Wrap up your festival experience with us as we celebrate more than just the new birds we’ve seen, but also the movement that birding is becoming—all over the world, and right here in Tucson. You’ll enjoy a delicious meal, visit with friends, and hear from special guest, Arjan Dwarshuis, professional guide, writer, and motivational speaker.
Arjan holds the current Guinness Book World Record for observing the largest number of bird species in a single year. In 2016, he launched his global “Big Year” and ultimately observed 6852 of the world’s roughly 10,900 bird species, setting a record that stands to this day. His yearlong adventure raised nearly 50.000 Euros for the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme. Arjan also starred in the award-winning documentary Arjan’s Big Year, and appears regularly on radio, television, and podcast programs in the Netherlands and beyond. His book (The Year that Flew By) about this adventure was recently published in English by Chelsea Green Publishing and is available in our Nature Shop. Currently, he is writing a children’s book about birdwatching. His Vogelspotcast is one of the most popular nature podcasts in the Netherlands and was nominated for both the Dutch and the Belgium podcast awards. He the ambassador for the IUCN NL Land Acquisition Fund and is committed to the protection of endangered birds across the globe.
Arjan’s talk will take you on a whirlwind adventure through 40 countries. He will talk about the highs and the lows of 366 days of birding and nonstop travel, but he will also look back at his childhood, and how it was to grow up as an obsessive young birdwatcher.