[TN-Bird] World Record in South America

NOTE: The first version of this email was poorly transmitted and difficult to 
read. Hopefully this version is easier on your eyes!
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Hello birders,

Hope you?re doing well! I?m a medical student and avid birder in Nashville who 
has posted to this forum from time to time. In preparation for my senior 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?s 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 ? I would need lots of study before 
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 fun to 
insane while reading Nigel Wheatley?s ?Where to Watch Birds in South America.?  
In lauding the birding riches of the continent, Nigel commented on the amazing 
species lists possible in the Neotropics.  He also noted that the longest trip 
lists in the world included 797 on a 25-day tour to Kenya led by Brian Finch 
but that the ?World Bird Tour Record? 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, ?How 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?? 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 five 
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 bike 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 this 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 Albatross on Isla de la Plata, a fledgling 
Helmeted Currasow, Sword-billed Hummingbird 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 ?race? it really 
was ? 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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