Quetzal

Gallery: AvianPosted April 3, 2010205 views9 comments

I was fortunate again this past week to spend a very brief amount of time in Costa Rica and managed to squeeze a trip to San Gerardo de Dota. With about 4 hours sleep my driver/guide picked me up at my hotel in San Jose and took me to an enchanting place I know by way of Alexander Vasiljev, who was good enough to reveal the location where he captured his splendid image several weeks ago.

Trying to keep myself awake with several cups of wonderful Costa Rica coffee, we descended into the Sevegre River Valley where we chatted up a few local guides who pointed us in the general direction of the most recent sightings. We were extremely lucky to find not one, but two breeding pairs of Quetzals, this male just off the grounds and across the river from one of the lodges.

Thanks again Alexander for tipping me off to such an incredible place.

Comments welcome and thanks for looking.

D300
300mm f2.8
TC-14E II
1/125 sec @ f5.6
ISO 800

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Raymond Klassen on April 3, 2010 at 5:26 PM

Great comp and exposure. Also, good job at showing the environment. Could have had a more colorful subject though.

Registered on November 30, 2008, 114 Posts, 790 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Walters on April 3, 2010 at 5:44 PM

Beautiful bird! You captured the colors very well!

Registered on October 30, 2005, 405 Posts, 3693 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on April 3, 2010 at 8:25 PM

Magnificent bird Charles - love the setting

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 3, 2010 at 11:25 PM

Hey big congrats on getting this guy Chuck, a beautiful image too, you even managed to get his whole tail in, nice work.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 3, 2010 at 11:55 PM

Sweet image, Charles. I love the composition and you did a great job on the technical end.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on April 4, 2010 at 7:48 AM

Awesome bird. The tail is amazing. I do wish for a bit of a closer view, but with that tail I am not sure how you could fit it all in the frame if you were closer. Nice.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Nash on April 4, 2010 at 1:08 PM

Simply Gorgeous a must see bird for me. Nice to see in the open

Registered on December 29, 2005, 20 Posts, 24 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on April 4, 2010 at 9:29 PM

It must be absolutely amazing to see these in person. Great work getting the whole tail in the comp, love the setting and the pose.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on April 5, 2010 at 12:39 AM

What an amazing bird and the trip to get to the bird sounds just as interesting. Well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments