This “one more brown Skipper” is not very exciting and thus not as many “observations” posted on iNaturalist, where I am the lead observer. 🙂 But like every human being, every butterfly is important to ecology and he/she has it’s own beauty and purpose. There seem to be a lot in my neighborhood as you can see in my Gallery: Mimosa Skipper, Cogia calchas.
Mimosa Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
To see how many other “brown skippers” there are here, check out the gallery level above this one, Hesperiidae – SKIPPERS (106+ species) where the majority are brown or mostly brown. The unloved family of butterflies. 🙂
This species, Calephelis laverna(my gallery link) was seen almost daily last year but only a few times this year and it is one I have had trouble identifying with none of the expert identifiers responding to my submissions on iNaturalist or BAMONA. With the Glassberg book I gave it the Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis, identification. Later with more photos to compare with on iNaturalist, I changed to Calephelis laverna (mainly because of the bits of white on the border). iNaturalist doesn’t use a “common name” while Butterflies of America calls it Laverna Calephelis (reversing the scientific name word order which they generally do when there is not a known “common name” and BAMONA always follows Butterflies of America.
But I am still hoping for an “expert” to confirm or change this identification. Until then, this is my best effort at identification. It is found from Mexico to Brazil, so the location fits. Just one photo from my garden on October 1 and thus the beginning of October nature photos . . .
Calephelis laverna, a tiny Metalmark butterfly, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
And Me Photographing in my Garden . . .
One of my gardeners snapped this shot of me trying to photograph another butterfly! 🙂
I’m glad that one of my favorite Doves was still around in September, even though this is not a great photo! 🙂 See more and better photos in my GALLERY: Inca Dove, Columbina inca.
Inca Dove, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Preparing this post two weeks and a day earlier I have decided that it will be the last of my photos made in September and tomorrow I will start posting only October photos! 🙂 And the October ones will most likely overlap into November. 🙂 I’m thankful to live so close to so much nature to keep my attention and bring me joy in my creative outlet. Share my posts and tell your friends about my nature photography obsession, this blog, and my unique photo gallery! ¡Pura vida! Retired in Costa Rica!
Most of my photos of this species and most in online systems show side views of the Broken Silverdrop, Epargyreus exadeus cruza (my gallery link) with this top view being the second top view on both iNaturalist & BAMONA, so a unique photo! And I have 2 top views in my gallery! 🙂 The feature and two other photos here . . .
Still one of the most common birds in my garden is the Rufous-backed Wren, Campylorhynchus capistratus (my gallery link). These two shots were made in September in my garden . . .
This past Saturday I had the privilege of being invited as the only non-family member to my driver & friend’s daughter’s birthday party along with both sets of her grandparents, aunts, uncles & lots of cousins! I did not take my camera, but made a few rough shots with my cellphone. Below are just 3 shots with many more in my online GALLERY: Montserrat-3-Años-Feliz-de-Cumpleaños. All of the cousins and family reminded me of my childhood with many get-togethers with cousins & all.
All but two of the teenager cousins conveniently had to leave after lunch 🙂 thus none of them in the photos. And one of my blurry photos I used as the feature photo calling it my “Art Photo.” 🙂 Translation: Piñata Pandemonium, but guess that is obvious! 🙂
A more frequently seen “Yellow” than the one shown yesterday is this Dina Yellow, Pyrisitia dina (my gallery link), though this one is still just one of many! 🙂
This is a new yellow butterfly for me this year with sightings in my garden in July, August & September as shown in the gallery Marcellina Sulphur, Phoebis marcellina. There are many different yellows as you can see in their “Family Gallery” of my photos: Pieridae – WHITES, YELLOWS & SULPHURS (40 species). I will never tire of all the unique species of butterflies found here in Costa Rica and the almost continuous finding of new species like this one. Tomorrow I will share a photo of a more common Yellow seen here, the Dina Yellow. But here is just one photo of the Marcellina Sulphur . . .
At first I had these two photos lumped in with the Great Kiskadees, but eBird’s AI helped me realized that they have bigger bills and are shaped slightly different as Boat-billed Flycatcher, Megarynchus pitangua (linked to my gallery). Not as frequent but the last few in my gallery are from my garden. One photo . . .
Boat-billed Flycatcher, in my garden, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
One of several birds that I’m seeing more of now, the Blue-gray Tanager, Thraupis episcopus (my gallery link) lives all over Central America and the northern half of South America and is found literally everywhere in Costa Rica except the highest altitudes. He is similar to the grayish-green Palm Tanager and I have a lot of photos in the above linked gallery. Pictured here in my garden.
