[TN-Bird] World Record in South America
- From: Jason Mann <j.mann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:48:38 -0500
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Hello birders,
Hope you=B9re doing well! I=B9m a medical student and avid birder in Nashville
who has posted to this forum from time to time. In preparation for my senio=
r
year of school before the long hours of residency, I planned a solo
expedition to South America in July 2007.
It all started simply enough, the typical birder=B9s dream of visiting the
Neotropics. I have birded all over the US but one short trip to Costa Rica
was all the experience I had in the area =AD I would need lots of study befor=
e
attempting a combined trip to Venezuela and Ecuador. I could not afford a
tour and prepared to travel alone. The trip went off the cliff edge from fu=
n
to insane while reading Nigel Wheatley=B9s =B3Where to Watch Birds in South
America.=B2 In lauding the birding riches of the continent, Nigel commented
on the amazing species lists possible in the Neotropics. He also noted tha=
t
the longest trip lists in the world included 797 on a 25-day tour to Kenya
led by Brian Finch but that the =B3World Bird Tour Record=B2 belonged to the
Danish Ornithological Society tour to Ecuador in 1992 led by Niels Krabbe
and Kerik Molgaard. They recorded a mind-blowing 844 species in a month. I
thought, =B3How amazing is that?! I have the month of July off for the last
time before retirement - I wonder how many I can find in northern South
America?=B2 The Amazing Race was on!
So just after my last class of the year, I boarded a plane to Caracas,
Venezuela. I'll spare you the details, but despite the fact that I got fiv=
e
flat tires in two days (total of 10 flats), suffered several other car
malfunctions way out in the jungle, almost got stuck in Colombia, was
illegally waylaid at a gold and diamond mine in Guyana trying to find a bik=
e
pump without being caught by the VZ military (Chavez and Co. just love
Americans these days) and almost got lost in the Amazon basin of Ecuador, I
made it! It was a tough itinerary - driving at night between locations and
chasing birds from dawn till after dusk along the coast, in the rainforest,
up to the cloudforest, and above treeline in the Andes. All in all, it was =
a
photofinish - despite all this effort it was only in the last 24 hrs of thi=
s
crazy month that I passed the record . . . ending with a final tally of 863
(+ 6 recognized by Howell and Ridgley but not Clements). This included 71
hummingbirds, 80 beautiful tanagers, and a mind-numbing 123 different
flycatchers. Other highlights included my first flamingos, Hoatzin, Andean
Cock-of-the Rock, boa constrictor and anaconda, Harpy Eagle, Waved Albatros=
s
on Isla de la Plata, a fledgling Helmeted Currasow, Sword-billed Hummingbir=
d
and Booted Racket-tail, Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan. I met lots of neat
people along the way, including a nice group from Tucson and a Belgian
birder about my age who helped me find a Common Potoo and Lyre-tailed
Nightjar. My Spanish and Macgyver skills definitely improved and I got some
great stories for the grandkids some day. I almost ran out of cash several
times and mostly just slept in my car in the jungle, but I think I found a
bed on days 7 and 10, with showers a bit more frequent at days 7, 10, and
29. And my poor mom thought I was crazy before.
I wanted to share this exciting news and publicly thank Chris Sloan for
lending me some books and recordings that proved invaluable for this
expedition. I have attached a trip list and a couple graphs illustrating
what a =B3race=B2 it really was =AD into the last day I was wondering if I would
barely miss the record, miss my flight, or both. I also wanted to make
myself available to anyone interested in planning a trip to the area.
Good birding,
Jason Mann
Nashville, TN
*************************************
Jason R. Mann, Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Phone: (615) 491-8863
Pager: (615) 317-0252
Email: J.Mann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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