Early in 2013 Neil Hayward was at a crossroads. He didn`t want to open a bakery or whatever else executives do when they quit a lucrative but unfulfilling job. He didn`t want to think about his failed relationship with ”the one” or his potential for ruining a new relationship with ”the next one.” & he almost certainly didn`t want to think about turning forty. & so instead he went birding. Birding was a lifelong passion. It was only among the birds that Neil found a calm that had eluded him in the confusing world of humans. But this time he also found competition. His growing list of species reluctantly catapulted him into a Big Year--a race to find the most birds in one year. His peregrinations across twenty-eight states & six provinces in search of exotic species took him to a hoarfrost-covered forest in Massachusetts to find a Fieldfare; to Lake Havasu, Arizona, to see a rare Nutting`s Flycatcher; & to Vancouver for the Red-flanked Bluetail. Neil`s Big Year was as unplanned as it was accidental: It was the perfect distraction to life. Neil shocked the birding world by finding 749 species of bird & breaking the long-standing Big Year record. He also surprised himself: During his time among the hummingbirds, tanagers, & boobies, he found a renewed sense of confidence & hope about the world & his place in it.