COSTA RICA: Savegre Cloud Forest Reserve (Day 3)

While continuing our daily search for Quetzal, we hiked up to the primary forest of montane oaks near the lodge.  Here we encountered a nesting pair of Costa Rican Pygmy Owl.  Observed the male bringing the female (a brown morph) a songbird meal – the large size of the prey made flight to the nest hole difficult.

Later in the morning, we encountered a pair of nesting Quetzals in the mist of the cloud forest -- spectacular encounter !

 

Quetzal nests are dug in trunks of rotting trees.  The word "Trogon", Greek for "nibbling", refers to this family's technique of gnawing holes in trunks.  

Both parents alternate the duties of incubating the eggs and then feeding the chicks.  Surprisingly, it is the female that often abandons the young near the end of rearing --  leaving the male to complete their preparation for independence.

The nest is usually deep enough that the entire bird is hidden except for the male's tail.

 

The primary food source of Queztal are the mini-avocado (Lauraceous).  It is high in fat and a crucial source of energy for chicks especially at the cooler climate of the high altitude.  Conservation efforts are currently focused on planting more Lauraceous trees to help boost the dwindling numbers of this amazing bird.   

 

Other good sightings today included Ruddy-capped Nightingale-thrush, Swallow-tailed Kites, scores of hawks in annual migration, and Flame-throated Warbler; unfortunately, successful images of the warbler were elusive.