Overnight on Thursday, a dark and very quiet night resulted in a really great night’s sleep for both Stephanie and I, which made us really happy. We woke up at 5am to get ready for a birding trip with a guide named Alex who was going to pick us up at 5:30 to go and see the Resplendent Quetzal, a spectacular bird that many birders come to Costa Rica to see. Alex drove us down into the valley below Miriam’s several kilometers to a known spot for the quetzals. When we got there, all three of us were unhappy to see a crowd of people on the road already looking at the birds. But Alex parked a ways away from them and found both the male and female quetzals for us through his spotting scope. And they are beautiful birds! Google them to see a photo of the gorgeous long-tailed turquoise and red male.
Alex was a really great guide who spoke good English, was very knowledgeable about birds, plants and the area, and had lived in San Gerardo de Dota for more than 20 years. Plus, he was patient with our slow and mistaken Spanish as we used it for much of the conversations. He answered all our questions about birds, nature and living in Costa Rica.
We spent 2.5 hours birding in the valley and finding lots of birds that neither of us had seen before. Along the way, we also saw a small group of horses being herded on the road by a man in a pickup truck, which looked strange but worked well. They were being brought from their pasture to a place where tourists would be riding them on trails through the forest, according to Alex.
Stephanie and I also wanted to see birds in the páramo, the highest part of the mountains at about 12,000 feet of elevation. Alex had told us that viewing would be best there in late morning after the clouds burned off. So we ate breakfast with Alex at Miriam’s restaurant and then he drove us up to the páramo near Cerró de la Muerte. There we saw the Volcano Junco (a bird) and a couple others plus great views of the surrounding forested mountains and the high-altitude, low-growing vegetation. He returned us to Miriam’s about noon and after we thanked for a wonderful morning of birding, we bought ice cream bars at the mini market that Alex and his wife Liliana (daughter of Miriam) run.
We then spent the afternoon relaxing and talking in front of our cabin, reviewing the birds we had seen. For dinner, we walked up the hill to Los Colibríes Pizzaria, run by a friendly man named Victor who we had met the day before when we made the evening’s reservation. Los Colibríes means the hummingbirds in Spanish, and Victor had created a flower garden with a feeder to attract the birds in front of the restaurant. So we sat at a table next to the windows overlooking the garden to enjoy beer and pizza while watching the hummers. It was a very pleasant dinner.
As we walked back down the hill in the dark to our cabin, we wanted to spot Dusky Nightjar birds, owls, or other night creatures using our flashlights, but disappointedly we saw nothing. Back in the cabin, we heard what sounded like an owl outside. So we rushed outside with binoculars and flashlights to see if we could find the owl, only to encounter a man who apologetically said that he had been playing an owl recording to see if he could attract one to the area of our cabins. It was a funny moment since he had attracted us instead of the bird.
Lori's Travels 