Our fourth photography trip to Ecuador was a mixed bag compared to the previous ones. For one thing it rained just about everywhere we went including Southern as well as Northern Ecuador. This had an overall bad effect on avian activity, hence photographic opportunities. We also found the lodges were just trying to survive and recover from being basically shut down for two years. This seemed to cause the colorful tanagers and others to disperse elsewhere. For instance, Sani Lodge, along the Napo River in the Amazon basin was deafeningly quiet and devoid of the species we were used to hearing and seeing. However, we did capture some rare, uncommon species, sporadically throughout the trip, thanks to our extremely competent driver/spotter, Nestor, who knew special spots for birds and our accommodations.