Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

This was one of my favourite days of the holiday. Had booked a guided tour of the Reserve which was close to my hotel. I am not always a fan of guided tours, but I have to admit that without the guide I wouldn't have spotted most of the wildlife seen here. In particular, could never have seen this nesting hummingbird. It was tiny. You had to know it was there.

The guide however had a little telescope allowing us a close up view. And by sticking my smartphone over the lens....

Similarly this little lizard

And the smartphone version

Or this distant ball of fur in the trees - a sloth

 And above all, could never have spotted the Resplendent Quetzal, the iconic bird of these parts, and the national bird of Panama. Sat right at the top of a wild avocado tree. They love avocados.

 Slightly better image via the smartphone and telescope

 A very big millipede

A tarantula's hole

Looking up into the canopy

After 2-3 hours of walking around on the reserves excellent paths, we returned to base camp as it were and the feeders set out for hummingbirds. Cue lots of patiently photographed hummingbirds. They are very difficult to capture because they dart ind out so quickly.

Some non-hummingbirds muscle in on the action

At this point our guide said farewell, but that if we wanted to wander around further on our own we were free to do so, but would have to make our own way back to the hotel. You bet I wanted to potter around. If I  went back in and headed left the path would take me to a large hanging bridge. I needed no further encouragement. I was off.

On the way I just came across a coati, and immediately tuned the corner to see the whole travelling family group snuffling through the leaf litter.

 Eventually I came to the hanging bridge, which actually was a terrific vantage point for seeing the tree canopy close up.

 

 Having tramped around for ages very happily (and didn't see anyone else for about an hour as I took a looped path up a hill which the guides didn't use) I suddenly came across some White-faces Capuchin Monkeys

One of the most striking things about this lush forest is the sheer amount of epiphytes, plants that live on trees. And most remarkable are some of these figs which don't grow from the ground but start out on top of a tree trunk and then send down routes which completely surround and smother the host tree. Its own trunk eventually dies leaving the thick layers of roots development - which leaves a hollow trunk as the host dies and the original trunk inside rots.

As you can see good paths

 After about a further 5 hours on my own I returned for a final dose of hummingbirds.

So all in all about 8 hours of hiking around the cloud forest. Brilliant!