From Nancy Elwood
Our mission this morning was to capture the Umbrellabird displaying for the females. Well, mission accomplished!! Taken with the Nikon Z9 and Nikon 400 4.5 lens with the Nikon 1.4TC, iso 10,000, 1/1000, f/6.3, wide area small AF mode with birds detection.
Mindo, Ecuador
Umbrellabirds are large (14-20in, 35-50cm) birds of Central and South American rainforests.
This species is the Long-wattled Umbrellabird.
You MUST watch this video from 2:18-2:30 to see some amazing courtship rituals, involving machine gun wings, doing some magic with that long wattle, and some seductive pelvic thrusts. This is a bird with style!
And another, from the same photographer:
I won’t spoil it, but you aren’t far off. I linked the best 12 seconds of the vid, where it shows off a little bit of everything, but that bird has serious talents.
Will watch once home