8A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JANUARY 17, 2018
Soaring to the top: Oregon 'bird man' sets world record
as a personal challenge to spot
as many species of birds as pos-
sible so, armed with a 40-liter
backpack and a computer with
scanned pages from a pile of
fi eld guides taller than his just-
over-fi ve-foot frame, Strycker
began traveling the world with a
goal: 5,000 types of birds spot-
ted in 365 days.
“On Jan. 1, 2015 I was on a
Russian ship in Antarctica be-
cause if you’re going to see the
world you might as well start
at the end of it,” Strycker told
the Cottage Grove Rotary Club
during a talk on Jan. 11. The
Creswell native hosts a series of
speaking engagements through-
out the state as well as across the
globe, telling his bird tales.
That fi rst day, Strycker saw a
Chinstrap Penguin as his fourth
bird and with 4,996 species to
go, he made a few rules for his
quest: he had to see the bird with
at least one other person and that
Noah Strycker visited 41 countries in one year to spot more than 6,000
person had to be a resident of the
species of birds for his Big Year.
country he was birding in. The
result? Strycker met hundreds of
By Caitlyn May
people
in
his
quest
to see thousands of birds.
cmay@cgsentinel.com
One group met him at dawn in the tropics while
oah Strycker had one thought when his another drove fi ve and a half hours to bird with
publisher greenlighted a year-round trip him all night in Iceland where the sun doesn’t set
around the world. “Oh crap.”
in June, only to turn around and drive home in
In 2014, Strycker published “A Thing with time for work. They saw 54 species of birds be-
Feathers,” a deep dive into why birds do what tween midnight and 6 a.m.
they do, which landed on the New York Times Best
“That'S the type of help you will get when you
Seller list and earned the praise of literary critics share a passion for a project,” Strycker said.
from the Boston Globe and Newsweek. But 2015
Traveling west to east, Strycker came home to
was Strycker’s Big Year.
Oregon only once—to get a haircut. He spent Val-
The birding community describes a Big Year entine’s Day in Peru at 16,000 feet above sea lev-
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thought, it’d be a shame to get that close to 6,000
and not get there.”
So, after navigating the complex red tape of
passports and plane tickets on Christmas Day,
Strycker returned to India and on Dec. 29 found
the Yellow Rumped Honeyguide, marking his
6,000th bird.
“I visited 41 countries on all seven continents,
traveled more than 100,000 miles and saw 6,042
species of birds,” he said. In the end, Strycker
spent $160,000 on the trip, working out to "$10
per bird." “It depends what you think is expen-
sive,” he said. “It shows you can travel on any
budget and see and do things.”
Above, a Painted Buntings, a bird Strycker says he
doesn't get to see very often. The bird was spotted on
a trip off the Georgia coast in early October.
Worship
Directory
CGSENTINEL.COM
Cottage Grove
Sentinel
el, Christmas in Australia where he saw just one
Christmas tree. It was in made out of car tires and
placed outside a gas station. He slept on the fl oor
of a Norwegian forest and traveled so frequently
that he would spend a few hours in India and 24
hours later, fi nd himself in the Himalayas.
One day in Peru, Strycker had the fl u. He woke
at dawn with his guide, Gooner, and set out for
a mountaintop to spot a bird with a yellow neck
and a crown of blue. A dead car battery later, the
pair made it into the trail, to the top of the hill and
spotted the bird.
“I turn around and we’re stuck on this moun-
taintop,” he said. “I go around to push and Goon-
er gets in to drive and says, ‘We
have another dead battery here.’ I
look down and we have two fl at
tires. So, we get our luggage out,
me with my backpack and Gooner
with two airport-sized suitcases
and we start walking.”
The pair walked for miles be-
fore stumbling upon potato farm-
ers.
“Gooner opens one of his big
suitcases and it is just packed with
oranges. I said, ‘Gooner, that’s got
to be 30 pounds, you were just go-
ing to carry that the whole way?’
But Gooner starts handing out
oranges. We share these oranges
with these farmers on this cliff
side and then they ask if we need
a ride,” he said.
There were agriculture worker
strikes, bus wrecks and landslides
but the worst delay Strycker en-
countered? A 27-hour delay in New York City.
None of which, distracted Strycker from his goal:
5,000 birds in a year.
“In December, in Australia, I saw the Mul-
ga Parrot as my 5,959th bird,” he said. “But I
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DRAIN:
HOPE U.M.C.
131 W “A” St. Drain, OR
541-315-1617
Pastor: Lura Kidner-Miesen
Fellowship & Song: 11:30am
Potluck Lunch: 12:00pm
Worship: 12:30pm
Cottage Grove Faith Center
33761 Row River Rd.
541-942-4851
Lead Pastor: Kevin Pruett
www.cg4.tv
Full Childrenʼs Ministry available
Service: 10:00am
Delight Valley
Church of Christ
33087 Saginaw Rd. East
541-942-7711
Pastor: Bob Friend
Two Services:
9am - Classic in the Chapel
10:30am - Contemporary in the
Auditorium
COTTAGE GROVE:
6th & Gibbs Church of Christ
195 N. 6th St. • 541-942-3822
Pastor: Aaron Earlywine
Youth & Families Pastor:
Seth Bailey
Service times: 9am & 10:30am
Sunday School: 9am for all ages
Christian Education
Nursery for pre-k - 3rd Grade
www.6thandgibbs.com
First Presbyterian Church
3rd and Adams St
541-942-4479
Pastor: Karen Hill
Worship: 10:00am
Sunday School: 10:00am
www.cgpresbynews.com
Calvary Baptist Church
77873 S 6th St • 541-942-4290
Pastor: Riley Hendricks
Sunday School: 9:45am
Worship: 11:00am
The Journey: Sunday 5:00pm
Praying Thru Life: Wednesday
6:00pm
Calvary Chapel Cottage Grove
1447 Hwy 99 (Village Plaza)
541-942-6842
Pastor: Jeff Smith
Two Services on Sun:
9am & 10:45am
Youth Group Bible Study
Child Care 10:45am Service Only
www.cgcalvary.org
Center for Spiritual Living
Cottage Grove
700 Gibbs Ave.
(Community Center)
Rev. Bobby Lee
Meets Sunday 3:00 p.m.
cslcottagegrove@gmail.com
Church of Christ
420 Monroe St • 541-942-8565
Sunday Service: 10:30am
Cottage Grove Bible Church
1200 East Quincy Avenue
541-942-4771
Pastor:Bob Singer
Worship 11am
Sunday School:9:45am
AWANA age 3-8th Grade,
Wednesdays Sept-May, 6:30pm
www.cgbible.org
Hope In The Grove
700 E. Gibbs • 401-855-5668
Pastor: Wayne Husk
Sunday services:
Worship: 9am
Coffee Fellowship: 10:15am
Bible Study: 10:30am
Hope Fellowship
United Pentecostal Church
100 S. Gateway Blvd.
541-942-2061
Pastor: Dave Bragg
Worship: 11:00am Sunday
Bible Study: 7:00pm Wednesday
www.hopefellowshipupc.com
“FINDING HOPE IN YOUR LIFE”
Living Faith Assembly
467 S. 10th St. • 541-942-2612
Pastor Rulon Combs
Worship & Childrenʼs
Church 10:00 am
Youth 180 Mondays 5:30-8pm
Non-Denominational
Church of Christ
1041 Pennoyer Ave
541-942-8928
Preacher: Tony Martin
Sunday Bible Study:10:00am
Sunday Worship:10:50am & 5:30pm
www.pennoyeravecoc.com
Old Time Gospel Fellowship
103 S. 5th St. • 541-942-4999
Pastor: Jim Edwards
Sunday Service: 10:00am
Join in Traditional Christian Worship
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
and St. Philip Benizi
Catholic Churches
1025 N. 19th St.
541-942-3420
Father: Joseph Hung Nguyen
Holy Mass:
Tue-Thu: 8:30am; Sat:5:30pm
Sun: 10:30am
Confession: After daily mass,
Sat. 4-5pm or by appointment
St. Philip Benizi, Creswell
552 Holbrock Lane
541-895-8686, Sunday: 8:30am
St. Andrews Episcopal Church
1301 W. Main • 541-767-9050
Rev. Lawrence Crumb
“Church with the fl ags.”
Worship: Sunday 10:30am
All Welcome
Seventh-day Adventist Church
820 South 10th Street
541-942-5213
Pastor: Kevin Miller
Bible Study: Saturday, 9:15 am
Worship Service: Saturday, 10:40
Mid-week Service: Wednesday, 1:00
Trinity Lutheran Church
6th & Quincy • 541-942-2373
Pastor: James L. Markus
Sunday School & Adult Education
9:15am
Sunday Worship 10:30 am
Comm. Kitchen Free Meal Tue & Thur
5:00pm TLC Groups
tlccg.com
United Methodist Church
334 Washington • 541-942-3033
Pastor:Lura Kidner-Miesen
Worship: 10:30am
Comm. Dinner (Adults $5,
Kids Free)
1st & 3rd Monday 5-6:00pm
umcgrove.org
“VICTORY” Country Church
913 S. 6th Street • 541-942-5913
Pastor: Barbara Dockery
Worship Service: 10:00am
Message: “WE BELIEVE IN
MIRACLES”
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