While trekking the remote forest in Northwest Ecuador or Southwest Columbia, you may think you hear a cow mooing in the distance. What you actually hear is the deep call of the rare Banded Ground Cuckoo, listed in The Fifty Rarest Birds of the World (Dr. Mark Cocker, 1991). The call sounds a long way off, but the Cuckoo is probably very close to you, motionless and undetected. Unique features of the Banded Ground Cuckoo include the patch of blue skin behind each eye which can be expanded or shrunk, and the crown of feathers that is constantly being raised upright and lowered flat while foraging. The Cuckoo follows ant swarms, feeding on disrupted insects, snakes and frogs which it shakes to death before swallowing.

The artist spent three hours per square inch creating this painting while wearing magnifying goggles. A magnifying glass is required to appreciate the minute details.