Fantasy Birding? (1 Viewer)

[Mysticete]

Hey folks,

Anyone here currently or planning on doing any fantasy birding in the coming year? I think I am going to experiment with it this year, and enter the ABA big year game. For those not familiar with it fantasy birding is sort of inspired by "fantasy football" and related sports. I don't actually know the exact workings for the sport versions, but in fantasy birding you enter yourself into various games, and then set a location the day before. Any bird reported from that site on ebird on that day within a set distance, seen by anyone, gets added to your list for that game. There is a fair amount of strategy and luck involved, especially as the year goes on. You can chase rare birds and have zero ebird reports for that day, and even uncommon birds can be challenging. Someone I known took a month of concerted efforts pinning a site before they finally were able to log a Mountain Quail.

Info about it can be found here: https://fantasybirding.wordpress.com/

while the actual site that runs it is here: https://fantasybirding.com/

Figured it would be a fun diversion!

 

[Maffong]

You should definitely join either the Facebook group or follow Matt Smith on Twitter to stay in the loop. I did pretty good this year, ( probably) winning the UK and Ecuador games, getting second and third in the South American and WP game and landing fifth or sixth in the Budget game, without ever having been to the US. Facebook really is were most communication happens. It's a very fun activity, which I have found to be surprisingly educational. You can invest everything from a few minutes to several hours a day to your strategy, Covid has really put a stop to my efforts in the global game and some others, where I just more or less randomly put my markers at the end of the game

 

[Mysticete]

Yep...already a member of the facebook page. My overall strategy is going to be to treat it like a physical big year. I don't think I can ever actually do one in person, but I can at least brainstorm and do one via my couch this year.

 

[Maffong]

Which games are you participating in? One thing I have learned is to ALWAYS prioritize the rarities

 

[dantheman]

You should definitely join either the Facebook group or follow Matt Smith on Twitter to stay in the loop. I did pretty good this year, ( probably) winning the UK and Ecuador games, getting second and third in the South American and WP game and landing fifth or sixth in the Budget game, without ever having been to the US. Facebook really is were most communication happens. It's a very fun activity, which I have found to be surprisingly educational. You can invest everything from a few minutes to several hours a day to your strategy, Covid has really put a stop to my efforts in the global game and some others, where I just more or less randomly put my markers at the end of the game

Do you have a link to Matt Smith on twitter? ... there are lots of Matt Smiths out there!

 

[Mysticete]

Which games are you participating in? One thing I have learned is to ALWAYS prioritize the rarities

ABA...maybe lower 48.

 

[Maffong]

Do you have a link to Matt Smith on twitter? ... there are lots of Matt Smiths out there!

I think you can find him under @BirdingFantasy

 

[Gonçalo Elias]

This year I've decided to join fantasybirding on three games (global, Africa and WP). It's an interesting way to learn about good birding sites worldwide.

 

[antpitta26]

Gaving won the Global Game in 2021, South América (4 times) and got silver medal in the ABA (that's the hardest as your radius is smaller and you need to find the right IRL people in Alaska), I'm having a year off and just adding lifers. Currently on aroun 9,760... It is addictive btw.