For Sanford Komito, the observation and study of birds has been an engrossing and sometimes all-consuming passion. For most other people, it is usually accomplished as casually as looking out a window to watch a bird's activities or perhaps actively seeking out various birds in their many and varied habitats. On January 1, 1987, Sanford Komito embarked on what is sometimes called birding's great marathon in an effort to try and see more birds in North America in a single year than any other person had ever done before. By flying wherever possible, he accumulated nearly 300,000 miles during the more than 220 days spent in the field in the pursuit of North America's rare and common birds. He not only set the North American record, he became only the second person to have ever seen more than 700 different birds in a single year!