HI Tweeters:
This should be of interest to hummingbird people!

Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
ipaulsen at krl.org
A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
"Rallidae all the way"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 12:51:53 -0500
From: Tandayapa Bird Tours <tours at TANDAYAPA.COM>
To: BIRDCHAT at listserv.arizona.edu
Subject: [BIRDCHAT] Hummingbird Big Day - 41 species!!

Our big hummer day was fantastic and we made our target of 40 with 1 to
spare! In the end there were 4 of us: Nick Athanas, Iain Campbell, Paul
Coopmans, and Richard White (a friend who is a guide working at Sacha
Lodge). Paul used his car and did most of the driving. His jeep
basically has no suspension, but I think we survived without any serious
internal damage. All 4 of us saw all 41 species.

We started in Guango Lodge on the east slope of the Andes, then spent 2
hours around Papallacta before making the long drive to Tandayapa. The
feeders at Tandayapa Bird Lodge were pumping, and we doubled the list in
a matter of minutes! From there we headed up the Old-Nono-Mindo Road
towards Mindo, stopping a couple times along the way for a few hummers
we still needed. In Mindo we got 4 more at the feeders of Restaurante
Los Colobries, then stopped in at Mindo Lindo for Velvet-purple Coronet.
At this point we had 38, but there were no more hummer feeders and we
would have to do things the hard way. 39 was a Band-tailed Barbthroat
near Los Bancos, 40 was a Black-throated Mango, coming to a flowering
Inga tree. We finished the day with a Purple-chested Hummingbird in
Pedro Vicente at around 5:15pm. Despite much searching, we found nothing

new over the next hour. We drove back to Quito, all of us exhausted, but
had a celebratory drink before crashing.

41 hummingbirds in a day is undoubtedly the record. It would have been
impossible only a few years ago because there weren't many places with
feeders. All but 14 species we saw only at feeders. If more places start
putting up feeders, it may become possible to see 50 species in a single
day! Ecuador is truly the hummingbird capital of the world. Nowhere else
is it possible to see so many species in a short time.

Here is the day list in chronological order:

1: Tourmaline Sunangel - Guango Lodge feeders
2: Tyrian Metaltail - Guango Lodge feeders.
3: Mountain Velvetbreast - Guango Lodge feeders.
4: Long-tailed Sylph - Guango Lodge feeders.
5: Sword-billed Hummingbird - Near Papallacta village.
6: Viridian Metaltail - Near Papallacta village.
7: Shining Sunbeam - Near Papallacta Lake.
8: Buff-winged Starfrontlet - Near Papallacta Lake.
9: Blue-mantled Thornbill - Behind radio towers above Papallacta Pass.

10: Ecuadorian Hillstar - Along the road to the radio towers above
Papallacta Pass.
11: Sparking Violetear - Along the road between Papallacta and Quito.
12: Black-tailed Trainbearer - Along the road between Papallacta and
Quito.
13: Tawny-bellied Hermit - Near the entrance to Tandayapa Bird Lodge.
14: Brown Inca - Near the entrance to Tandayapa Bird Lodge.
15: Booted Racket-tail - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
16: Western Emerald - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
17: Purple-bibbed Whitetip - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
18: Rufous-tailed Hummingbird - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
19: Andean Emerald - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
20: Violet-tailed Sylph - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
21: Green Violet-ear - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
22: Fawn-breasted Brilliant - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
23: Purple-throated Woodstar - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
24: Buff-tailed Coronet - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
25: Collared Inca - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
26: White-bellied Woodstar - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
27: Green-crowned Brilliant - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
28: Wedge-billed Hummingbird - Seen at a lek on a trail near Tandayapa
Bird Lodge.
29: Green-fronted Lancebill - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
30: Brown Violet-ear - Tandayapa Bird Lodge feeders.
31: Speckled Hummingbird - Loma Linda feeders.
32: Little Woodstar - Loma Linda feeders.
33: Gorgeted Sunangel - Bellavista feeders.
34: White-necked Jacobin - Feeders at Restaurante Los Colobries in
Mindo.
35: White-whiskered Hermit - Feeders at Restaurante Los Colobries in
Mindo.
36: Green-crowned Woodnymph - Feeders at Restaurante Los Colobries in
Mindo.
37: Empress Brilliant - Feeders at Restaurante Los Colobries in Mindo.
38: Velvet-purple Coronet - Feeders at Mindo Lindo.
39: Band-tailed Barbthroat - In forest at km 106.5 near Los Bancos.
40: Black-throated Mango - Coming to flowering Inga tree near Puerto
Quito.
41: Purple-chested Hummingbird - Seen on a song perch in Pedro Vicente
Maldonado.

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