Bird watching

The challenge: do a “Big Year”

There’s a comedy film about this starring Steve Martin, and as many “twitchers” will know, doing a Big Year means clearing 12 months from your calendar and scouring the world to see how many different species of bird you can see. Record-breaking Brits Alan Davies and Ruth Miller did it in 2008, chalking up 4,341 species from the 10,000 or so that exist. “It can take a huge amount of commitment to do a Big Year,” says Davies. “Our Big Year covered the whole world, so we had to commit to spending the entire year travelling, visiting 27 different countries in 12 months.” As for the cost – how long is a piece of string? “It depends on where and how you travel,” says Davies. “If you read a book by Kenn Kaufman called Kingbird Highway, you’ll find that he did a Big Year with just a dollar a day to spend. We spent rather more than that!”

An easier alternative is to do a Big Year that encompasses a smaller geographical area, such as the Middle East or – smaller still – the UAE. “You might want to take a look at surfbirds.com where people log their Big Year lists to give you some ideas,” says Davies, who now runs tours for twitchers (www.birdwatchingtrips.co.uk). Big Years normally run during a full calendar year, so use from now until Jan 1 to prep your once-in-a-lifetime trip – or say, ‘What the heck!’ and start tomorrow.

DIFFICULTY RATING: 10 FOR A GLOBAL BIG YEAR, 5 FOR A LOCAL ONE