Time to give thanks!

First, the THANK YOUS! This year was made truly special by all of you who got involved; Either by providing a couch to sleep on, offering a vehicle on a "twitch," sending messages of support, reading this blog, and just "going birding." I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am. Not only did I break the record, but I learned so much about the province and its birds and was able to share it with everyone... so many people took me out around their local patch and showed me the best nooks and crannies to find birds, and brave were those who volunteered to join me on crazy drives from the Okanagan to the Yukon or NWT and back... what a ride! Sorry but I feel the need to mention a few names (luckily there is no Oscar music to cut me off!). I'm sure I'm missing a few people but here we go---

Housing (key to my survival):

Ahren McIntee (New Westminster)
Arnold Skei (Sechelt)
Avery Bartels (Nelson)
Barb & Tony! (Vancouver)
Brendan Benson (Kelowna)
Cathy Antoniazzi (Prince George)
Captain Ron (Sandspit, Haida Gwaii)
Christine Rock & Paul Levesque (East Vancouver)
Christopher Coxson (Prince George)
C.C.G.S. Vector (Port Hardy to Prince Rupert!)
Cooper Beauchesne & Associates (Revelstoke)
Devin Mackenzie & Wyatt Seddon-Johnstone (East Vancouver)
Dad’s CR-V
The entire Easthope family (Williams Lake)
My car Franscesca (’93 Toyota Tercel)
Ilya Povalyaev (South Surrey)
Jared Hobbs (Victoria)
Jukka Jantunen (Comox)
Julia Cannings (Victoria)
Alexis Harrington (Sechelt)
Marc Wiebe & Vanessa Johnson (Victoria)
Mom’s Nissan Sentra (aka “Ben”)
Natalie Jacyna (Tofino)
Samantha Brett (and her tent, which unfortunately met its end thanks to a bear!)
Syd Cannings (Whitehorse)
And of course my PARENTS!!!

Special thanks also to:
[For tactical advice, bird alerts, and particularly road/boat buddies!]
Al McTavish
Art Ahier
Avery Bartels
Cameron Eckert
Christopher Coxson
Chris Charlesworth
Dave Smith
Doug Brown
Gabe David
Gary Breault
Guy Monty
Ian Cruickshank
Ilya Povalyaev
Kevin Easthope
Kevin Neill
Linda Van Damme
Phil Ranson
Rick Howie
Rick Toochin
Rob Lyske
Jeremy Gatten
Jack Bowling
Jared Hobbs
Jess Findlay
Joël Gillis
Jukka Jantunen
Marianne Secrest
Norma & Carlo Giovanella
Pete Davidson
Peter Hamel & Margo Hearn
Samantha Brett
Thor Manson
--AND MANY MORE

I also want to thank John Cooper, Suzanne Beauchesne, Harry van Oort and the entire CBA staff for being so flexible and understanding (whilst providing the main dollars behind this project!)... like letting me drive from Golden to Dunbar for a Costa's Hummingbird when I should have been doing data entry! Truly a fantastic company to be apart of!

"Big Ups" to Michael Force, Danny Tyson, Michael Bentley, Roger Foxall, and Mike & Sharon Toochin for setting the BC Big Year bar sooo high and lending support throughout the year. I have a feeling this record might already be in jeopardy?!

And last but most importantly, I need to thank my parents Dick Cannings and Margaret Holm... could NOT have done this without your support, whether it be strategic, emotional, financial, or otherwise, you were always there to kick me out of bed when I was being lazy, and give me "that look" when I felt like giving up.