I saw perhaps the world's most beautiful bird the other day. I had a little bit of time before heading back to Santa Ana (near San Jose) to get ready to fly home for Christmas, so I headed to San Gerardo de Dota in hopes of seeing a quetzal. Resplendent is part of its common name, but this bird is anything but common and certainly lives up to its name. Resplendent is defined as attractive and impressive through being richly colorful and sumptuous, shining brilliantly with glowing splendor. It has deep green, iridescent feathers with a red chest and black and white accents. The male has very long beautiful green feathers covering its white tail feathers. When they fly in an undulating pattern, they look like dragons as the feathers trail behind. We saw three males that were chasing each other in a bid to get the attention of two females.
Resplendent quetzals are found in cloud forests from southern Mexico to western Panama. One of their favorite foods is wild avocados. The place I saw the quetzals was at Casa Monge Lodge - also the place where I camped for the night next to the beautiful Rio Savegre. The owners, a wonderful couple, Luis and his wife, cultivated the wild avocados on their property when one of the trees started to die. Since then, they have attracted quetzals to their property, along with many bird enthusiasts from nearby lodges.
After seeing quetzals in the morning, I headed to a nice place for breakfast and to watch more birds come to their feeders. I hung out there for a while before deciding it was time to head to Santa Ana. Although a bit out of the way, the experience of seeing quetzals has been a highlight of my trip. (Heck, it brought tears to my eyes.)
Comentários