The Tropical Greenstreak, Cyanophrys herodotus (linked to my gallery) is another tiny, fingernail-sized little butterfly that not many people even see. Here’s one shot from my garden recently.
¡Pura Vida!
Tropical Greenstreak
Red-spotted Scrub-Hairstreak
Not new for me, but semi-rare and found only in Central America & Mexico. Red-spotted Scrub-Hairstreak, Strymon ziba (linked to my gallery) is another one of those very tiny, fingernail-sized butterflies and this one I’ve seen only in my garden. You can see a few other photos from other countries on the butterfliesandmoths.org page.
¡Pura Vida!
Esmeralda Longtail
You might ask why the Common Name for this butterfly is in Spanish? “Esmeralda” = “Emerald” in English. Yes, it is unusual, even for species found only in Spanish-speaking Central America like this butterfly. It is of course named for the emerald-colored (green or turquoise) body of this Longtail Skipper which otherwise looks a lot like other Longtails! But not to be confused with a separate Turquoise Longtail! 🙂 And of course the scientific name is in Latin (esmeraldus) like every other species in the world. Esmeralda Longtail, Urbanus esmeraldus (linked to my Esmeralda Gallery) or you can see other people’s submitted photos on butterfliesandmoths.org, Esmeralda page. Just one shot here.
¡Pura Vida!
Apricot Sulphur
And how can a butterfly named “Apricot” not be cool? 🙂 This Apricot Sulphur, Phoebis argante (my gallery link) I saw just a week ago in my garden for my fourth sighting! One other time in my garden and once each at Xandari and Banana Azul, my two best butterfly hotels here! Check out the different looks in my gallery linked above or study them online. Here’s two shots with more from that sighting in the above gallery.
Oxcart Fair & Parade
are the 10th & 11th of August. The public is invited . . .
The Bird and The Bee — Blue-vented Hummingbird
A rare hummingbird for my garden (seen there only one other time), the Blue-vented Hummingbird (eBird link) the other day facing off with a bee. 🙂 The hummingbird left. 🙂 This bird lives only in Costa Rica & Nicaragua.
Brown-banded Skipper
The Brown-banded Skipper, Timochares ruptifasciata, is another new species for me as my collection continues to grow! It is found in the southern USA, Mexico and Jamaica and now I’m the first to report one from Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!
Plain Longtail
The Plain Longtail – Urbanus simplicius (link to butterflies & moths) is one I’ve seen a lot of as you can see in my Plain Longtail GALLERY or in the top link to butterfliesandmoths that I’ve reported the most of this Central American butterfly. Here’s just two shots. See my gallery above for more . . .
The “Other Hummingbird”
Though the Rufous-tailed continues to dominate my garden and especially the feeders when I fill them, the other hummingbird that I still have in spite of the Rufous-tailed is the Canivet’s Emerald Hummingbird (linked to my gallery) and he is a less common hummingbird anywhere here in Costa Rica and is only found from Southern Mexico to Costa Rica. But it seems to occasionally show up and I appreciate her spunk in putting up with the rufous-tailed! Either a male or female has been in my garden from the beginning in 2015, one of the first species I photographed there. Here’s three different views of this female (back, side & front) or go to gallery for more . . .
Mimosa Skipper
The Mimosa Skipper – Cogia calchas (linked to butterfliesandmoths with more photos & location map). It is a new species for me and another mostly Central America butterfly found from Mexico to Venezuela. With the naked eye it first looked almost solid black but by removing some of the shadows of the side view in Photoshop Elements I got that erratic pattern to show and aid in identification. I continue to be amazed at how many new species I am finding this early in the season (this one was March 31). Here are two photos, a side view and an almost top view plus there are more in my Mimosa Skipper GALLERY.
