Noble and other newsstands on May 3.

Strycker’s Big Year was one of the 50 most important stories of 2015.

Read our review of ‘The Thing with Feathers.‘

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