Hello! I am Thomas O'Connor, and this blog is where I will record my birding adventures.  Starting in September 2020, I am doing a little Big Year. A "Big Year" is a birding term meaning that a birder is going to try to see as many bird species as possible in a given year. People like Kenn Kaufman, Neil Hayward and Christian Hagenlocher have done really inspiring Big Years. There is even a movie about Sandy Komito, Greg Miller, and Al Levantin's very interesting Big Years. The movie is called (drumroll please....) The Big Year, and stars Owen Wilson, Jack Black, and Steve Martin. I have no pretensions of coming close to them, and I would never pretend to be a skilled enough birder to pull off a Big Year yet. However, as we are all in isolation and, thus, have few challenges except for staying healthy and sane, I thought it would be okay for me to try to do a "very modest," let's call it a "little" Big Year. This will help me strive to do something fun and healthy and to get out into nature. Thankfully, it is relatively easy to bird while six feet apart! So, with more than a dollop of modesty, I hereby declare that I am doing a little 2020-21 academic year Big Year. Let it be so!