I always love reading these kind of reports as it sparks interests in
new areas or reminds me of great times in places already experienced.
In reading this report it specifically called to mind the difference
between trips organized around birding vs those organized around other
things where our own specific interests in birds nevertheless produces
many, even if fewer sightings.

Two cases in point: I was fortunate to be able to go on a Victor
Emanuel trip to Kenya for 3 weeks in 2007. The focus of course was
birds but we saw a lot of wildlife as well - impossible not to in
Kenya. Our mammal list was excellent but not as extensive as on Mike's
posting (for example no Serval or African Wild Cat which I would have
loved to see), but as a group we did see over 500 species of birds -
many quite spectacular and many also of the "little brown bird" type.
Having experienced excellent guides that both searched out the birds and
could identify them quickly was of course a major help, just as it is
with our local WOS or Audubon field trips.

A "reverse" experience was a trip to Brazil in 2005 that I went on solo
and organized with the help of someone who had some "bird contacts" but
did not set it up as a "birding trip". It included almost a week each
in two superb habitat areas, the Pantanal and the Amazon and another
week in various places including Rio (where the sightings were mostly of
another tyupe altogether), so there were many bird opportunities and
finds in addition to many great wildlife experiences including a
serendipitous jaguar. At the end of that trip (with guided help for a
couple of the days only) I had a birdlist of around 300 species and was
very pleased not only with that but also with everything else about the
trip. When I made it to the last takeoff place in the Amazon before my
small boat trip that was the last 7 miles to get me to my camp, I ran
into an organized birding group with a famous Brazilian guide. It was
not through VENT but another of the well known birding trip organizers.
I had a major coup when in a walk around that area I was the one that
first spotted a Harpy Eagle (perhaps the birding highlight of my trip)
but it was very evident that the group was seeing much more than I
was/had. I happened to bump into one of the trip members later in the
airport in Rio. Where I had seen my 300 species, the group had seen
well over 500 including many endemics and ones very hard to
find/see/identify. My trip was less expensive, probably as least as
much fun, and very satsifying...but NOT as birdy. Then again...they
did not see a jaguar.