Lost among the birds Accidentally finding myself in one very big year

*Starred Review* At the start of 2013, after a fairly disastrous year, Hayward, as always, chose to go birding, this time flying to the birding mecca of southeastern Arizona to sort out his life while adding new birds to his list. So began an accidental Big Year, a quest to find as many bird species as possible during the next 12 months. As his friends tried to get him to make it official, he resisted, but restlessness and fears about a new relationship drove him into more birding, birding further afield, and, inevitably, counting. The record of 748 species set in 1998 (see The Big Year, by Mark Obmascik, 2004) seemed unbeatable. As we follow Hayward from Key West to Vancouver, the Pribilofs to Texas, we are treated to his trenchant observations of the human worlds he encounters along the way, a wonderful leavening of avian tidbits, and sheer wonder at some of the species he sees. Did he beat the record? Is the Nutting's flycatcher a difficult bird to find? Will the author be played by Brad Pitt when the movie comes out? Readers will be intrigued and inspired.--Bent, Nancy Copyright 2016 Booklist