When I was selling photos under the name “Nature As Art” I would say that I paint with my camera and always tried to formulate in my mind through the camera lens an idea with simplicity, leading lines, contrasts, shapes and balance creating a type of “painting” with many of my photos. Yesterday’s “Melodious Morning” is a good example and in someway today’s photo of the Tropical Kingbird (eBird) sitting on a branch of the tropical Bougainvillea is another. I prefer the first image with the bird looking at us, making it more dynamic in that photo, but both images can be my tropical paintings for today! 🙂
This afternoon I got up from the computer where I was working on my Guayabo bird photos (boring compared to this!), and as I walked across the living room there was a Keel-billed Toucan in my Cecropia Tree! I quickly got my camera and shot through two panes of glass (sliding door open) which was still better than shooting through the screen! 🙂 And the photos aren’t nearly as blurry as I expected! After some rapid shots, I slowly approached the screen as he hopped up the tree, but by the time I was quietly out, he flew away! Oh well, even quick experiences like this in my own house and garden are just a few of the many reasons I enjoy living “Retired in Costa Rica!” ¡Pura vida!
Keel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa RicaKeel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa RicaMooning me? Keel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Yeah, that’s the real common name for this butterfly, Blushing Phantom, (link to Wikipedia article with very little info), the Cithaerias pireta pireta (Mexico to Colombia, Ecuador) also known as the “Pink tipped Clearwing Satyr” and the “Rusted Clearwing Satyr.” It is my first one to see and also the only “clearwing” I’ve seen with an eye spot! It was in the jungles of the archaeological site Guayabo National Monument, Costa Rica, so maybe it’s a prehistoric butterfly! 🙂
Ventral Side of Mexican Silverspot, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Costa Rica.
I spent more than an hour searching for the identification of this butterfly that I photographed from beneath or below in the Gardens of Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba last week. Then I suddenly realized that it is the same butterfly as yesterday’s, just the other side! 🙂 Dummy me! The closest similarity was the underside of the Dione Juno Heliconian Butterfly, but I am fairly certain that this one is Mexican! 🙂
I’m not sure if the wasp was challenging the butterfly for the flower or just happen to pass by. 🙂 But as usual, neither stayed long! This is a common butterfly and you can see one more in my Mexican Silverspot Gallery and how different the other side of their wings are; but the flower is what’s unusual and at Guayabo Lodge was my first time to see it. It is a “Red Vein Indian Mallow” (Abution striatum) sometimes incorrectly called a “Chinese Lantern” and one of the Ticos there called it a “bottle flower” in Spanish, “Flor de botella.” I will do a later post on just this flower with more information and better photos of the flower. 🙂
One is a butterfly and the other maybe the busiest week in Costa Rica.
Crimson Patch Butterfly, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica – A “Bokeh” Photo!
Crimson Patch Butterfly
This butterfly is one I photographed at Guayabo Lodge last week and my first time for it! I had earlier mistaken a Bordered Patch for this species, but the big difference is the two-toned orange on the underside of wing. 🙂 See my new Crimson Patched Gallery and to compare the two, my older Bordered Patch Gallery. Even though the photo above is of a damaged butterfly, I like that photo better than the next one below because of the better soft background which I just learned yesterday from another blog is called a “Bokeh” photo – “. . . defined as ‘the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider.’ Simply put, bokeh is the pleasing or aesthetic quality of out-of-focus blur in a photograph.” ~nikonusa.com
Yep! I just went 6 days without blogging which is not my usual habit which is to write posts 3 or 4 days ahead then break from the routine while posts keep coming out. No health problems or catastrophes, “just tired of blogging.” But with another trip coming tomorrow, I’m in the mood and here’s a few nature photos made during this “down time.”
Two Bee or Not Two Bee
I’m still not getting many butterflies in my garden yet other than the fast-moving Yellows that never seem to land for a photo. But here’s two bees in my garden this morning:
A truck and other equipment partially blocked this view from the corner in the other post. This is a cleaner view, even if taken over a construction fence. 🙂
Sun Sculpture seated between the E & N of ATENAS letters under black plastic.
I’m assuming the sun is representative of the city slogan “Mejor Clima del Mundo” which in English is “Best Weather in the World.” 🙂
I think it was the same day I posted the recent park update that they added an electrified SUN sculpture to their concrete structure. I know it is electric because my taxi drove by it on the way home from dinner Saturday night and it was lit up a bright yellow! 🙂 Kind of shocking in a small country town, like a gas station sign downtown! 🙂
I got some daytime photos this morning and I plan to go back tonight to get a night photo before posting this, if still lit behind the construction fence. I hope they don’t cheapen the park with too much “neon” color and lights. I suspect now that the ATENAS letters will be lit up also, in their bright red color. I guess it will add to the party spirit of the many fiestas, concerts, festivals, dances, etc. that will take place in the park after Covid! I just hope the new, very modern park does not eliminate all of the quiet, sophisticated places in nature that it has had. We will see! Maybe a little of both! 🙂 If it helps people interact, then that is good! 🙂 And recently lots of people are using the park as it is while still wearing their masks! There’s always a group of old men talking and after school a lot of both children and teenagers.
Adding “El Sol” or the Sun to Central Park Atenas.
In today’s “tiny update” on the renovation of Atenas Central Park, I’m revealing something that I suspected earlier but was not in the architect’s drawings. This northwest corner of the park is the first park sighting visitors will have if they come into Central Atenas from Highway 3, Alajuela or anywhere north of Atenas (thanks to one-way streets) and is thus a good spot to welcome visitors to Central Park at 0 Street and 1st Avenue. Those coming from Highway 27, the beach/San Jose expressway will see the park first on the other side by the central Catholic Church on Central Avenue (0 Avenue) at 1st Street.
In my first photo you see that lines lead from the corner to a concrete structure of steps/seats that could seat a whole tour bus load of tourists for a group photo. On top of that, now covered in black plastic wrap, are six large cutout letters spelling A T E N A S. From my peek on the other side they are a bright red that look like plastic or metal from a distance. And if you look closely in the photo you see that along the top of the concrete structure, carved into it and painted white, is the promotional slogan of Atenas, “El Mejor Clima del Mundo.” or in English: “The Best Weather in the World.”
Incidentally, this corner of park is across the street from the city hall! 🙂 One taxi driver told me it was the fault of the current mayor that the park is progressing so slowly. 🙂 I think it is because of a lack of money and thus all work is being done by city employees, usually just 2 or 3 workers at a time. Covid affected every budget and every activity!
Hopefully there will soon be a lot of landscaping in and around this corner feature! It will certainly be the most photographed corner of the park! 🙂
Entrance Plaza on NW Corner of Atenas Central Park.
Read on for two more photos of the above from behind . . .
