Monteverde day 2.

4.30pm local time.
Today we were children of the cloud forest! The sky grumbled, flickered and spat all night but clear first thing in the morning. We headed off to do an early 2 hr walk in an area of forest where there are zigzagging tracks then wire bridges (good ones) across a number of gullies. As a result you walk up through the canopy in effect then over it, as the land drops away into the gully below you. The longest bridge is 300M long (but angled and secured in the middle so its really two 150m sections, and the highest piont above ground is 50m. We were at altitude 2000m at the base of the cloud forest, which is defined as a belt of upper hill country forest with 100% humidity almost all the time. It happens in certain areas of the divide, where constant moist air condences at these elevations. The rainfall is 4m pa which is solid but not heroic, so its about the mist content as much as direct rainfall. But as a result of this phenomena the forest supports an unusually high abundance of living communities in the crown of the forest. In particular you see it as a solid belt of epiphytes. There are large numbers of species of plants, birds and insects even mamals who live in that belt and dont visit the ground (well maybe once, if you get it).
Thats the reason for the bridge walk to see into and over the canopy. It was superb to be there. The canopy is rich in fruit and flowering plants, that must be the basic driver of the ecosystem. We heard birds all the time but they are not easy to see. It would probably take a lot of time and quiet observation to start seeing all that is going on. We loved seeing the first skeins of mists starting to form and drift over and through the canopy, as time progressed. The pattern is that that the airflow, early morning, is warmer as the lowland air is heated. Carrying more moisture as a result it reaches this condensation zone and cloud build up starts. By late morning there are belts of mist everywhere and the place is clagging in. The warmer air reaching here causes convection activity and atmospheric instability, so by mid afternoon the first thunder is grumbling and then the rain sets in, deceptively gentle and pattering on the forest canopy, then building to decent rain and if active enough electrical storms that flicker through the night but petering out before morning.
After this walk we headed back up to the hummingbird observatory, to spend more time and photographic effort on them. Then we walked again in the forest and fulfilled an ambition with a good view of the Quetzal,(pronounced Ket-zil), a bird of mythical stature and for good reason. Monteverde is famed for its accessible Quetzals. We got a good binoc view but much harder with the camer, however I photographed them in RAW, a high resolution format so we can edit them to be clearer. About now, early afternoon, the forest was becoming pea soup. It is very atmospheric, we noticed the forest interior had those acoustics, where bird calls seem to almost echo and resound around you. One bird call fascinated us, Shanti managed to describe it very accurately as the sound you make rubbing a damp finger around a wine glass rim. Imagine you are at the stage its not quite working properly. Your finger shudders a bit and the sound starts, becoming very clear and beautiful for a moment then the sound roughens and you lose it again. A wonderful sound to hear in the forest along with all the other unfamiliar sounds. We also noticed, particularly above the canopy, how nice the forest smelt and with many wafts of fragrance, from perfumed flowers. We smelt a fragrance like Earina autumnalis, one of our own species with a very narcissus like smell. It seems to be a forest fragrance theme - maybe it travels well in that environment.
The Questzal was an ooh and aahh experience, but rain was coming and by the time we got home it was hosing down. But a memorable experience walking in and around forest for a day not to mention another dose of hummingbird close encounters.
I have got some more photos on flickr but no videos as yet, and the Quetzal pics need attention before showing them! Sadly thats the end of sx