Tawny Antpitta - portrait, La Cocha, Colombia

Antpittas are notoriously hard to find, let alone photograph. This species, however, is described as an exception. It is relatively easy to spot, as it often leaves its cover.

That's what the book says. This particular individual wasn't in the mood though, and incredibly stubborn. We very easily located it based on its highly repetitive, super loud call. The call is 3 sharp whistles, followed by 2 more. We couldn't see it at all but following the loud sound we soon located the thick bushes it was in.

The bushes were so thick though that we could not even see a fragment of the bird. We circled the bush a few times to find an angle, and failed. We tried to wait, but it wouldn't go anywhere. We tried to move aside a few of the hard thick branches but it still wouldn't trigger the bird to move. It knew it was safe sitting in the middle of this impenetrable vegetation. All this while it kept loudly calling the same song, undisturbed.

Our guide then gently poked a walking stick towards the middle of the bushes, in an attempt to trigger the bird to move. We heard it move by like 2 inches, after which it continued its call.

I circled the bush once more, looking for an opening, and finally saw the silhouette of the bird. I had to move aside some thick branches with the tele lens to finally get some of it in view. This whole ritual took close to an hour, but that made it worthwhile, I will never forget this bird with a character.