How hard is a Big Year?

[ANewBirder]

Has anyone done it? How much money does it take? Can you do a Big Year without a car?
All advice is welcome. Thank you.

[Reuven_M]

Depends what sort of big year you're doing. A North American Big Year can eat up tens-hundreds of thousands of dollars, and take up all your time that year. Even somewhere the size of Ontario a big year takes a lot of time, money and dedication.

[cloaca]

It depends on what you mean by a "big year."

If you're just aiming to see as many species as you can in a given year, then it's not necessarily "hard" at all.  Many/most birders are doing a big year every year.    

If you're actually trying to get the record or a really high number for a given area, then you'd be hard-pressed to succeed without a vehicle.   Much of the strategy involved in going for a big year is quickly getting to rarities that other people have found, so a vehicle is pretty important.  Add to that the fact that you're a new birder, and a high-number big year is probably a lofty goal.

[thouc]

There are examples of big years without fossil fuels or you could try to see as many birds as possible in a more local area, like GTA or Toronto.