Falcon Freeway: A Big Year of Birding on a Budget

by Christian Hagenlocher, Andrew Guttenberg (Illustrations)

When Christian Hagenlocher left home to go birding in January he had little confidence it would evolve into an opportunity many birders only dream about. The 26-year-old Biology teacher turned 2016 into a record-breaking Big Year, spotting over 750 species of birds across North America and becoming the youngest person to do so. Inspired by previous birding quests including Kenn Kaufman's "Kingbird Highway" and Roger Tory Peterson's "Wild America", Christian traversed the continent in his Subaru Outback, eating Ramen noodles and sleeping in Wal-Mart parking lots, proving that one doesn't have to be wealthy or jet set to rack up an impressive list of birds. "Falcon Freeway" follows a budding naturalist's incredible journey across the continent, following birds to amazing places while persevering through adversity and exploring the continent one bird at a time.

Genres: Birds, Nonfiction, Travel

362 pages, Paperback

Published October 21, 2019

Reviews

[Milan Homola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. I think people who know me would consider me an avid birder. This book showed me just how many levels up there are in the birding world. I had heard of or searched for possibly 5% of the birds he talks about in this book. His values and goals are inspiring. There were Lot of typos in the book and in places very jumpy with the flow.

[Daniel Rubianto · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first big year book I’ve read. I honestly enjoyed it. Christian writes in a way that helps you to experience his feelings and emotions of the situations he’s in. Although the book is primarily about birding, it was most enjoyable to read about his interactions with others and his “living on a budget” lifestyle throughout his 2016 journey. Although there are quite a bit of grammatical errors and lots of interviews he’s mentioned conducting that has not been released, I found this book enjoyable and inspiring to both birders and travelers alike.

[Mary Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a birder, I enjoy reading about other birders' adventures, and following someone through a "Big Year" is always intriguing. So there's that. But the basic tone of this memoir comes across as a bit sanctimonious, which is not the most engaging way to spend 300 pages with someone.

The book also could have used better editing--there were paragraphs which repeated content, sentences that were not finished, typos, and things like "I new I'd have to write another."

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, I enjoyed it, but it's no "Kingbird Highway" or "The Big Year." Birders will know what I mean by that. This book was apparently self published and it lacks professional polish. I was shocked by the number of typos, missing words and, in a few places, incorrect grammar. I'm an editor myself so these flaws were especially annoying to me. Still, it's a sweet book with some good stories and learnings from a year on the road.

[Garrett Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and engaging story of Christian's big year on a budget in the vein of famous big year accounts like Kingbird Highway and Wild America. I learned about several famous birding destinations that I haven't heard of before that I have now added to my bucket list. I appreciate his idea of connecting with birders and documenting their stories as he was on his journey. To me the people we meet birding are just as important as the birds. It was also impressive that he did this on such a constrained budget and was determined and creative and made things work. His attitude also really impressed me. He did his best to be content, in the moment, and enjoy the journey, not merely to tick off birds. This sounds to me like the way to live, as much as I love ticking a new bird off my list, I want to be happy and simply enjoy birds and the nature around them. He was able to overcome the gloom of the other listers in Gambell, AK and enjoy time with the local people and learn their history and connect, even though the birding wasn't as good as it could have been, he turned his stay into a broader experience. Since we both live in WA I'm hoping we cross paths someday while chasing a bird as he seems like a great guy to know.

[Rosemary Nagy · Rating 5 out of 5]

ITS FRICKIN BIRDS!!!

ahem. Sorry. Got excited there.

Here’s my take: you don’t have to like birds to like birding books. You don’t have to know anything about feathery friends to feel the fun in a funky funny family-friendly (non)fiction following a friend finding fbirds. (sorry, I couldn’t think of another word for birds that started with a f. I’m sure one will come to me when I wake up in the night but I’ll have forgotten it by the morning.) This book is about birding, but it’s also about adventure! And intentionality! And nature! And the planet! And birds!!

So yeah. If you like birds, this is a great book. And even if you don’t care at all about birds but you like adventure, this is still a great book. Pairs excellently with seaweed snacks.

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for my Audobon Book Club, called Tern the Page. This self published book chronicles a young man's Big Year birding experience in 2016. It is more of a journal chronicling which bird he found where, and it needed serious regular and copy-editing. I was disappointed that his promise of sharing interviews of all the birders he met along the way wasn't fulfilled. I read more about the good and bad meals he ate, than the people he met. He just kept writing about how he conducted a "great interview" but none of those interviews ever made it into the book. Couldn't find them on his website either. I am glad he had a good experience birding and seems he was happy with his year.

[Nick Asreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. Christian's smooth writing style and seemingly calm, level-headed demeanor made for a great read. I liked how he credited his inspirations for this book and went about his big year in a different way, crediting many people throughout the journey. His consciousness towards the massive carbon footprint that big years produce and willingness to mend this through investing in a carbon offset program was duly noted and appreciated. Lots of typos, however, and transitions from one bird or adventure to the next that didn't flow as well as it could have. Overall, didn't take away from the message and was still enjoyable.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really needed some heavy editing - it contained so many typos, grammar errors and repetitive and confusing sentences that I found myself wincing. ( I new I had to go to Alaska..) However, as one reviewer said 'its about frickin' birds' and I did actually enjoy reading about his many incredible birding experiences.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun to read for the adventure of birding the 49 states of mainland U.S. and Alaska. I especially enjoyed the author's trips to the most remote locations in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in search of Siberian vagrants. I could feel the bitter cold, wind, and rain in his descriptions.

[Doug McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven word review = Chasing birds all year is not cheap!

[Josh Friers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good a little to refective for me.

[Vjera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Multiple typos were distracting but overall I enjoyed it. Lots of fun bird stories, people stories, and a few surprising misadventures.

[Kyri Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't help contrasting this with a hiking memoir I just read. That was so totally self-centered, all about constantly having internet access and getting validation from others and whining about all of the conditions encountered. It never talked about conservation or public lands issues or any of the wildlife or places the author hiked through. It was all navel gazing all the time.

Hagenlocher, on the other hand, talks about issues, talks about conservation, participates in local communities and in the birding world. It's a really refreshing contrast. The book isn't a great work of travel literature or nature writing, and might not be of interest to anybody but other birders (btw, our group dipped on the Nome Common Ringed-Plover too), but it represents the community well.