Why you need a good guide, even when the birds are all around you

Just starting to process my pictures from our summer trip to Ecuador. Ecuador is a small country-about the size of the state of Colorado. With .05% of the world’s landmass, Ecuador is home to 20% of the total bird species in the world. Truly a bird photographer’s heaven. However, many of these birds are really tough to find and see. They live in the rain forests; very dark and very dense places. This species, a Black-banded Crake is typical of these. They love dense, swampy areas where you often hear them in the morning but seldom do you see them. Our friend, Byron Gualavisi, truly a wizard with the birds, was able to set Deb and I up to not only see these birds, but to get nice photos of them. For this shot, I am laying in 2″ deep water/mud and Deb is kneeling over my shoulder in the same muck ( it is amazing now what she is willing to put up with). This shot was taken while we were staying in Wildsumaco Lodge, on the eastern slope of the Andes in central Ecuador.