We spent a very wet week in northwestern Ecuador for our annual February vacation. It happened to be the week of the disastrous flooding in the lowlands; we were in the mountains and had mainly mudslides to contend with. It rained every day from 4 pm till dawn, pretty much non-stop! And some of the hours in between, too. But we still had a fabulous time.

Of course, we were mostly birding but we also took a day to go to the market at Otavalo. If you'd like to see my photos, check my website http://www.jczinn.com/ and click on the Featured Gallery "Ecuador 2008". There's a lot of birds

Hi Janet!

Once again, your photos are so magnificent, I am speechless! The bird photos, my God, so stunning and bright and clear and colorful....I want those birds to be dining at my bird feeder outside my kitchen window

the photos of Otavalo are all so fabulous. I love people pictures and your photos show the souls of the people. Fabulous, fabulous.

I need a book of synonyms for other words to describe your fabulous photos,

You totally rock.

I want to be on your list for the Slowtrav calendar, hahahaha.......

Mindy

Janet, these are amazing. The details of the birds, it is almost as if you can see each indivitual feather.

I also loved all the colorful photos from the market at Otavalo. My favorite was the boy and the map photo.

Thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks so much Pokey and Girasoli!

Pokey, I may very well do an Italy calender this year...so many have asked..I just have to remember to start it early enough! (I did my own calender (of birds, not Italy) last year but didn't think of doing it until December

Girasoli, that's my favorite shot from Otavalo as well!

I found the Otavalo album colorful and interesting.

Bill

thanks Bill

Janet - your photos always make me want to "be there." The colors are so vibrant and alive.

Curious - how far away do you sometimes have to be to take some of these bird photos?

Thanks for sharing them all. They're a trip to a faraway place.

Janet, This planet has endless beautiful surprises...unimaginable beauty in landscapes and creatures great and small. Your photographs remind us of these gifts. Thanks for sharing your vision. Lovely! Barb Cabot

Thanks Barb and Terry!

Terry...for many of the hummingbirds actually I was quite close...they are unafraid of people...and most of the shots were taken around lodges with hummingbird feeders. For the other birds...well, I have a 400mm lens with a 1.4 teleconverter, and so I really wasn't that close at all. And even so, many of the photos are cropped...I could have used a 600mm lens (but I couldn't have carried it!)