In 2020, birders and naturalists Natasza Fontaine and Robert Gundy set out to break the 2019 Florida Big Year Record of 387 species.  Working full-time jobs, they spent their weekends driving 60,000 miles through Florida searching to add as many species as they could to their list.  They birded on and off trails, in boats in their car and by bicycle. And all along, they made a particular effort to provide documentation of their sightings.  Because Big Years are done on the honor system, the pair wanted to provide as much transparency as possible.  Final count: Gundy 388 species, Natasza 386 species. Success!  To see their full list click here.  Join us as Natasza and Gundy share all their exploits on their great birding adventure! 

Natasza Fontaine is an M.S. student in the biology department at FSU.  Her thesis is focused on understanding plant diversity and distribution to assess bird habitat associations for conservation management. She holds a visual arts degree from Norfolk State University (B.A.) and a communication degree focused on television production from the New York Institute of Technology (M.A.).   

Robert Gundy is a Field Biologist, Florida Natural Areas Inventory at Florida State University (FSU).  Gundy, who goes by his last name, is a Florida native and FSU graduate. He has been a wildlife biologist with Florida Natural Areas Inventory since 2016. An avid birder since 2010, Gundy is also a naturalist with broad interests in the living world, working with reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and flowers.