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October 2016 | Birder's Guide to Listing & Taxonomy
Phoenix,
Arizona
glp2@cox.net
George L.
Paul
Background
DuĊĦan Brinkhuizen of the Netherlands
and Rudy Gelis of the U.S. are pro-
fessional bird guides living in Quito,
Ecuador. The two friends had peri-
odically discussed trying to break the
longstanding Big Day record of 331
species, set in 1982 by Ted Parker and
Scott Robinson. They invited two other
birders to participate in their attempt
to break the record: professional bird
guides Tuomas Seimola of Finland and
Mitch Lysinger, a U.S. citizen living in
Quito. During the planning stages of
this effort, a group from Louisiana State
University broke the 1982 mark and es-
tablished a new record of 354 species.
The Choice of Ecuador
The two previous records of 331 species
and 354 species had both been estab-
lished in Peru, and Ecuador was cho-
sen for this attempt. It is one of Earth's
most biodiverse countries and home to
more than 1,600 bird species. In ad-
dition, three of the team members live
