Searching for the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird: Moos in the Clouds

It’s just after five in the morning when, after a series of heavy rains, we finally rattle our way along an eroded dirt road into the small village of 23 de Junio at the foothills of Ecuador’s western Andes. A light drizzle hangs in the air. Or is it just dense fog? For a region that receives up to three times more rainfall than the Amazon, this actually counts as beautiful weather. We’re at 1150 m above sea level, roughly where the jagged landscape of countless rolling hills begins to rise into steep slopes, culminating in the nearly 5,000-meter volcanic peaks of Pichincha and Atacazo or Cozarón.