This segment of the trip was in the beautiful and much cooler San Gerardo de Dota valley, a dramatic valley high in the Talamanca mountains southeast of San José. It is a haven for small birds including the famed Resplendent Quetzal. The road that descends into the valley is unbelievably steep and twisty and not recommended for nervous drivers.

By the side of the river that plunges down the valley, there is an established Quetzal nest which can be seen from the valley road. The nest location is known to every tour guide in the valley, who all bring their clients to this single spot on the road. My tour started at 5:30 a.m. with a few fellow guests, but within an hour over 100 people turned up to get a glimpse of the Quetzal.

While we did see the Quetzal (and indeed I got some nice photographs of it), it was in less than ideal conditions, fifty metres away in dark forest, through a tiny opening in the canopy. We stood around for over two hours in a rugby scrum of people running up and down the road at the latest sighting of a Quetzal. This location and this approach are basically for people who do not know what is available at the top of the mountain and particularly at the Paraiso Quetzal lodge, which I will describe in the next album.

The rest of our bird tour was, by contrast, rather lovely. Just up the road from our hotel, behind the Savegre Hotel (which is probably a far better place to stay than the Lauraceas) is the Feathers Garden. This is a simple and delightful natural garden with two very nicely situated viewing platforms and an abundance of different hummingbirds and other small species.

I also went to the Batsu Gardens. This was excellent and would have been a highlight of the trip had I not already by that time got something like 3,000 portfolio-level hummingbird images. It is a very nicely landscaped garden located 400 m up the valley slope. I was the only photographer there for three hours. It’s a great place to spend as much time as you need getting exactly the right shot with the right background of your chosen bird, and it was designed with photographers in mind.

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