Scaled fruiteater, Angel Paz, Ecuador
This is my personal confidence bird. For those that don't know the backstory...
In 2018, during a trip in Colombia I was given a booklet with birds known to occur in the area. This one stood out to me for looking like a snake, so I said "I want that one", like a toddler picking ice cream. Staff insisted that it does not work that way. You can't just "pick" a bird like that. We won't see it. Next, it perched straight in front of our faces, as the only bird of the day.
And here it is again to greet me, whispering: "don't listen to them, Ferdy. You don't have to prepare for anything or know anything. It will still work."
The scaled fruiteater is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Ampelioides''.
It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
