Successful Treasure Hunt !!!!
I won't keep you in supsense, I'll start with a bang: 8 sightings of quetzals today, WOW, WOW, WOW... boy, I'm such a happy bunny !!! I can't even tell you... I almost cried with relief. To have been 'so near and yet so far' would have been unbearable...
But let's start at the beginning... going back to last night actually when I thought I'd treat myself to a hot bath followed by a log fire... well, do you think I could actually MAKE a log fire ? There's got to be a trick to starting one up because mine only lasted 5mns (and that was courtesy of the fuel paste they give you to make things supposedly easier!). Once the fuel had burnt off, my logs gave up too. I never even got them to the 'amber' stage... I guess a bloke could have probably figured out what to do (fanning?)... but I was clueless, so after 3 go's, I gave up - I'd run out of fuel paste too. Slightly frustrated. But not as frustrated as if I'd been planning a romantic evening !!!! AH.
So, I ended up going to bed at 8:30pm, it was pitch dark by then and there was absolutely nothing else for me to do. Best to wake up earlier when the sun is out me thought.
So, I woke up at 6am and had breakfast at 7:00am sitting outside on the porch that is the nearest to the humming bird areas. They are very territorial birds so I tend to have my breakfast with the same 'bird' every morning - i.e. its branch is the nearest to my table. It almost feels like I'm having a pet by now as we have a lot of eye contact. Animals always make me feel a less lonely, every time I can look into their eyes, I can always find peace somehow... oh, and they had lots of fresh melon at the buffet today (double treat!), so I managed to eat 1/3 of what was on offer... selfishly.
My guide then came to pick me up at 8:30am and I was relieved to know it was a 1:1 tour. The paths one has to walk around the cloud forests are so narrow, and so slippery, it's easier when there are fewer people.
My guide was a blessing and ended up being worth every penny. These guys really know their stuff and within 5 minutes he had managed to find me a quetzal nest... he pointed to one dead trunk and said 'look, look, we've timed it perfectly, the male is just popping its head out of the nest NOW, it'll make a great shot'... and I was like 'where ? where ? where?'... I just could NOT see it. I mean, there are SO many trees !!! So he had the good sense to grab my camera and quickly took the shots I couldn't see. He then quickly set up his massive telescope and had it so that I had an amazing headshots of a male quetzal and I was like : WOW !!! as soon as I put my eyes to the lens. I never expected to see them sooo clearly. I cannot even describe how exquisite these precious little birds are... they are utterly perfect to look at. Totally flawless from a visual standpoint. Their head are perfectly round when they get curious (their tiny feathers on the top raise up and it makes them look extra fluffy and cuddly) and their eyes are also perfectly round so they really look like soft toys more than real birds(humming birds, for instance have got almond shape eyes). Their chest is a vivid red, their little beak a bright yellow and their wings are 'trimmed' differently from the standard wings of a standard bird, if you look at the pictures I sent you over (via links published in my itinerary) they almost look dented. And their tail, the icing on the cake... soo majestic and vivid green, and curling at the end. I was just speechless. I was mesmerised... unable to take my eyes off it for one second. It was just the most beautiful little thing I had ever seen this side of the world (as far as birds go). No wonder Costa Rica have named the quetzal national bird.
I was so grateful for a 1:1 tour as I could just keep my eye on the telescope for much longer than I would have done with a group of 15 where I could have only enjoyed 1/15th of close-up time...
After my first sighting, I had stars in my eyes for the next 30mns, as if I'd fallen in love ! :) I kept seeing in my head its cute little face and perfectly formed head ... again, like being in love when you play the moments back again and again and again... right? (at least we girls do, I don't know if men are as romantic !!!).
My zoom lens was good but I won't have a head shot with it, my guide had a x40 lens, which was so superior to mine. I would have missed half the thrill without his powerful lens I have to say. It's the perfection of the details that make you go WOW. They have pictures of this bird everywhere, as I said earlier, but because it looks 'too cute to be true', to actually see one was like...wow, they really ARE such amazing birds. It almost takes a while for your brain to process this fact. And for your eyes to actually realise that this is reality and not yet another picture.
If nothing gets better after that, just that moment will have made the whole trip worthwhile. And I'm just endlessly grateful I've got my sight to enjoy such treasures...
My guide then said we could go to another nest downstream and try and get a bit closer. But only a little bit closer because if you get too close, the quetzals will abandon their nests and their offspring will die... needless to say, I would have never wanted that.
We got to the 2nd nest (which was fenced off to make sure people kept their distances) and he installed my tripod accordingly (and could work it much better than I could as I'd only used it once before).... and then he said 'right, it's 9:45am, I reckon the male will take over from the female at about 10am, it's uusally their routine, they take it in turn to incubate the eggs. This month is a good month to watch quetzals as it's the nesting season, so you can pretty much guess what their next move will be'... Another thing that I'd have NEVER known myself, as a tourist, needless to say. And this guy was even able to talk to them ! It was incredible... he'd just whistle in a certain way and the females would answer and come closer because they were confused thinking another male was around... Triple WOW. This guy really was a genius ! There's nothing he couldn't do... He could spot a fly a mile off... his eye sight was incredibly sharp.
So, we waited... and sure enough, almost on the dot, at 10am the male suddenly starting flying around the trunk that had the nest in. He just stopped on a branch nearby first and just stared at us and gave me ample opportunities to take great shots showing his long long tail. He was still about 10m away so I was glad to have my tripod as I had to seriously open up my aperture to 20, which would have meant blurred shots hand-held. I also tried out my flash gun which I hope helped further. I also had 400 ASA films, which should also help... either that or I've over exposed the whole lot !!! But as the majestic quetzal was kind enough to pose for me for 10mns I was able to take about 10 good shots and try several settings in the lower range. I won't know the results for 2 weeks though. Suspense...
After the male had gone in, my guide showed me that because their tail is so long, it doesn't fit in the hole so you sometimes can take the cutest shots of their little head popping out of the nest hole with their tail over their heads!
We then watched the female go in (not quite as cute and without the long tail) but similar colours.
After that, he suggested we go higher up into the cloud forest to try and spot some tucanet (orange tucans, only seen in this area) and hopefully more quetzals. Well, we never saw the tucanets, but we did see another 3 quetzals. 1 male for 2 females. They have to compete for his attention during the mating rituals and we watched the courtship with much flying around. But again, if it wasn't for my guide I'd have missed it all. He would be telling me 'look here, another one'... and I'd be like 'WHERE ??' and sometimes I just could not see them at all till he set up his telescope right on their faces. Because they are mainly green and the dense folliage of the cloud forest is a similar green, it was like ... forget it unless they actually fly. The red spot on their chest was a big help but only if the sun was shining on them... if the sun was behind them the colours didn't show so well.
So, all in all, we had a very successful trek. I was exhausted but I learnt a lot and was grateful for all his tips on how to use my tripod too !
I was then able to venture off on my own in the afternoon, in search of more birds... but without his keen eyes (boy was he good!!!) and his fab telescope, it was half the fun. In fact, I turned round half way through a trail because I could see it was going further & further up and I worried that I'd suffer from exhaustion again... and also, if I had fallen into a ditch, it could be days till anyone found me ! The lodge was useless at giving directions, they provided no maps and though some of the trails were sign-posted, more often than not you'd come to a cross road and had no idea whether to turn right or left to follow your particular trail. Some were 2kms long, some were 8kms long and they kept crossing each other's paths and I just didn't fancy walking 8kms instead of 2kms, esp. when it gets so dark so quickly under the canopy...
I took some nice shots that showed all the moss on the trees, and tried to take them by little streams to give some sort of focus (because composing an interesting shot when it's 'messy' all around is quite an art!). But again, because the light was so low, I had to drop down to 20... I thought I'd practise using my tripod in every possible angle whilst I was just doing scenery as opposed to wildlife. Less stressful as you've got far more time to set things up properly.
I also forgot to say... another thing that's seriously irritating in the cloud forest, beside the lack of decent light, is the amount of flies that go straight for your eyes. And I mean, right in... every day I take about 3-5 out, stuck on my eye ball...and I was worried that one day one would manage to get stuck under my eye lid which would 'blind' me temporarily and with no one to guide me back to the lodge and with drops by the path... it just didn't seem sensible to venture into difficult territory. Plus, I did promise mother I'd be careful so... I'm trying to keep my promise ! :)
But the flipping flies really ruin the fun ... they really make me feel like I'm a cow almost, I have to constantly wave one hand in front of my face to try and keep them away from my eyes (since I don't have a tail)... and with the sweat involved in going up the steep paths, I was even starting to feel that I probably smelt like a cow too ! I tell you I have 2 showers a day here... and I still get blisters on my feet every day and I have to wash all my clothes every time I get back from a trek (and then I'm kind of stuck because they don't dry easily as 18C in the shade is just not good enough... and, as we know by now, I cannot even make a nice log fire to dry them up faster either ! I may have to revert to using the hair-dryer if all fails and I run out of clothes to wear any day soon !). If anyone has any better suggestions, feel free to email them ! :)
Anyway... I can't wait for my photo workshop ! I really need to learn to think fast and smart and not panic... right now, if I see something unusual but my camera blinks as if to say 'wrong settings' I turn all the knobs in no specific order, just till the blinking stops. Having no idea what I've done or why or anything... hum. Pathetic.
On my way back to the lodge I thought I'd stop by the first quetzal nest I'd seen, just in case the male was out again.... and sure enough, he was !!! Now I knew where to 'see' him, it was a lot easier. Within minutes a whole group of people arrived, but it was actually a blessing as their guide also had a massive telescope (x50) and they were quite happy for me to take a peep once in a while so that I could enjoy head-shots... something I could never tire of.
In fact, I stayed with that quetzal over an hour.. till he decided to fly away. He seemed to enjoy the attention....but was about 20m away so though I took some shots with tripod & flash gun & low settings, I really have no idea if they will be any good. Someone suggested I get that particular film put on CD so that I can enlarge further on screen... or lighten up backgrounds, etc. (providing the shots aren't too grainy as 400ASA is not as crisp as 100 as we know). Everything in photography is a trade-off basically, with a 100 film, I simply would not have been able to take the shots at all...
It gets dark here at around 5:30pm which is way too early by my books... at 2pm the light is getting dull already.... disaster.
I'd tried to book another private guided tour for tomorrow morning with my genius guide but they only have 2 guides here and they are both already fully booked. Bummer. Going out in the afternoon is a waste of time really (light wise)...so I guess I'll just go back to the quetzal nests in the morning, all on my own, and wait... patiently. 10am and 11:30am are the best times for activities he said. It's amazing how these birds can work like clock-work and know the time with such precision ! :)
Voila... nothing else to report, my eyes are still full of quetzals... London with its dirty grey-ish pigeons will look anything but thrilling on the bird front on my return.
But I do feel incredibly blessed that I have lived long enough to see such beautiful creatures and I shall even pray that we can have some as pets in Heaven ! :) Mind you, if I had one as a pet in this life, I'd find them such a distraction, I wouldn't be able to get any work done, I'd just want to gaze at them all day long... again, just like I feel when I'm in love ! :) sigh.
So, let's see what tomorrow brings... Since I have a guided walk in the afternoon only at 1:30pm, I'll have to pray that the sun will shine a bit longer... please, pretty please...
I'm off to have my dinner now and no doubt will dream of quetzals all night !!!
I won't keep you in supsense, I'll start with a bang: 8 sightings of quetzals today, WOW, WOW, WOW... boy, I'm such a happy bunny !!! I can't even tell you... I almost cried with relief. To have been 'so near and yet so far' would have been unbearable...
But let's start at the beginning... going back to last night actually when I thought I'd treat myself to a hot bath followed by a log fire... well, do you think I could actually MAKE a log fire ? There's got to be a trick to starting one up because mine only lasted 5mns (and that was courtesy of the fuel paste they give you to make things supposedly easier!). Once the fuel had burnt off, my logs gave up too. I never even got them to the 'amber' stage... I guess a bloke could have probably figured out what to do (fanning?)... but I was clueless, so after 3 go's, I gave up - I'd run out of fuel paste too. Slightly frustrated. But not as frustrated as if I'd been planning a romantic evening !!!! AH.
So, I ended up going to bed at 8:30pm, it was pitch dark by then and there was absolutely nothing else for me to do. Best to wake up earlier when the sun is out me thought.
So, I woke up at 6am and had breakfast at 7:00am sitting outside on the porch that is the nearest to the humming bird areas. They are very territorial birds so I tend to have my breakfast with the same 'bird' every morning - i.e. its branch is the nearest to my table. It almost feels like I'm having a pet by now as we have a lot of eye contact. Animals always make me feel a less lonely, every time I can look into their eyes, I can always find peace somehow... oh, and they had lots of fresh melon at the buffet today (double treat!), so I managed to eat 1/3 of what was on offer... selfishly.
My guide then came to pick me up at 8:30am and I was relieved to know it was a 1:1 tour. The paths one has to walk around the cloud forests are so narrow, and so slippery, it's easier when there are fewer people.
My guide was a blessing and ended up being worth every penny. These guys really know their stuff and within 5 minutes he had managed to find me a quetzal nest... he pointed to one dead trunk and said 'look, look, we've timed it perfectly, the male is just popping its head out of the nest NOW, it'll make a great shot'... and I was like 'where ? where ? where?'... I just could NOT see it. I mean, there are SO many trees !!! So he had the good sense to grab my camera and quickly took the shots I couldn't see. He then quickly set up his massive telescope and had it so that I had an amazing headshots of a male quetzal and I was like : WOW !!! as soon as I put my eyes to the lens. I never expected to see them sooo clearly. I cannot even describe how exquisite these precious little birds are... they are utterly perfect to look at. Totally flawless from a visual standpoint. Their head are perfectly round when they get curious (their tiny feathers on the top raise up and it makes them look extra fluffy and cuddly) and their eyes are also perfectly round so they really look like soft toys more than real birds(humming birds, for instance have got almond shape eyes). Their chest is a vivid red, their little beak a bright yellow and their wings are 'trimmed' differently from the standard wings of a standard bird, if you look at the pictures I sent you over (via links published in my itinerary) they almost look dented. And their tail, the icing on the cake... soo majestic and vivid green, and curling at the end. I was just speechless. I was mesmerised... unable to take my eyes off it for one second. It was just the most beautiful little thing I had ever seen this side of the world (as far as birds go). No wonder Costa Rica have named the quetzal national bird.
I was so grateful for a 1:1 tour as I could just keep my eye on the telescope for much longer than I would have done with a group of 15 where I could have only enjoyed 1/15th of close-up time...
After my first sighting, I had stars in my eyes for the next 30mns, as if I'd fallen in love ! :) I kept seeing in my head its cute little face and perfectly formed head ... again, like being in love when you play the moments back again and again and again... right? (at least we girls do, I don't know if men are as romantic !!!).
My zoom lens was good but I won't have a head shot with it, my guide had a x40 lens, which was so superior to mine. I would have missed half the thrill without his powerful lens I have to say. It's the perfection of the details that make you go WOW. They have pictures of this bird everywhere, as I said earlier, but because it looks 'too cute to be true', to actually see one was like...wow, they really ARE such amazing birds. It almost takes a while for your brain to process this fact. And for your eyes to actually realise that this is reality and not yet another picture.
If nothing gets better after that, just that moment will have made the whole trip worthwhile. And I'm just endlessly grateful I've got my sight to enjoy such treasures...
My guide then said we could go to another nest downstream and try and get a bit closer. But only a little bit closer because if you get too close, the quetzals will abandon their nests and their offspring will die... needless to say, I would have never wanted that.
We got to the 2nd nest (which was fenced off to make sure people kept their distances) and he installed my tripod accordingly (and could work it much better than I could as I'd only used it once before).... and then he said 'right, it's 9:45am, I reckon the male will take over from the female at about 10am, it's uusally their routine, they take it in turn to incubate the eggs. This month is a good month to watch quetzals as it's the nesting season, so you can pretty much guess what their next move will be'... Another thing that I'd have NEVER known myself, as a tourist, needless to say. And this guy was even able to talk to them ! It was incredible... he'd just whistle in a certain way and the females would answer and come closer because they were confused thinking another male was around... Triple WOW. This guy really was a genius ! There's nothing he couldn't do... He could spot a fly a mile off... his eye sight was incredibly sharp.
So, we waited... and sure enough, almost on the dot, at 10am the male suddenly starting flying around the trunk that had the nest in. He just stopped on a branch nearby first and just stared at us and gave me ample opportunities to take great shots showing his long long tail. He was still about 10m away so I was glad to have my tripod as I had to seriously open up my aperture to 20, which would have meant blurred shots hand-held. I also tried out my flash gun which I hope helped further. I also had 400 ASA films, which should also help... either that or I've over exposed the whole lot !!! But as the majestic quetzal was kind enough to pose for me for 10mns I was able to take about 10 good shots and try several settings in the lower range. I won't know the results for 2 weeks though. Suspense...
After the male had gone in, my guide showed me that because their tail is so long, it doesn't fit in the hole so you sometimes can take the cutest shots of their little head popping out of the nest hole with their tail over their heads!
We then watched the female go in (not quite as cute and without the long tail) but similar colours.
After that, he suggested we go higher up into the cloud forest to try and spot some tucanet (orange tucans, only seen in this area) and hopefully more quetzals. Well, we never saw the tucanets, but we did see another 3 quetzals. 1 male for 2 females. They have to compete for his attention during the mating rituals and we watched the courtship with much flying around. But again, if it wasn't for my guide I'd have missed it all. He would be telling me 'look here, another one'... and I'd be like 'WHERE ??' and sometimes I just could not see them at all till he set up his telescope right on their faces. Because they are mainly green and the dense folliage of the cloud forest is a similar green, it was like ... forget it unless they actually fly. The red spot on their chest was a big help but only if the sun was shining on them... if the sun was behind them the colours didn't show so well.
So, all in all, we had a very successful trek. I was exhausted but I learnt a lot and was grateful for all his tips on how to use my tripod too !
I was then able to venture off on my own in the afternoon, in search of more birds... but without his keen eyes (boy was he good!!!) and his fab telescope, it was half the fun. In fact, I turned round half way through a trail because I could see it was going further & further up and I worried that I'd suffer from exhaustion again... and also, if I had fallen into a ditch, it could be days till anyone found me ! The lodge was useless at giving directions, they provided no maps and though some of the trails were sign-posted, more often than not you'd come to a cross road and had no idea whether to turn right or left to follow your particular trail. Some were 2kms long, some were 8kms long and they kept crossing each other's paths and I just didn't fancy walking 8kms instead of 2kms, esp. when it gets so dark so quickly under the canopy...
I took some nice shots that showed all the moss on the trees, and tried to take them by little streams to give some sort of focus (because composing an interesting shot when it's 'messy' all around is quite an art!). But again, because the light was so low, I had to drop down to 20... I thought I'd practise using my tripod in every possible angle whilst I was just doing scenery as opposed to wildlife. Less stressful as you've got far more time to set things up properly.
I also forgot to say... another thing that's seriously irritating in the cloud forest, beside the lack of decent light, is the amount of flies that go straight for your eyes. And I mean, right in... every day I take about 3-5 out, stuck on my eye ball...and I was worried that one day one would manage to get stuck under my eye lid which would 'blind' me temporarily and with no one to guide me back to the lodge and with drops by the path... it just didn't seem sensible to venture into difficult territory. Plus, I did promise mother I'd be careful so... I'm trying to keep my promise ! :)
But the flipping flies really ruin the fun ... they really make me feel like I'm a cow almost, I have to constantly wave one hand in front of my face to try and keep them away from my eyes (since I don't have a tail)... and with the sweat involved in going up the steep paths, I was even starting to feel that I probably smelt like a cow too ! I tell you I have 2 showers a day here... and I still get blisters on my feet every day and I have to wash all my clothes every time I get back from a trek (and then I'm kind of stuck because they don't dry easily as 18C in the shade is just not good enough... and, as we know by now, I cannot even make a nice log fire to dry them up faster either ! I may have to revert to using the hair-dryer if all fails and I run out of clothes to wear any day soon !). If anyone has any better suggestions, feel free to email them ! :)
Anyway... I can't wait for my photo workshop ! I really need to learn to think fast and smart and not panic... right now, if I see something unusual but my camera blinks as if to say 'wrong settings' I turn all the knobs in no specific order, just till the blinking stops. Having no idea what I've done or why or anything... hum. Pathetic.
On my way back to the lodge I thought I'd stop by the first quetzal nest I'd seen, just in case the male was out again.... and sure enough, he was !!! Now I knew where to 'see' him, it was a lot easier. Within minutes a whole group of people arrived, but it was actually a blessing as their guide also had a massive telescope (x50) and they were quite happy for me to take a peep once in a while so that I could enjoy head-shots... something I could never tire of.
In fact, I stayed with that quetzal over an hour.. till he decided to fly away. He seemed to enjoy the attention....but was about 20m away so though I took some shots with tripod & flash gun & low settings, I really have no idea if they will be any good. Someone suggested I get that particular film put on CD so that I can enlarge further on screen... or lighten up backgrounds, etc. (providing the shots aren't too grainy as 400ASA is not as crisp as 100 as we know). Everything in photography is a trade-off basically, with a 100 film, I simply would not have been able to take the shots at all...
It gets dark here at around 5:30pm which is way too early by my books... at 2pm the light is getting dull already.... disaster.
I'd tried to book another private guided tour for tomorrow morning with my genius guide but they only have 2 guides here and they are both already fully booked. Bummer. Going out in the afternoon is a waste of time really (light wise)...so I guess I'll just go back to the quetzal nests in the morning, all on my own, and wait... patiently. 10am and 11:30am are the best times for activities he said. It's amazing how these birds can work like clock-work and know the time with such precision ! :)
Voila... nothing else to report, my eyes are still full of quetzals... London with its dirty grey-ish pigeons will look anything but thrilling on the bird front on my return.
But I do feel incredibly blessed that I have lived long enough to see such beautiful creatures and I shall even pray that we can have some as pets in Heaven ! :) Mind you, if I had one as a pet in this life, I'd find them such a distraction, I wouldn't be able to get any work done, I'd just want to gaze at them all day long... again, just like I feel when I'm in love ! :) sigh.
So, let's see what tomorrow brings... Since I have a guided walk in the afternoon only at 1:30pm, I'll have to pray that the sun will shine a bit longer... please, pretty please...
I'm off to have my dinner now and no doubt will dream of quetzals all night !!!
posted by Sylvie at 1:21 AM
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