Resplendent Quetzal

[Steve Maxson]

This Resplendent Quetzal (Paromachus mocinno) was photographed during my recent Costa Rica trip led by Doug Brown and Greg Bacso. Quetzals don't come to feeders so you have to hunt for them. We had spent 2 days searching - had found a few - and had a few photos under our belts, but nothing special. At dawn on our last morning before heading back to San Jose and home, we tried a new location. When we arrived, we were told that the Quetzals usually came to a couple trees "up there" to feed in the morning. "Up there" meant a steep climb of about 500 feet in elevation with our gear. Eventually, huffing and puffing, we reached the site and set up - and saw nothing for about 20 minutes. Then we were informed that the Quetzals were now down below where we had started from! So, back down the steep slope we went trying not to slip and stumble. Once there, we saw 2 Quetzals, but both flew off before anyone could get a shot. Frustrated - we waited. Finally, a male and female flew back and landed partway up the slope. By this time we were rather exhausted (not being 20 years old anymore!) and were reluctant to go trudging up the slope again. Our driver/guide Jose, who wasn't carrying so much gear, headed up there and soon began signalling us to follow. From our vantage point it didn't look too promising, but Jose kept beckoning. Finally, Doug started up and several of us followed. Doug and I ended up about 2 feet apart shooting through a narrow window of vegetation that afforded a clear view of the male. The bird sat there a couple minutes allowing me to hurriedly remove my 1.4X and then gave us a couple nice head turns. (Doug has images very similar to this one.) In the end, all the effort paid off - it was a good day! 1D 4, 500 mm f/4, 1/200, f/5.6, ISO 2000, tripod, natural light. I cloned a couple leaves near the bird's face, toned down some highlights, darkened and blurred the lighter portion of the background, and applied nr. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Karl Egressy]

I truly beutiful bird and an amazing capture of it. I like the looking back pose, perch is very nice, so is the background.

[David Salem]

Great job and your perseverance paid off in big dividends. The exposure, details, colors and comp look great and I love the unique looking perch. Very well done!!

[PhilCook]

Amazing looking bird Steve, impossibly long looking tail feathers. The light and consequently sheen on the feathers is very eye catching, all looks very sharply focused and the perch adds a lot of interest, liking also the bit of foliage in the shot, although I'm in two minds about the top right hand cluster of leaves as I find it does distract a little from the bird itself

[Bill Holsten]

Great shot Steve. In retrospect, I wish I had charged up the hill with you, but at that point I was already bushed. I'm glad you came away with a clean shot!

Bill

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice and pleasent BG. Walking the extra mile always pay off!

[Daniel Cadieux]

That is a very spectacular bird and image of it. Quite the reward for the trouble you went to get this...but all worth it for sure!! Love the irridesence, head turn, curled tail feathers. Super stuff!!

[Satish Ranadive]

Wonderful image of beautiful bird.
Love the magical colors, long tails,details,pose with head turn and great composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Corey Hayes]

very nice

[Marina Scarr]

So glad to finally see this infamous bird you worked so hard to capture!!! And boy it sure appears to have been throughoughly worth all the work. This image is a knock out, Steve. The details and colors of your bird are superb. Love the perch and the pose. Since you mentioned that you cloned a few leaves by the bird's head, I would like to mention that if you reprocess this in the future, I would make the leaf closest to the face look a little more natural. If I am mistaken and you didn't touch that particular leaf, I am sorry for mentioning it. Wish this were mine!!!!

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Marina - I think what you are seeing that makes the one leaf look a bit odd are some small yellowish fruit buds. This is a type of avocado tree and the birds feed on the fruits. There is a ripe fruit, albeit not in focus, in the URC of the frame.

[Doug Brown]

We worked really hard for this one Steve! But the hard work paid off for you with an absolutely incredible Quetzal image! The story is accurate save for one important detail; our fist bump after the bird flew!

[arash_hazeghi]

Oh man this is spectacular. I wish this frame was mine. everything came together for you here.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Great story Steve, you earned this shot and it is really absolute first class.
You may want to consider toning down the lichens just a bit but for me everything else is tickety boo.

[christopher galeski]

its all been said Steve,a beautiful bird,and a beautiful image.well done.

[Richard Unsworth]

Quetzals keep you fit! I know lol
seriously a very good capture, nice HA and color is true.

[nick clayton]

I like the gentle colours and lighting behind and around this bird, this allows the more intense and spectacular colours of the bird to stand out Steve.

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent details, love the perch, great pose, very nice background, and nice light.

[Bill Dix]

Simply excellent! The dorsal view with fabulous look-back pose, good light, great lichen-covered perch, super long-tail comp. The perseverance paid off -- this one image making the entire trip worthwhile even if you didn't get anything else, which I know you did. Great stuff. And I know that lens doesn't get any lighter as you add the miles and the years.

[Greg Basco]

Fantastic stuff, Steve. One of the best quetzal shots I've seen for sure. I love the clean background and the aguacatillo branches with fruit framing the shot upper and lower right. Your effort paid off, and I hope you print this one big and enjoy it for years to come!

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Faraaz Abdool]

Fantastic shot of this gorgeous bird! I've been dreaming of a shot like this for years, hopefully one day I'll be as lucky as you guys were! The hard work put into this makes it all the more special. Perfect head turn and perch.