I didn't take this picture. Our brilliant guide Koky, who I mentioned yesterday, will find something in the cloud forest, pick it out with his bird spotting scope and use a visitor's phone cam to get an amazing shot. This is heavily edited but it came out well enough.
The bird is a resplendent quetzal. It is rarely seen but it was the beginning of mating season and they were more active. We got to see four of five. It's like finding treasure.
There is a particular guide who works with the hotel where we stay in Monteverde. His name is Jorge but everyone calls him Koky. We've met him on previous visits and he's absolutely brilliant. Koky has vision that puts Superman to shame. He picks out wildlife where all I see is leaves. Some of that is because he knows all their sounds and can do a human form of echolocation.
Koky spotted this specimen called a motmot bird. He told us that in Costa Rican slang the name generally refers to someone who is, um, a bit dim. It doesn't bother the bird a bit if I get quite close with my camera. What that means for predators I don't know. Nor do I know what the strange paddle-shaped tail is about.
Back home early from CR with family medical issues to deal with so need a few more pix from our trip. The bridge system across the ravines of the cloud forest are marvels of engineering. This one looks like it disappears into the foliage but the trail continues.
There are things to note this week, today is Pi Day to some people (3/14) and 314 Day in St. Louis, the number being the principle telephone area code. And Friday is a day of great note in this household, more about which later.
It's 3:45 AM daylight savings time, which just kicked in, in St. Louis. Transferring from international to domestic in American Airlines Miami hub is a horror. Don't do it unless you have a really long connecting time. So we're just getting to bed.
This is one of eight suspension bridges over various gorges on the canopy walk we took. We chatted with this woman who is Swiss and touring Costa Rica by herself. She said she likes to have her own space.
In biological terms, the canopy refers to the upper layers of a forest, receiving much ot the sunlight and shielding what is below. There are many places in Costa Rica that have series of trails and suspension bridges that allow you to walk through the upper layers of the forest and gaze at what lies beneath.
We went to one yesterday afternoon. There were lots of steep hills without rails that were, um challenging to us old folks. Still, looking out and down from the bridges revealed wonders. I think this is some kind of fern but I'd be happy to be corrected.
The bad news today is that we have a family medical situation that requires us to come home today. The good news is the my Spanish seems to get less awful with every visit.
