Cordillera Escalera

A mountain waterfall.

This Andean Cock-of-the-rock stuck his head up but wouldn't give a view of his all-orange body (until he flew).

Bluish-fronted Jacamar

A Swallow-tailed Kite swooped by.

A male Swallow Tanager

and the female Swallow Tanager (these are actually cropped from the same photo).

We visited “Koepcke's Hermit Aconasikh”, a place where Koepcke's Hermits so reliably come to feeders that they named the place for them. Koepcke's Hermit is a very rare hummingbird, classified as “near threatened”.

Among the hummingbirds at the feeders were many White-necked Jacobins, a common but very active hummingbird of which I never have gotten a satisfactory photo.

Gray-breasted Sabrewing is a very large hummingbird.

They often hold their wings up when they alight.

Golden-tailed Sapphire

Gould's Jewelfront is quite a distinctive-looking hummingbird.

Success! Our quarry, Koepcke's Hermit.

After enjoying the hummingbirds, we hiked into the forest. This tiny poison-dart frog hopped across our path.

You know how people are always saying they will cross that bridge when they come to it? This is the bridge that they are talking about.

Golden-headed Manakin

We came across a flock of birds following an ant swarm, including numerous White-plumed Antbirds. Photographing small active birds in the deep shade of a cloud forest was a challenge but I got a couple of recognizable shots.

White-plumed Antbird