In 2015, birder and author Noah Strycker undertook the ultimate birding adventure: Between January and December, he traveled through 41 countries and recorded 6,042 birds — about 60 percent of all the species on Earth. In doing so, he set a single-year birding world record, an amazing accomplishment.

In our June 2016 issue, on sale at Barnes & Noble now, Strycker presents his 10 top birding moments from his record-setting Big Year. We didn’t have room in the magazine to show all of the birds on Strycker’s list, which was a shame, because the species were top-notch.

They include Black-and-yellow Broadbill in Malaysia, Cape Gannets off the Cape of Good Hope, Great Bowerbird in Queensland, Scarlet Ibis in Colombia, Adélie Penguins in Antarctica, Atlantic Puffins in Iceland, Crowned Hawk-Eagle in Tanzania, and Harpy Eagle (pictured above), which Strycker recorded in Brazil. We assembled this gallery to give you taste of the world’s species that impressed him the most.

Read a preview of our June 2016 issue.

Scarlet Ibis

Great Bowerbird

Atlantic Puffins

Adélie Penguin

Black-and-yellow Broadbill

Cape Gannet

Crested Hawk-Eagle

Silvery-cheeked Hornbill

Read a preview of our June 2016 issue.

 

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Originally Published May 4, 2016