Photographer Captures the Elusive and Dazzling ‘Cock-of-the-Rock’ in South American Cloud Forests

An Andean cock-of-the-rock. Courtesy of Claudia Brasileiro

At a mountain wildlife refuge, travelling photographers aim their long lenses amid the muggy, cloud-strewn forests of Ecuador in search of a bright-orange bird performing a spectacular ritual.

It’s early morning, and Claudia Brasileiro, 48, has arrived from Brasilia, Brazil, where she works at a bank by day, to the Refugio Paz de Las Aves in the Andes to photograph the male Andean cock-of-the-rock during mating season.