Wednesday 23rd November - In Search of the Resplendent Quetzal

You are almost certainly aware that  the Resplendent Quetzal is a member of the Trogon family, that it is considered sacred in some parts of Central America and that the Guatamelan currency is named after it. You may not know that some of them choose to live in the upper valley of the Savegre River, only a couple of kilometres away from us. Thus we find ourselves up before five, donning fleeces and walking boots, before joining the crowd around the coffee urn provided for early starters. Our guide, Melvin, arrives and finds the other three for our tour who are from Colombia. Two ladies who were feeling the cold (9°C) were accompanied by a tall thin man called Henry.

Melvin ushers us into his amazing customised Toyota pickup and sets off up the hill at a cracking pace. He is clearly the man as others pull over to let us pass. The valley is still not in full daylight but there are vehicles and people everywhere, including a couple of busloads of Scandanavians. If you thought that birdwatching was a lonely occupation, think again.

Melvin soon spots a male Quetzal, quite close to us. Purists will be appalled to learn that D has boosted this photo using the very rudimentary tools on his tablet. Even then the picture does no justice to the bird's colours, although the magnificent tailfeathers can be seen.

From time to time the bird moves, the guides pick up their tripods and scopes and run to get a new viewing position. It's a bit like being part of the papparazzi pack and, if birding was always like this we wouldn't bother. But the bird is sensational. It moves to feed on an avocado tree and turns its back on us. 

Shake a tailfeather baby. After he has eaten enough avocado he flies away and we move to another spot. There is a female on a distant branch, but the light at that level is still very poor.

Then another guide makes a spot of a male high up in the trees. D's camera is struggling to get a good photo but Melvin takes this shot through his scope using R's phone.

 We return to the hotel and the Colombians leg it for breakfast. Melvin offers to show us his home bird garden which is next to the hotel. This is an amazing set up with all sorts of perches and feeders and we resolve to come back later in the day but breakfast calls. It is a buffet and OK but the coffee is indifferent, unlike nearly everywhere else we have been. We take a stroll around the grounds admiring flowers, hummingbirds and the trout in the river below the entrance bridge. 

Melvin has recommended one of the walks up the mountain behind the hotel so we take another spin up the 4x4 track. This time the sun is shining brightly and we get a proper view. This habitat is known as cloud forest and it is a lot less jungly than lower level forests, with lots of lichen and bromeliads on the trees. There are not too many birds but we do see a squirrel and a small creature that scurries across the track and hides in a hole under a tree. Given that we are somewhere over 7,000 feet the walking is not too strenuous and it is nice to get away from the Quetzal groupies.

R's spa treatment yesterday came with the offer of a free sauna and jacuzzi session but it has to be taken at a quiet hour in the spa which turns out to be noon. She heads off for that and D spends time thinning out this morning's zillion photos. Thank the lord for digital. The first time D took digital pics was in 1998 with a Sony camera, borrowed from work that recorded onto floppy disks. We took a pack of 20 disks with us and had to buy more.

R returns. We have solved the humungous lunch issue by ordering two starters, Caprese salad and Green salad, and sharing those as our entire meal. They have a pretty strange idea here about what constitutes a green salad. Over lunch it has clouded over but remains dry.  We work out a plan for the afternoon which involves visiting Melvin's bird garden and hitting the hotel bar for Happy Hour 2 for 1 cocktails. The bird garden is just amazing with dozens of Hummingbirds zipping about. Not all of them are the same size as this picture shows.

We think that we see 5 different types plus plenty of larger birds including Woodpeckers, Tanagers of many hues and Tennessee Warblers. Melvin has provided a shelter with seats which is fortunate as it starts to drizzle a bit. Eventually we are worn out by the energy of the tiny birds and occupy the bar to watch an expert mix Negronis for us. We are celebrating only needing two attempts to get the stove lit tonight.

San Gerardo de Dota and the Hotel Savegre have been great fun. We will even forgive them the coffee. Whether we can forgive them the cool jazz versions of Christmas carols and the tacky festive lights is a different matter.

In other news Spain 7 - Costa Rica 0.

 El partido de futbol no es satisfactorio.