The Quetzal and the Cloud Forest

Some people travel to Boquete specifically to see a resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), and if you're lucky enough to spot a male quetzal in flight, its iridescent colors flashing and long tail feathers streaming behind it, you'll quickly understand why. The resplendent quetzal is one of the world's most beautiful birds, a flying jewel with an emerald-green back and wings, ruby-red belly, and golden-green crest. Though a mature bird stands just 14 inches tall, male quetzals have two- to three-foot tail feathers that float behind them as they fly, giving the impression of an airborne snake, or a tiny dragon. Quetzals, which live only in cloud forests from western Panama to southern Mexico, occupied an important place in ancient Maya and Aztec cosmology. The Aztecs associated the bird with Quetzalcoatl, one of their most important deities, who was known as the Plumed Serpent. The chiefs of those cultures wore headdresses of quetzal tail feathers—Montezuma's is on display in Mexico City's anthropology museum—but the feathers were plucked from live birds that were then released, since it was a crime to kill a quetzal in those pre-Columbian societies.

The quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala, where the currency is named for it, but destruction of its cloud forest habitat has made the bird extremely rare there. Quetzals abound in the forests above Boquete, which is one of the best places in the world to see the bird. That said, it is not easy to see a quetzal, since they spend most of their time sitting on branches in the shade of the cloud forest, where their green feathers blend in perfectly with the lush surroundings. You will consequently want to hire a local birding guide who can take you to spots where they commonly feed, or reproduce during the February to June nesting season.

In January the quetzal's slightly melancholy song becomes more common in the forests above Boquete, as the mating season begins. Female quetzals aren't as spectacular as males and look more like trogons—the quetzal is a member of the trogon family—since they lack the long tail feathers and crimson breast. Interestingly, the females have black beaks, whereas the males' beaks are light brown. The females' lack of adornment doesn't discourage males from courting them energetically. Lucky is the bird-watcher who witnesses the aerial mating dance that males perform for females, flying high and then plummeting in front of them, iridescent tail feathers streaming behind.

Once a match is made, the quetzal couple digs or finds a cavity in a rotting tree trunk and she lays two pale blue eggs, which they take turns incubating for several weeks. They guard their nest tirelessly, since various animals prey on quetzal eggs and chicks, especially the emerald toucanet, a common cloud-forest bird. Quetzals feed their chicks insects, frogs, lizards, and fruit, but the primary food for adults is aguacatillo, the pecan-size fruit of several trees in the avocado family. Those fruits have very large pits that are too big to pass through the quetzal's digestive tract—they can barely get them past their beaks—so the birds simply keep the fruit in their stomach for awhile, digesting the pulp, and then vomit the seed up, often far from the tree it came from.

The quetzal thus distributes aguacatillo seeds around the forest, so the bird and tree are interdependent, which leads biologists to believe they evolved together. As destruction of the region's cloud forests continues, and climate change leaves many cloud-forest regions drier than they should be, the quetzal and the agaucatillo tree are increasingly endangered. Thanks to the amount of protected cloud forest around Boquete, though, both species should remain abundant there for many years, hopefully generations.

Even if you have little interest in bird-watching, taking a tour to Finca Lérida or one of the other spots above Boquete where quetzals are common, is highly recommended. Though you may not catch a glimpse of the legendary resplendent quetzal, you're bound to see dozens of other spectacular birds, and the quetzal's cloud-forest habitat is a magically beautiful ecosystem. If you travel to Cana, in Panama's eastern Darién Province, you may be fortunate enough to also see a golden-headed quetzal, which is native to South America but is found in the mountains of the Darién. Such a quetzal double-header is only possible in Panama, and is just one of the countless examples of why this country is such an amazing place for nature lovers.