Photos by TimLaman / A scarlet Ibis—on the mudflats at low tide in the Orinoco River Delta, Venezuela—comes in for a landing. As I work through my archive of bird photography from around the world for a book project, I came across these images from a 2011 Nat Geo trip. They brought back memories of how I struggled to get close to the birds; I found the behind-the-scenes image of the blind I contrived so I could approach without disturbing them. It was a small platform on an inner tube that I pushed across the mudflats slowly. Yes, I was up to my knees in mud for hours. But the plan worked. I got the shots, and my blind floated so that when the tide came in I got picked up by my assistants in a boat. All in a day's work for Nat Geo! Follow TimLaman for more of my images and stories chasing birds and other wildlife around the world. #mud #scarletibis #ibis #birds #venezuela