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2 Contrasting Flowers

There are not many flowers more different from each other than this Heliconia and the Desert Rose in my garden that I snapped the other day while looking for butterflies. The Heliconia is so typical of Costa Rica, found from coast to coast, mainly in tropical lowlands but also other places. While the Desert Rose is a specialty pot plant rather atypical of Costa Rica that I got from my old friend and neighbor Anthony, years ago when he returned to the states. Since he has now died, it is sort of a living memorial to him. It’s rather delicate, requiring morning sun only and not too much water to keep blooming. It’s a faithful favorite for me!

Heliconia, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

And 2 shots of the Desert Rose . . .

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Phyllira Tiger Moth – Grammia phyllira

I got this identification first from BugGuide.net which has a different scientific name of Apantesis phyllira along with the same common name of Phyllira Tiger Moth. Because I volunteer for butterfliesandmoths dot org, I’m using the scientific name they use: Grammia phyllira It was alongside the street on my walk to town the other day, right outside the Roca Verde gate on Avenida 8. It is in the Family Erebidae. Two cellphone pix . . .

Phyllira Tiger Moth – Apantesis phyllira, Atenas, Costa Rica
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2 Art Museums Saturday

This past Saturday I went on a van with a group from the Art House Atenas to visit two art museums in San Jose (and there are many more!). The first was the National Museum of Costa Rican Art where all the exhibits are rotating except for the statue garden. Then after a lunch in the city, we visited the world-famous Jade Museum in San Jose which of course has a lot of jade carvings, but is more about Pre-Columbian Art and culture.

I have a gallery completed of photos of some of the art with my cell phone camera which is allowed in both museum as long as you don’t use a flash. The feature photo is from the “Dark Valley” exhibit by Costa Rican Adrián Arguedas Ruano, mostly of traditional uses of masks here in the earlier indigenous cultures, though my favorite CR exhibit was “Dream World” by Costa Rican Flora Sáenz Langlois with her nature paintings of what she calls her “Magical Forests”(one below). And my favorite things in the Jade were the pottery or ceramic work and the human indigenous panoramas of pre-Columbian life.

I’ve seen both museums in the past, but there is always something new and enjoyable about any museum visit! 🙂

One of the “Magical Forest” paintings by Langlois at the National Costa Rican Art Museum.

See more photos in the gallery: 2024 Jan 17 – Two Museums or there are 3 more shots below as samples . . .

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Cute – for a “Coyote!”

Those cute buggy eyes looking out at us doesn’t seem to fit his name of Coyote Cloudywing (Achalarus toxeus), another new species for me in my garden the other day. It was windy again and he didn’t stay on that vine long, so no other views as I prefer to make, but I kind of like this look! 🙂

Coyote Cloudywing, Atenas, Costa Rica

See some other interesting Skippers in their galleries.

¡Pura Vida!

Visiting or Moving to Costa Rica? Avoid Driving!

My personal advice is to not rent or buy a car! Driving can be terrible here! I’ve been here nearly 10 years now without a car and done fine! I walk a lot locally and use taxis or tour drivers and public buses for trips. (And occasionally fly Sansa Airlines for distant lodges.) The many expats here think they have to have a car or two plus as more Costa Ricans can afford cars (very expensive here!) they are helping to overload the very limited infrastructure for automobiles as are the increase in trucks servicing the growing population. See this article with a photo in Sunday’s Tico Times Online English Newspaper:

Gridlock and Delays Await Tourists Traveling Costa Rica’s Highways
https://ticotimes.net/2024/02/14/gridlock-and-delays-await-tourists-traveling-costa-ricas-highways

¡Pura Vida! (if not driving!) 🙂

Instead, use my friend Walter: Walter’s Taxis & Tours (506) 8873-4266

🙂

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The Gratifying Guarumo!

It is definitely one of my favorite trees in Costa Rica, if for no other reason, an opportunity to photograph their beautiful leaves, both dead and alive as in this photo. They attract many birds from the tiny Euphonias to the Toucans and their openness makes them great “galleries” for photographing birds and sloths! Some of my best bird photos were made in the Guarumo or Cecropia Tree that I planted in my yard the first year here, 2015.

I have them pictured in several popular photo galleries:

Here’s one shot I made the other day from my terrace . . .

Guarumo or Cecropia Tree Leaves in My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Violet-frosted Skipper

Though this one does not have the violet color as my other sighting of this species did, I believe this is the correct ID and most of the others posted online do not have the violet color. Violet-frosted Skipper, Mnasicles geta, link to my gallery on this one. And like many others I’ve found here, I think that there should probably be multiple subspecies of this one with different colorations.

Violet-frosted Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

And link to all my Costa Rica Butterflies galleries.

¡Pura Vida!

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Jimmy Durante Bug?

At first, when I saw this insect in my bathroom, I thought it might be the ol’ “stink bug” I’ve seen in many places since a child in Arkansas, but I’ve learned that this insect, sometimes commonly called a “Snout Beetle,” is not a beetle at all, but one of 83,000 species of weevils world-wide or a part of the total 300,000 species of insects in Costa Rica. I could not find the number of weevil species in Costa Rica, though a lot is said here about Palm Weevils, but no book or website to identify. For now, this one will go into my insect galleries as an “Unidentified Weevil.” Click that link to see 3 different types I’ve photographed here. 🙂

Unidentified Weevil, Atenas, Costa Rica
Unidentified Weevil, Atenas, Costa Rica

See my photo galleries of More Insects (other than butterflies).

¡Pura Vida!