Andean Cock-of-the-Rock Lek — Manu Road

Each morning in the cloud forests of the Manu Road descending from Cusco to the Amazon lowlands of Peru, male Andean cock-of-the-rocks gather at traditional lek sites in the forest and perform their extraordinary courtship display — a dozen or more males crouching, bobbing, and calling simultaneously on display perches just metres apart, their vivid orange disc-shaped crests and intense black-and-white wing patterns creating a colour explosion of tropical intensity in the dim green light of the cloud forest understorey. The Andean cock-of-the-rock is considered Peru's national bird and the lek displays at Wayqecha Cloud Forest reserve and the Pillahuata tunnel near Tres Cruces produce near-guaranteed sightings at dawn when the males are most active, the birds' calls — a harsh croaking punctuated by liquid whistles — guiding observers to display sites before the birds are visible. The Manu Road itself is one of the world's great birdwatching routes, descending through six ecological zones from Andean páramo to Amazonian lowland in 200 kilometres, with over 1,000 bird species recorded along its length — more than in any equivalent road transect on Earth. The cock-of-the-rock's lek occurs against a backdrop of moss-draped cloud forest, rushing Andean rivers, and the extraordinary orchid diversity of the transitional zone where the Andes meets the Amazon. Spectacled bears leave their footprints in the same cloud forest each morning.