Suppose you were at a place in your life where you had a full year of free time and an extra $100,000 of pocket money. What would you do? Would you travel? I would. But I would not travel like Olaf Danielson who just completed a "big year." For those that don't know, a big year is chasing down birds all across the continent so you can win the honor of seeing the biggest number of birds. It's a numbers game. Birding is involved but the objective is the longest list. This gala was to support the Sax Zim bog which is an important birding area in Minnesota in the middle of nowhere about 45 minutes north of Duluth. It's a cool place. I've been there. And I support their cause of saving big tracts of black spruce from logging so birds and mammals and dragonflies and all sorts of creatures can relax. I enjoyed Olaf's discussion. He can list off bird names and places with uncanny ability but still has the social skills to poke fun of himself in a very funny manner. His description of the misery of travel to obscure places, the lack of basic necessities, the poor food, the danger, the weather, the odd people had enough detail to make me vow to never, ever, do a big year myself.
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