Female Resplendent Quetzal Taking Off from a Mossy Branch

The female pushes away from the perch with both wings opening and her short barred tail aligned behind the green back at Paraiso Quetzal Lodge area in Costa Rica. The Resplendent Quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala and an enduring Mesoamerican cultural emblem; adult males carry elongated upper-tail coverts over the true tail. This nesting pair was caring for two chicks that had hatched two days before the visit, photographed from a fixed viewing platform about 30 metres away. The exposure of 1/3200 sec, f/4 and ISO 8000 freezes the decisive body position and separates the principal wing and tail feathers while retaining only fine traces of motion at the fastest edges; the photograph was made in natural light without flash.