Resplendent Quetzel

Last year we visited the Costa Rica Cloud Forest to celebrate a milestone birthday for Mike. This was the first of three destinations and we stayed at the Hotel Villablanca which is also a nature reserve. This beautiful location has birding, dining and a chapel on the premises that is perfect for a destination wedding. Each room has a little patio that offered an opportunity to bird, enjoy a glass of wine and take in the stunning scenery. Some of birds easily found on the property included Common Chlorospingus, Clay-colored Thrush, Blue-and-white Swallow, Brown Jay and Rufous-collared Sparrow.

 

The property has many pathways that meander through the numerous gardens. On our way to the hummingbird garden we saw an Ornate Hawk-Eagle which made the resident bird expert jealous because he has not seen one yet. The hummingbird garden provided good looks at Green Hermit, Green-crowned Brilliant, Violet Sabrewing and Crowned Woodnymph.

The next morning we took a tour for the Resplendent Quetzel. Our first stop was a wetland that held many of the birds we see in Florida such as herons, teals and gallinule. Best birds were White Hawk, Southern Lapwing and Northern Jacana.

Our next destination was private property that is a known hotspot for the Resplendent Quetzel. They led us to the exact location and we soon saw our lifer when the male flew by and the female perched in one of the trees. Unfortunately no pictures worth sharing. Our Guides did not speak english well so while communication was a bit difficult, they had no problem getting us on great birds. Northern-Emerald Toucanet and Golden-browed Chlorophonia were a couple of the best.

Afterward we stopped for some outstanding food at one the local sodas, Cafeteria Flory. It was easy to see why our guide selected this place when we saw the fruit the owners put out each day. The fruit attracted many lifers for us: Montezuma Oropendola, Gray-headed Chachalaca and Buff-throated Saltator among others.

On our last morning we took a birding tour of the property with the resident guide, Roy Valverde. One of the first new birds we saw was an Olive-striped Flycatcher sitting on a sign. Roy put us on 44 species with the best being the Cloud Forest endemic Orange-bellied Trogan.

It’s not always about birding for us so we want to share some of our other experiences. It was the first time either of us milked a cow or saw a Coati which is a long tailed member of the racoon family. We saw a multitude of butterflies and moths around the property that is an entomologist’s paradise. Someday we’ll try to ID all the specimens we have in pictures.

We could have stayed in the Cloud Forest longer but it was time to head to our next destination, Quepos. The custom tour designed by Mike included transportation and we were surprised to learn it would be 3 1/2 hours by car to our next stop. A list of all the birds we found in Costa Rica will be added soon.

Trip Birds: 79  Life Birds: 50 

Next up: Costa Rica – Quepos