I had a question about the equipment I am using for the photography: the camera body is a Canon R5. For the first 3 days I had a Canon 100-500 RF zoom lens, but then, disaster, it was dropped, and the autofocus stopped working. Fortunately our guide, Galo Real, was using Canon equipment and he generously lent me his Canon EF 400 with a 1.4 teleconverter, and I had an EF to RF adaptor with me. So after day 3 the photos are all taken with that. The lens is a very high quality Canon lens, but doesn’t have the same image stabilization as the newer lenses, which interact with the in-body stabilisation of the mirrorless R5. And now on for anyone who isn’t a photography nerd!
We stayed around San Isidro today, first of all an early start watching the birds that came to snatch the moths off a sheet near the balcony, attracted there overnight by a bright light. Then a couple of expeditions, one of which enable us to find the elusive and amazing Torrent Duck.
Canada Warbler, this particular male had only one leg. The one in the header image is able-bodied, but we are very inclusive in Canada, so both are included in this blog!
Scarlet-rumped Cacique, AKA Neotropical Cacique
White-bellied Antpitta
Summer Tanager, this bird and the Canada Warbler are migratory birds that spend their summer much further north, many of them in Canada.
Torrent Duck, unlike many ducks who like to swim in calm water, this one braves the raging torrents of the rivers in the Andes, swimming upstream, then jumping out, only to return for more exercise. Apparently he (this is the male) eats algae and larvae churned up by the current.
Keith Barrington's personal blog 
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