Brown Motion

It is fascinating to see that the human mind can chase anything it puts its mind to and make it into a marketable commodity. So it is with an informal (until the movie came out) ritual that birders across the country follow. It is called a 'Big Year' in which the amateur to the pro gets into a whole 365 day ritual of chasing and recording all sorts of avians in a defined geography. Typically it is the continental 48 states in the union and the period is a calendar year. The movie depiction (although a flop in Hollywood terms) that I recently watched was quite entertaining with a modestly funny cast that included Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. Had I not seen the movie I for one would have been clueless as to this human endeavor of tracking down the flying species. As the movie goes to show the humans involved in this adventure spare no expense of course where the goal is to try to record as many of our winged cousins (distant but cousins nonetheless). The folks...