Cole Wild / Nicholas Komar
In recent years, the sport of birding has evolved into a multimillion-dollar industry serving a growing number of birdwatchers seeking more species to add to their ever-growing lists of birds identified. An elite group of these bird enthusiasts who compete for the largest lists have become known as ’extreme’ birders. Although extreme birding requires tremendous skill and expertise, the emerging sport of competitive birding gets little coverage on television and in the press. Nonetheless, the stories of individuals’ feats in attaining new records of species seen can be just as interesting as the feats of star athletes in sports made popular by the media. Wild Birding Colorado is such a story. Full of interesting facts about many of Colorado’s 490-plus species of birds, the book is the true account of an extreme birder with a dream of breaking what seemed an unbreakable record. Cole Wild’s perseverance in realizing his goal shows what it takes to rise above the ordinary, and provides inspiration to anyone with a dream of outstanding achievement. In Wild Birding Colorado, naturalist Cole Wild offers an insider’s view into the world of competitive bird watching in Colorado. The book weaves the thrilling tale of Wild’s amazing feat of establishing a new record for most bird species observed in one year (known as a ’Big Year’). Wild’s record 412 species in 2010 has beaten the old Colorado Big Year record of 391 set in 2008. Wild Birding Colorado rivals other birding Big Year stories such as Mark Obmascik’s The Big Year and Kenn Kaufman’s Kingbird Highway. The author’s entertaining spoken narrative, transcribed to the written word by wildlife biologist and co-author Nicholas Komar, recounts numerous tense situations encountered during Wild’s extensive travels through the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains of Colorado. The text offers a treasure chest of birding tips for where and when to find the state’s rarest species such as White-tailed Ptarmigan and Black Swift. Wild photographed many of the species he saw while achieving his Big Year. Some of his best photos are featured in the book. Wild became hooked on birding at age 19 after first seeing the beautiful colors of a Western Tanager through binoculars. He began avidly adding new bird species to his life list. He eventually turned pro and took bird-survey jobs in Colorado, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida and Mexico. In 2010, at age 25, he decided to try to break the record for the Colorado Big Year. His entire list of 412 species, with date and location observed, appears in an appendix in the book. Co-author Nicholas Komar has been birding since the age of seven. Interestingly he became hooked on birding in a similar way as Cole, when he was shown the brilliantly colored Baltimore Oriole through binoculars. Komar has birded throughout the United States, Mexico, and in Central and South America. From the heat of the desert Southwest to the frozen spine of the Continental Divide, Cole Wild chases birds like a man possessed. Wild birding Colorado is a story told by a competitive birder for competitive birders, and anyone interested in the making of the new Big Year record for Colorado will devour every page of it.- Mark Obmascik, author, The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession
