Contemplations in markup

We’re near San Gerardo de Dota, in the mountains, and it’s quite cold except in the sun. We even lit the fire in the room at night.

The weather is splendid in the morning and we set on a walk yesterday, looking for quetzals. We were told about a couple nesting not far from the lodge, by the dirt track.

On the way, we saw tall trees covered in moss and epiphytes.

And some birds, too. Although we heard many more than we saw, a species of woodpecker was all over the place. Here’s one at the entrance of a hole in a tree.

We kept walking toward the small church and soon enough we spotted a group of people with a guide by the fence of the dirt track. A binocular was aimed at the top of a beheaded tree, some twenty meters away. Two long green and blue quetzal feathers emerged of a hole in the trunk –the nest, and were flying in the breeze.

The group had been here for a while already and they had been lucky to see the male quetzal outside of the nest, ruffling its feathers in the sun. The guide said the female would be back shortly, as she goes away between 45 and 60 minutes and then the male can leave.

Our wait was interrupted by the thunderous and surprising sound of horses galloping. Seven or eight horses were coming at us at high speed. My 100-300 lens was fitted on the camera and I could photograph but details of them as there was a curve near us and they soon disappeared.

The wait continued. After an hour, the group left. The female should have been back a half hour prior and the people had other things to do. We waited some more. A little wile afterwards, we saw the head of the male quetzal emerging from the nest, looking in every directions. I took a few photos and suddenly it plunged and flew away behind foliage. We never saw him again and thus, couldn’t get a picture of its full body.

The female had to be back sooner or later… A half hour later I spotted a bird landing in the distance, zoomed in and it was her. Green with a medium length tail that appeared spotted or striped. She ruffled her feather and I noticed some red below her chest, under her otherwise green feathers. She stayed on that high branch in the distance for 25 minutes before she flew to the nest at noon.

Soon after, she got into the hole, hidden from view. We didn’t see the young. Her head and upper body emerged 45 minutes afterwards, she looked left, right, top, tilted her head a few times, and went back in. We waited some more. By now the weather had worsened. It was raining slightly. Woodpeckers were still flying from one tree to another, entertaining us. Here are three aligned on a bare branch.

We decided to wait till 1.30 p.m. and leave, weather we see the male again or not. And we didn’t. Meh. The rain was coming down harder anyway.

The mountain had been pretty in the sun, but in the rain, with low hazy clouds visible, it was even prettier.

It was pouring rain by the time we reached the lodge. We rewarded ourselves with lunch; it was 2 p.m. Sheltered by the roof outside we looked at hummingbirds, mostly black ones with a straight long beak, but also green ones with a curvy beak.

We left Manuel Antonio under a pale sun and after a breakfast of gallo pinto (white rice and black beans) with ham and eggs. Here is a photo of the ocean above a red corrugated iron house roof and a hedge of red hibiscus:

We were driving on the CN34 between Matapalo and Barú when a flock of big birds in a dirt field caught Vlad’s attention. We stopped on the side and saw dozens of black vultures. Some were perched on chopped wood, others on a fence, and the rest was in the field, packed. We approached slowly and they let us within five meters of them.

On the road again but not for long. Soon we reached Dominical. The view from the bridge that crosses the river Barú was astounding. We saw big water birds (a grey heron, an egret) and stopped, but soon we saw an aracari (a sort of toucan), and beyond the river there was the ocean and big waves.

We stayed two hours between the river and Playa Dominical, photographing leafcutter ants, cormorants, basilisks, a green heron, black vultures, crabs, brown pelicans. I leaned so close to the female basilisk that I can see the shape of my body reflected in her eye.

Then we drove on a track next to the river Barú, wondering if we’d see crocodiles, as there were signs warning against them. Also, openstreetmap didn’t have that track. It was about 3 km long and when it stopped, it did at the river, steeply. We parked. Soon after, a pick-up truck crossed the river. It was impressive. We walked a bit along the river. Vlad saw a little crocodile but it dived immediately and we never saw it again. I photographed a tiny brown frog, flowers, etc. and Vlad, crossing a ford in the 4WD, of course.

Back on the road, more curves, more bumpy tracks, more rivers crossed, including the Rio Savegre. I was in awe in front of a tree next to a house by a bridge crossing the Rio Savegre. A tall tree bare of leaves but full of pink blossom. Here, see:

Before and after the big city of San Isidro the road kept winding and climbing, except that after San Isidro, it was called a highway. That is, one lane each, limited speed of 50 Kph, with many big trucks that drove well above the limit, in both directions. We passed through small villages, watched the very green pastures, forests, in the sun and above clouds.

Then we were in the clouds. Around 6 p.m. the clouds around us had a pink or orange glow. It was eerie.

We climbed some more, and soon were at the highest point, 3360 meters, and we understood the glow ealier. On our left there was the most amazing sunset we had ever seen. High as we were, there were mountains underneath, each valley filled with thick white clouds, the summits emerging, and above us there were several layers of clouds that the sun was colouring in deep pink, bright orange and red. Here, see:

We were late, but nevermind, really. Soon after the pass, we drove downward, took a left and drove, in the dark, on a bumpy track during 9 kilometers (how long? Between thirty and forty minutes) and we reached Savegre Hotel de Montańa.