Birding is sometimes a team sport. And remember…there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. (Of course there is an ‘I’ in the Spanish word for team…’equipo’.)

Today, four of us went birding up in Durica; a grassland ecosystem near Buenos Aires. One of our target birds was the illusive Oscillated Crake. As you can see, below, our team effort to create this tiny moment proved successful!

Our team assignments:

Jim Zook-Elite and long time Costa Rica ornithologist: Organize the trip. Identify the specific habitat and direct us to it.

Jeissom Figueroa-Naturalist Guide for Las Cruces/Wilson Botanical Garden. Dallas Levey-PhD candidate from Stanford. Hike up onto the grassy ridge…hunker down in the grass for a real long time while calling the Crake. Stay there (hunkered down) until it showed itself; something Crakes and Rails are ill-disposed to do. Take a perfect photo of it.

Greg Homer (me)-Drive the car.

Jeissom and Dallas, hunkered down in the bunch grass. Photo by Greg Homer.

The illusive Oscillated Crake; photo by Dallas Levey.