A full day

A full day indeed!  We began at dawn with a 4-hour bird watching walk in a nearby reserve.  One of the iconic bird species for Central America is the Resplendent Quetzal, long revered for the brilliant colors and hunted for the long plumes of the males. Quetzals are famously elusive and hard to see— this morning we saw FOUR, one juvenile male, one adult male with his long tail feathers floating in the breeze, and two females.  In the same large avocadito tree (little avocados, a wild version inedible for humans but delectable for animals and birds), we saw crested guans (large black birds with brilliant red throats) and a blue-throated toucanet.  Needless to say much time was spent in that one spot; we also saw beautiful native and migratory songbirds, many kinds of hummingbirds and a sleeping two-toed sloth high in a tree. 

After lunch ( which was interrupted by several bird sightings) we went for a 2-hour walk on a trail that includes 8 hanging bridges. The bridges are up to 500 feet long, and can be up to 180 feet above the forest floor. It was fascinating to see the forest from that vantage point, and to be so much nearer both the birds and the troop of howler monkeys we saw.  We got back with only 10 minutes to spare before tonight’s sunset-night walk, but it was worth the hurrying. Tonight we saw two kinds of opossum, a mottled morning owl, a fabulous tarantula and a really good viewing of a kinkajou.

Sitting down for dinner sure felt good!  Pictured below: the toucanet, a hanging bridge and a yellow-throated euphonia.