Finding the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

Each morning at precisely 6AM, the male Andean Cock of the Rock gathers in a group at a meeting spot called a lek, where they squawk at each other in the hopes of impressing the females, who are usually busy tending to the young (the males don’t help at all) or possibly just sleeping like any reasonable soul should be at that hour.   Most days, the females don’t appear, and after about 30 minutes, the males split up for the day and are much harder to find.

The Cock of the Rock (Gallo de la Peña) lives throughout Andean countries in cloud forests, and we searched for them near the little town of Mindo, Ecuador. Finding these birds takes a fair amount of effort.   My dad and I (Cassie slept in) hired a wonderful guide to help us, Irman Arias (ask any local–they’ll know him), but finding a guide was just the beginning.  We had to wake up at 5AM, when Irman and our driver met us.  Then we drove on a winding, mountain road for about 30 minutes until we were dropped off outside a tall, metal gate (still in pitch darkness).  From there, we met the property owner, had to pay $10 to enter the private land, and began our hike up a steep, switchback trail.

To put it mildly, my dad had not trained for this.  Our hike was slow going, and as first light started to break through, Irman spotted a beautiful red bird flying toward the lek.  “Cock of the rock!” he whispered excitedly.  My initial instinct was to go drill sargeant on Dad so we could double time it and get to the top before we missed the show.  Then I thought about him having a heart attack and dying right there on the mountain and how bad I’d feel if that had happened.  So I took all the gear with me, including the tripod and heavy camera lenses, and practically ran to the lookout point.  I feared I would be the one having the heart attack.

I set up the tripod and camera while catching my breath.   Only then did I realize that the true challenge of photographing this bird was going to be getting a decent view through the dense branches and foliage.  A male would jump into view, then fly away.  Another would land on a different branch, and each time we moved the tripod to find an angle to get the shot.  It was still pretty dark, so focusing was difficult, as was getting enough light to make sure everything wasn’t blurry.  But every so often, a bird would stay still enough for us to get one lucky shot.   And in photography, that’s all you need!