Quetzal Hunting in the Cloud Forest

Thanks to our Guide for this image taken with a phone through a scope.

Early start this morning, leave the hotel at 7:00 for a cloud forest walk. Monteverde where we’re staying is 1,500m above sea level, the cloud forest is only at 1,800m but the flora and fauna are very different.

Our guide is well equipped for the walk with top of the range scope, tripod and North Face clothing – this is how things are in Costa Rica.

There are lots of interesting creatures and plants in the forest but the one thing that everybody wants to see is the Resplendent Quetzal. This bird is one of the most beautiful anywhere, the body is not much larger than a pigeon but the tail feathers of the male can be up to a metre long. They were used by the Aztecs for headdresses for the elite few. The Quetzal is now gone from most areas of Central America and has threatened status. Will we see one? Our chances are about 75%.

The richness of life in the forest is incredible. Our guide shows us one large wild avocado tree, it has about 70 smaller plants living on it. Where a tree has fallen it is soon taken over by a variety of ferns and mosses. The forest is a mixture of primary and secondary. The reserve has grown out of conservation projects started in the 1970s that were concerned about the reduction in wildlife habitat and started buying up agricultural land near to existing forest and replanting. It’s now hard to tell the difference between the two. Over 25% of Costa Rica is protected reserve, the tiny country has 5% of the world’s bio-diversity and over 10% of all butterfly species. The government recognises the importance of this, obviously from an environmental and tourism perspective and puts huge amounts of money into it too.

Our hawk-eyed guide spots an owl asleep in the highest branches, it’s hard to even see it with a naked-eye but it’s clear through the scope.

We are very close to the watershed between the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, the streams here run to the East into the Caribbean. We walk to a waterfall that cascades down the hillside in many small drops.

There are three well-known places to see a Quetzal, the guide scans the canopy above the first one but there’s nothing there.

One bush is full of tiny finches, they take no notice of us and fly very fast across the path looking for insects to eat.

After about an hour and a half we come across a group peering into the tree-tops, there’s a Quetzal up there somewhere. We can just see his turquoise back and some of the long tail, his red front is facing away from us. A little further up the path there’s a better view but still no full-frontal. After a few minutes he flies off – not a great siting but we’ve seen one.

The walk finishes at the Hummingbird Cafe. This has a number of nectar feeders set up around the verandah. The tiny birds fly all around us, you can hear a small buzz from their wings as they pass. The largest here weighs about 60g, the smallest only 12g, their wings beat up to 60 times a second. They are the only bird that has muscle in their chest that allows their wings to beat in a circular motion allowing them to hover absolutely still in the air. There are many different colours, as the light changes their glow iridescently. I could happily watch them – and try and photograph them – all day but our transport is waiting. We’re dropped in town for breakfast which has now turned into lunch.

We have no plans for the afternoon so decide to visit the Frog Centre. Costa Rica is famous for its frogs but they are very hard to see in the wild so this is our best chance. We can walk round on our own or have a guide – even within fairly small enclosures the frogs are very hard to see so the guide is worthwhile. The frogs and toads vary in size from 12cm long down to just 2-3cm for the tiniest. They come in many colours – the brightest has a bright red top and blue legs but we can only see his head. It’s not like seeing them in the wild but worthwhile all the same.

We had hoped to venture out of town to find a viewpoint to watch the sunset but it’s grey and rainy as the afternoon ends so nothing happening there.

Pizza and wine for dinner, not so traditional but Costa Rica are playing El Salvador on the tv in corner which keeps it local.