The bird I most wanted to see during this holiday was the Resplendent Quetzal,particularly as I had missed seeing it on our first visit to Costa Rica five years ago.Staying at the Doubletree Resort meant that I was only one and a half hours away from the Monteverde Cloud Forest.My best hope of seeing the bird was to arrive at Monteverde just after dawn.So on the 12th,I set off from the hotel by taxi at 5.am and reached Montiverde by 6.30am.On stepping out of the taxi I was emmediately watching four Quetzals and two Black Guan at very close range in the car park of all places,feeding in a large fruiting tree.Fifteen minutes later all the birds had gone,not to be seen again that morning.
My only regret was that at that time of the morning the light was not that great and resulted in slow shutter speeds,but at least I had seen the birds and what great birds they are.