Birding Without Borders

von Noah Strycker

There are 10,000 species of birds in the world, in 2015 Noah Strycker spotted 6,042 of them and earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for this remarkable achievement. Noah Strycker set himself a goal: to become the first person to see half the world's birds in one year. Traveling to 41 countries, on all seven continents, with a backpack, binoculars and a series of one-way tickets, it was the greatest adventure in birding. Noah journeys to Madagascar, India, Central Africa and South America and meets a colourful cast of fellow birders across the world. He discovers a world of blood-sucking leeches, chronic sleep deprivation, floods, war zones, ecologic devastation and conservation triumphs, and finds that sometimes the rarest birds show up in the most familiar of places. By pursuing the freest creatures on the planet, Noah gains a unique perspective on the world birds share with us-and offers a hopeful message that even as many birds face an uncertain future, more people than ever are working to protect them. Noah has a rare thirst for adventure, and Birding Without Borders is a celebration of birdwatching as a way to discover nature "at a time when significant chunks of society rarely venture outdoors". Inspiring readers to explore the world, Noah provides a lesson in living life to the full from a birder's perspective.