Seeing as it is near the midway point of the year I thought it would be nice to check in on how the blogging Big Year birders are doing thus far in 2012. It’s quite a list!

Josh Vandermeulen is sitting pretty at 317 species for the year in Ontario, only 21 off the province’s record of 338, set by Glen Coady in 1996.

Anthony Collerton is also racking up the species, with 322 species checked off his New York State checklist so far, only 30 species off the state record of 352 set just last year by Richard Fried. Anthony also has a brand new blog!

The birders birding on a budget and doing a lower-48 big year, Renee Rubin and Michael Delesantro, are doing nicely at 614 species for the year, amazing considering how little money they have spent.

Blake and Holly Wright are hoping to photograph 400 species in the lower 48 this year and have managed to make it to 351 thus far. Not only that, but they are doing their big year to raise money for the Houston Audubon Society and the Katy Prairie Conservancy.

A twelve-year-old birder, Skyler Bol, is shooting for 400 species for the year and he is easily going to make it, as he has already ticked 389!

Mary Beth Stowe is hoping to tick 350 species along the lower Texas Coast this year and has netted 307 so far. She is also doing her big year to raise money to help a youngster, Peyton Behrens, in his fight against leukemia.

A gang of four Calgarians (if that is what you call people from Calgary) are doing a combined mammal and bird big year across Canada, hoping to hit 400 bird species and 50 mammals, though it seems that they really want to hit a combined 500 species (with the catchy moniker “Fur and Feathers 500”). At 56 mammals and 381 birds it seems that they will easily reach the original goal but the more ambitious idea of reaching 500 might be tough.

Lynn Barber is chasing the South Dakota big year record and has reached 316 species, which leaves her 16 short of the record of 332. You can keep up with her exploits on the ABA Blog.

Are there any other blogging big year birders out there? Let us know in the comments.

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.