This post covers Day 6 of our Costa Rica photography trip. This is the day we saw the Resplendent Quetzal.
We left the Bosque del Tolomuco B&B at 7:00 AM. Our first stop was La Georgina Restaurante and Cabinas (link here). We hiked behind the property and saw a lot of birds. They had hummingbird feeders there also. Next we drove to the Paraiso del Quetzal Lodge (link here). We did a little birding there.
The Resplendent Quetzal is a beautiful bird that we couldn’t leave Costa Rica without seeing! It is much sought after by tourists, and not always found. Our guide, Sergio, was in contact with some friends of his who told him where the Respendent Quetzal was. There was a fee to take us to the location (I think the $ goes to the local farmers who earn extra cash showing the Quetzal to tourists). I marked the GPS location on my PDF map. They called it La Esperanza.
Then we went back to Paraiso del Quetzal and walked around the area taking more pictures.
Next, we drove to Selva Verde Lodge (link here). We stopped on the way in the town of Sarapiqi and bought empanadas for dinner. Selva Verde Lodge is on a large property. There were feeders at the restaurant, and complementary breakfast. We stayed in a cabin (aka bungalow) across the street from the check-in area, on the lower level. Sergio and Fr. Charlie’s rooms were up the hill a little ways (up some stairs). It was getting dark, so we didn’t take any pictures the first night.
There are Howler Monkeys in the area that make a loud howling/growling sound that is kind of eerie, and reminds you that you are in the jungle (aka La Selva).
2 Comments
Wow-beautiful! We only saw the female quetzal when we were there! The hummingbirds are amazing too–these and your other pics–we saw lots of hummers but didn’t get great pics like yours to remember and ID them.
Thanks. We would likely have seen more birds if we weren’t taking pictures. Some people (maybe most birders) are more interested in just seeing the bird, and moving on to the next. We were interested in photography, so we can sometimes spend a lot of time on one bird trying to get a good picture. It’s also nice to have the pictures to help ID them for those of use who can’t always figure it out in the field, especially when there are so many new birds.