Prior to leaving for Monteverde today, we made one last tour of the property surrounding the Lodge. Alerted by the alarm
calls of the Clay-colored Robin (the drab national bird of Costa Rica), we looked for the source of
the commotion. High in the moss-covered branches, the aggressive, nest-marauding Emerald Toucanette were making their rounds. This scene yielded one of our favorite images of the trip.
Note the Emerald
Toucanette of Costa Rica is actually the same bird as the "Blue-throated Toucanette" in neighboring Panama.
A quick visit of the lodge's gardens yielded some new hummingbird images.
Our day would end with an arduous 6+ hr trip to Monteverde enduring innumerable hairpin turns. At the highest elevation of the trip (9000 ft), we took a short detour with hopes of finding an elusive hummingbird with the most spectacular gorget (i.e. highly iridescent throat
feathers; I never knew this term either before this trip .... but adding it
here makes me feel smarter). The brightest colors of Fiery-throated hummingbird are only visible when the bird looks directly at you ... usually only for a split second (fortunately, after several hundred images, we were rewarded with a few classic images).
Traversed by the Continental Divide, Monteverde has 6
distinct life zones in a very small region along the Cordillera de Tilaran mountain range. Similar to Savegre, mists bathe the
forest and result in abundant epiphyte growth on the trees. Monteverde is one of the most famous cloud forest
reserves in the world.
Hidden Canopy
Treehouse Hotel would be our home for the remainder of the trip. This phenomenal
remote accommodation is a collection of boutique tree house chalets -- yes, they are actually built right on the trees! Enormous circumferential windows provide grand views of the cloud forest as well as the Gulf of Nicoya.
