Searching for Quetzals

We left the Dominicalito region, on the Pacific, and headed back inland, up in the mountains, driving over one of the highest points in the country, making a rest stop where a sign told us that we were 3,100 metres above sea level. We stopped for lunch in a village, San Gerardo de Dota, at the bottom of a valley, where the road to get to it was so narrow, so winding, and so steep that I didn't think our RAV4 would be able to get back out, but where we had one of the most enchanting lunches of our vacation.

Our ultimate destination was Copey de Dota, inside the Quetzal National Park. We booked cabins at a lodge that was popular for birders, not that we're birders. But we like to photograph birds and Costa Rica is a bird-watching paradise.

And if you want to try to capture a glimpse of Costa Rica's rare, sacred bird of the Aztecs and Mayans, going to a national park named after them seemed like the place to go.

After we settled into our cabins—our friends Katheleen and Jim had a cabin: we had our own—we booked a guided hike with a bird expert, who would take us to a spot where the colourful quetzals had been sighted. It wasn't cheap: at $40US per person, it was a lot to pay for having no guarantee of seeing anything.

We would set out the next day before dawn.

We awoke just before 4:30, but considering we were in bed by 9 on the previous night, it was no issue. We find that staying up past 10 is a rarity here. Once the sun is gone, you really don't want to be on the road, especially on these narrow, winding roads, and there wasn't much else to do.

We were on the road by 5, almost an hour before sunrise. We had a 5:30 rendezvous with a guide for a birding adventure.

The guide knew of a tree where a couple of the birds had been spotted on previous mornings. And he told us that around sunrise, the birds would be at their most active.

This was the place and time to try our luck.

It's surprisingly cold in this part of the country, at this altitude. At 6:00, standing at about 2,500 metres in the mountains, we were in layers, wearing the clothes that we had worn when we left wintery Ottawa. But we hadn't packed gloves, and never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I'd need them in Costa Rica. Holding onto my camera, keeping my eyes on the trees, I wished I had a pair on me.

It was about 11⁰C.

We stood in that spot for more than a half an hour, waiting. We could hear so many different species of birds coming to life but none matched the call of the quetzal. But then, just as we considered moving to a secondary sighting spot, both male and female resplendent quetzals came out of the dense woods and landed on a tree about 30 metres away.

They stayed in the area, fluttering from tree to tree, for about an hour. At one point, a second male came to the area but the first male chased him off. Apparently, these birds are territorial, especially now, during mating season.

It was a wonderful experience watching these beautiful birds fly over our heads in almost a dance as the first male made it clear that the second male was not welcome.

I'm not very good at capturing birds, especially ones that move a lot, but I got a couple of okay shots. I really need a better telephoto lens.

At one point, our guide had his spotting scope locked onto the male, and I was able to hold my smartphone to the viewfinder to snag a couple of shots. Even though the bird was partially hidden by a tree branch, the photo made it look like he was trying to hide from the camera (see the fourth shot).

We were back at our lodge shortly after 8, still in time to be served the breakfast that was included with our accommodations. After a traditional breakfast of eggs, fresh fruit, and rice with beans, we went back to our cabins to rest and then shower before tackling our afternoon adventure.

I'll share that, tomorrow.