Three Wattled Bell Bird

We had so much fun birding in Cerro Punta that the next day we went to the other side of the volcano up the mountain from Boquette. This time we could do the drive in the car as the road was paved. Having said that it still was a bit of an adventure as it was very twisty and only about 1 and 1/2 lanes wide. Every corner was an adventure. Mercifully we only met about 2 vehicles and neither were buses. That road took us to Las Quetzales National Park on the other side. There is a road across the park which takes about 6 hours to hike. It comes out at Cerro Punta. Some day we will make the trip.

Again, the focus of the walk was bird watching. There were a few cool birds, but the winner was the 3 Wattled Bell bird. He was first obvious by his most intreging call. It sounded like the very loud hollow ring of a big pipe being dropped, followed by a creak of a rusty gate. Gail, Jim and I searched for the creator of the sound to no avail. Harry who was dawdling along behind, with no interest in watching birds, stopped to take a look and spotted him, high in the canopy. He is a very large bird, about the size of a small raven with the wattles hanging off of his beak. Apparently he can make the middle one stand up. Harry snapped this excellent picture. He seemed to be very territorial and sat for a long time in the same spot. Again, another great day.