Resplendent Quetzal: San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2022 — To see the Resplendent Quetzal you get up well before dawn and drive to whatever wild avocado tree is in fruit at the moment. Everyone in the valley knows which trees are in fruit today, and where the Quetzals are, since, in large part, it is these birds that bring the tourists who keep the valley prosperous. I should say that there are wild avocado trees all up and down the valley. Most are deep in the forest, but a few are accessible from the road for with a short, manageable, climb up or down from the road. And each tree has its own unique fruiting season…they do not fruit all at once…generally just one or two trees at a time. December is good month to find and photograph Quetzals in San Gerardo de Dota because a few of the fruiting trees are close to the road. Once you reach the tree, you climb out of the bus, do your little climb as needed, and stand with 30 to 50 others who have braved the dawn for the Quetzal, and wait. Among the group are several guides who live in the valley and are there, wherever the Quetzals are, every dawn. These folks are the most likely to see the birds first as they know the habits and behaviors of the moment. When the first Quetzal comes in, often before full light…often well before there is really enough light for photography…the whole group shifts like a folk of starlings in flight to reform where there is a view. With patience, as the sun rises higher and crests the high ridges to the east of the valley, and the light improves, the Quetzals will come to a tree out in the open for fruit, generally taking one in flight. They then perch, hopefully on a branch where they can be seen, and sit a while before swallowing the fruit whole, and then while they begin digestion. They will sit there for anything from a few moments to a quarter of an hour, before returning to the tree to feed. And all the time the light is improving and the crowd of tourists is thinning, as the non-photographers have seen their Quetzal and breakfast and coffee is waiting at the lodge. Only a few hardy souls wait for the sun to get above the tall mountains and light to flood the valley. Occasionally the Quetzals will still there there, and that is when the good photos happen. 🙂 Eventually the Quetzals have their fill and fly off deeper into the forest to find another tree, but generally even the most dedicated photographers are back at the lodge for breakfast by then. Sony Rx10iv at 543mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .7EV.