Quetzal and Beautiful Scenary

/ Ed Armstrong
We got up at 4:30 am to drive to a nearby area that has a nest for a male and female Quetzal birds. This gorgeous photo was taken by our group leader Danial using a telescope connected to his cellular phone. This is a male Quetzal. They are very colorful and have large tails. I think this may be the most beautiful bird I have seen in my life! It was well worth dragging ourselves out of bed so early in order to see such a gorgeous bird!!

Using my telephoto lens, I was able to take a grainy photo of the male when he flew back to this branch. From his back, it is easy to see that he has a huge tail!!

This is the female Quetzal and she is eating some food. The female is not as colorful and has a shorter tail. It was absolutely phenomenal to see both of these Quetzal birds!!

This is our motley crew that went on a hike after breakfast. It was taken using our group leader’s (Daniel) cellular phone. It is amazing how green everything is in Costa Rica!

I thoroughly enjoy seeing all the wonderful colors in the flowers that grow in Costa Rica!!

I have always loved Mexican Bird of Paradise! They grow very well in Costa Rica!!

I thought the bright green ferns were beautiful!

The shapes and vibrant fern colors were beautiful!

This photo shows how the moss grows everywhere. In addition, there are vines and ground roots that grow along the trees up into the canopy of the trees.

The moss was thick and held water from all the rain.

This small waterfall was next to the trail from our hike. Our group leader drank straight from the water, but he suggested that we probably should not try it without filtering the water.

Our guide told us that a jaguar has been seen walking along the trail where we were hiking!! Gulp!!

I loved seeing the bright colors and rich greens as we walked along the trail!!

There were beautiful colors everywhere we looked!!

I liked looking up and seeing the sun and shadows on the leaves above us!!

The vibrant colors of the flowers was amazing to me!!

This friendly hummingbird was at our hotel. He was difficult to photograph because he kept zooming around to different locations!