Day 5

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Today was another fun day. We took a trail to a waterfall. It felt and looked just like an Indiana jones adventure. There were sketchy bridges over treacherous rivers, caves and there were branches with moss and other epiphytes hanging down them. I am a little concerned because my rain jacket went missing and where we are going is a lot more tropical than the cloud forest.

We have to explore a subject and present to the building what we discovered. Since I have been obsessed with hummingbirds, naturally that was my subject. There were 20 of them at a single bird feeder and approximately 6 species. There were mainly Magnificent hummingbirds, white throated mountain gem and green violet ears were the most prevalent. There were 6 violet ears at one time! I got 10 hummingbirds in a singlenvideo shot. They are attracted to red objects so were drawn to my camera. They would hover right in front of the lens for a perfect and prolonged shot! I love the magnificent because it is the biggest, has black and green features and looks fierce in it's pictures. You will see what I mean when I upload the shots. It almost looks like a cartoon because of it's eyes. it is almost a spiritual experience watching these fierce beauties. While I am in San Diego stressing over obligations, these birds are in this beautiful areA. This will be comforting for me to think of back and home and remember the grand scheme of things. It is a spiritual moment. I always heard people talk about spiritual moments and I was like whatever weirdo, but this was definitely it. It opened a little part inside me for a lifetime.

Today was bird watching day. We saw two quetzals today- a male and female. This is a real treat for thr eyes. I located the male with my binoculars at just the perfect time when it took off for flight. It's form for launch and then flight in air is breathtaking. It has huge colorful wings and a long tail that streams behind it elegantly. It's tail can grow up to thirty inches! It is a black, emerald green, blue, red and white beauty. The female was bright blue and landed Right on a nearby branch for a perfect picture.
Other birds we saw include the silver throated tanenger, the salty flower piercer and the ruffis collared sparrow.
I am excited to study for LSAT now that two courses have ended. I am developing a little family here. Tomorrow we leave QERC for our 9 mile hike to a VeRy rustic location.

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