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esckeyes · 4 years

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My Quetzal Story

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you probably saw a lot of pictures of this bird called the “quetzal” recently. I am having a hard time describing why it was such a big deal for me. So I will try a longer post.

I read a history of Hernan Cortes’ conquest of Mexico once. I felt like the book itself was too kind to Cortes. But the one thing I vividly remember (and perhaps even problematic books can have glimpses of beauty) was a description of the native peoples trying to save quetzal feathers instead of gold and jewels on “La Noche Triste” (needs new name?).

I had never heard of this bird called the quetzal (or the Resplendent Quetzal, more properly). I googled quetzal feathers and found some lovely looking—but probably fake—headdresses said to belong to Aztec nobility. I also found out that the quetzal is mostly extinct in Mexico, which made me sad. The feathers were such a beautiful color and they were a great symbol of the Mexica people.

Cut to my sister (who travels a lot because she does a job that pays her actual money and gives her vacation time. Weird!), planning a trip to Costa Rica. I was super bummed because I was the one who took Spanish in school. She took French. I knew very little about Costa Rica from my textbooks (my Spanish IV textbook had cultural pages with history and information about various Spanish speaking countries. They usually were about how some asshole treated the people like shit). Costa Rica was a nice change because it didn’t have a lot of war or upheaval--there was a lot about colorful animals and their focus on saving them. Mostly I remember that they abolished the army and I thought that was cool. I wanted to go.

I don’t remember exactly when, during my sister’s time researching her trip that I learned there are still a few quetzals alive in the wild of Costa Rica. That is all fuzzy. But the point is: she was going to the country with these Mexica quetzals I wanted to see AND the eco-friendly Spanish-speaking nation without me? I was a big ball of pout.

So for Christmas, my dad said he would pay for me to accompany my sister. (My parents don’t like that she travels alone anyhow, I don’t think.)

I kept showing people videos on YouTube and gifs on Twitter. (Not everyone liked that I did this) I also learned some random quetzal facts from the internet. But I was worried I wouldn’t actually get to see one because they are nearly extinct and, well, you have to be lucky. I am not a bird-watcher or an experienced naturalist. I just like stories and the myths surrounding the quetzal. Symbols greatly intrigue me.

— The quetzal was considered sacred to many indigenous peoples. It is associated with the Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl. Notice the similarity in the names. (You have probably heard of Quetzalcoatl as the god the Aztecs were said to have thought Cortes was. I was taught this in Spanish class. But it is an exaggeration at best and the purpose of this story seems to be “these natives are dumb” even though their society was so advanced and awestruck the Spanish.)

— Quetzal feathers were worth a great deal (obviously more than gold to the Aztecs). It is still the name of the currency of Guatemala, though they are sadly paper now not actual feathers. And this got me thinking about the arbitrary nature of “wealth” and why shiny rocks are worth more than shells, feathers, or other parts of nature. It seems like putting a higher value on life itself.

— The quetzal also is supposed to represent liberty. I read online that one would “kill itself” in captivity (more on this below) and hearing its song before battle meant victory over the Spanish. THIS IS ALL COOL STUFF THAT COULD BE USED AS A METAPHOR IN A BOOK AND WHY HAVEN’T I READ THIS BOOK.

Anyway, back to my trip to Costa Rica. We looked online for the best places to see a Resplendent !uetzal, because, again it is hard and there are only a few places they live now.

My sister already planned a visit to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve so that was a possibility. But our guide there said, when I asked him about it, that thousands of people go into that forest but that maybe only 10% get to see a quetzal.

The cloud forest itself is very cool. I learned about rainforests in school but not cloud forests. It’s wet and green everywhere. I found it a bit overwhelming. Our guide would say, look at that [insert species] over there” and I would be like, “I see trees.” There was just so much. We actually did pass by a female quetzal at one point (the female is not as brightly colored as the male) but I saw movement and that was about it.

If I am honest, I was a bit disappointed. But I kept telling myself that I was lucky to see one at all.

However, the next day we went to the Curi-Cancha reserve. (Take a moment to appreciate how great it is that Costa Rica has so many nature reserves.) I told our guide there that I would like to get a picture of a quetzal if possible but I had seen one the day before.

He knew a lot about birds. I asked him if there were any that he’d love to see and he mentioned an endangered bird he needed to go to South America to see. (I had meant in the park itself so I was thrown that he was talking about taking a trip to see a bird. But I guess that is what I was doing, wasn’t it?)

So when he heard through the grapevine of guides (if you go to Costa Rica and you should, keep an eye out for how all the tour guides alert each other if they saw anything cool down the way—it’s like an animal whisper network) that a male quetzal had been spotted in an avocado tree, he made me and the other family on the tour RUN to the tree. I appreciated this but felt bad for the other family because maybe they didn’t care.

The guide took SO MANY pictures for me. I wanted to cry.

Here is Mr. Quetzal sittin’ and showing off his long tail feathers.

This photo (and others) were taken for me by my guide through a scope. Then he made us RUN to another side of the tree because he wanted us to see that the quetzal feathers look different colors in different light. Most describe them as green or blue but—FUN FACT—they are actually mostly brown but iridescent for better camouflage. (The red spot is said to be blood from the Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado. More fun mythology!)

Look how fuzzy his silly head is. I love him so much.

Our guide also talked about the myths around the quetzal. I may have stepped on his toes there some. (Sorry!) But he cleared up the whole “They kill themselves” thing. He said they are easily stressed—aren’t we all; I feel ya, bird bro—and being caged can cause them the have heart attacks.

He also said there are fewer of them every year, so if you want to see one, go soon. This is because the female quetzal can only lay two eggs during a small window of nesting period, and said eggs are vulnerable to predators. Also the nesting period, formerly March to June, is getting thrown out of whack by global warming making it warmer earlier. This is probably why I was able to see one in February since the nesting period is when they usually come out and about.

But, possible good news, he said zoologists have successfully hatched one in captivity in Mexico recently. The only articles I can find on this are in Spanish and it sucky because I want to know everything. Can someone please let me know?

Especially considering one of the myths I read was that the quetzal would not sing in Mexico until the Invaders were defeated. Like, is it revolution time now? Should I get a weapon? And what does it mean that scientists engineered this revolution? I have questions about how this fits into the mythology, damnit!

I have a lot of thoughts.

#quetzal #quetzalbird #resplendent quetzal #costa rica #quetzalcoatl #mesoamerica #hernan cortes #monteverde #curi cancha #birds #aztec #nahuatl

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schrodingersluthor-blog · 7 years

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tagged by: no one lmao i just wanted to do it

rules: copy this post into a new text post, remove my answers and put in yours, and when you are done tag up to 10 people and also tag the person who tagged you… and most importantly, have fun!

A - age: 19

B - biggest fear: nuclear apocalypse

C - current time: 4:48pm

D - drink you last had: water

E - every day starts with: my phone quacking incessantly at me and me groaning instead of getting out of bed

F - favorite song: that’s too hard lmao i can’t pick just one

G - ghosts, are they real: ya

H - hometown: new albany, in

I - in love with: one of my best friends ahahhahahahahah

J - jealous of: successful people

K - killed someone: no, but if i had do you really think i’d admit it on online??

L - last time you cried: i don’t cry

M - middle name: anne :/

N - number of siblings: 1 lil bro

O - one wish: i wish that i could figure out what i want to do with my life but also i wish trump would just go away already

P - person you last called/texted: my friend jordan

Q - question you’re always asked: "why don’t you shave your legs?” because i’m fuckin lazy alright

R - reasons to smile: music, dogs, girls

S - song last sang: redemption // drake

T - time you woke up: 5:00am

U - underwear color: gray

V - vacation destination: costa rica’s land of 900+ dogs or bora bora

W - worst habit: chewing my nails, shaking my leg, chewing on the inside of my mouth, driving recklessly

X - x-rays you’ve had: i think i had my chest x-rayed once????

Y - your favorite food: chicken

Z - zodiac sign: aquarius/pisces cusp

tagging: whoever wants to do it yo

#ooc

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