Resplendent quetzal

Excerpt from my travel blog: http://sam-and-paul.com/2016/03/monteverde-costa-rica/2/

"From the first hanging bridge we looked down at an Aguacatillo tree, a relation of the avocado and part of the Persea family, we could see its fruit – like tiny wild avocados, they looked a lot like acorns. These are the favourite food of Costa Rica’s most infamous bird, the resplendent quetzal. The male’s have a beautiful iridescent green body, a red breast, a helmet crest, and two long tail feathers; if you see one, you’re lucky.

It’s about now that Andre hears their birdsong, and we all rush along to the end of the hanging bridge. There we find a pair, a green female quetzal is perched on an old tree trunk busily preparing a nest, while the male sits idle on a furry branch nearby, its tail feathers hanging down below; as if to treat us, it flies a little closer. Its position was perfect, and with our 400mm lens it was perfectly framed – but taking a picture with a long telephoto lens on a moving hanging bridge, where every movement makes it sway a little, is devilishly hard."