Category: Christmas

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Rounded Metalmark

He’s back! (And while the wind is still blowing!) As one of the most common tiny butterflies in my garden each year, maybe he is signaling the beginning of “butterfly season?” 🙂 The Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis (my gallery link) is only a little bigger than my thumbnail and yet is one of the most intricately-designed of all the butterflies. I even used a photo of one on my 2023 Christmas Card! 🙂

This one is the first of that species in my garden this year, but I expect there to be many more! 🙂 And a funny thing to me is that all my many photos of this species have come from my garden, not even one from another location in Costa Rica! But iNaturalist CR shows them all over, on both slopes, but with more in the hills and on the Pacific Slope for whatever reason.

Rounded Metalmark, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Rounded Metalmark, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Xandari Gallery is Ready!

Christmas 2024 @ Xandari

Click this image of the first page or go directly to this web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2024-December-24-26-Xandari-Resort-Tacacori-Alajuela

CLICK this image of first page to go to the gallery.

Yes, Xandari is expensive, but it is worth it for me as I think the photos tell. Enjoy my “Nature as Art” photos that are different each time I visit there.

¡Pura Vida!

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Seldom-seen Butterfly

This Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis (my gallery link) is not one often reported on the scientific websites, and though I’ve seen it three times now, it was always in the same place! 🙂 This one on Christmas Day 2024, again at Xandari Resort which has always been one of my better butterfly locations.

Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Philadelphia Vireo – A Lifer!

Yes, on Christmas Eve, in the tree by my terrace at Xandari, I photographed another new species for me! This Philadelphia Vireo, Vireo philadelphicus (linked to eBird) was identified by the Merlin app from eBird and is probably a non-breeding immigrant from Canada who passed through Philadelphia on his/her way to Costa Rica. 🙂

Philadelphia Vireo, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Philadelphia Vireo, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Philadelphia Vireo, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Other Vireos, for you birders reading, that I’ve collected in Costa Rica linked to my photo galleries of each:

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Charlie Doggett in Costa Rica!
And this unusual tropical flower I photographed at Arenal Observatory Lodge in Costa Rica is a Trimezia gracilis (scientific name), and in English variously “Walking Lily, Walking Iris, Apostle’s Iris or Apostle’s Plant.” One of my favorite photos of this year.

¡Pura Vida!

A Two-Day Christmas Celebration in Nature . . .

I’m spending today and tomorrow at Xandari Nature Resort in Alajuela as my Christmas celebration, so you can expect photos from there over the next few days! 🙂 The day after Christmas I go directly from Xandari early to Hospital Mexico for an ultrasound scan of my neck to continue monitoring any possible spread of the cancer removed 2.5 years ago. That and continued removal of small skin cancers (like the one on my nose in November) keep me totally cancer-free! ¡Gracias a dios! And this nature blog continues as always! 🙂

I’m also pleased with my nature-centered photo Christmas Cards over the ten years here and you can see all of those photos in the photo gallery “My Christmas Cards From Costa Rica” (linked). Just one more of my “Nature as Art” creative outlets! 🙂 Merry Christmas!

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Winter Solstice Party Yesterday

One of the neighbor couples, Russ & Holly, had their second Solstice Party yesterday and it was cloudy (but never rained) meaning no really good photos, but an example of expat life in Costa Rica. 🙂

Solstice Party, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Solstice Party, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Higher up the hills have wider vistas than me! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

¡Feliz Navidad! — Merry Christmas!

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Walking with Nature . . .

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”

– John Muir

An inspiring overlay of leaves in one corner of my garden. Something new each day!
And this time with red, green & gold for Christmas! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Postscript Prayer Request

My little sister, Bonnie (12 years younger than me), has just been diagnosed with Colon Cancer and had surgery yesterday to remove the blockage and receive a colostomy bag. Once that heals, in about 6 weeks, she will begin chemotherapy with hopes that it has not already spread very far. A difficult way for her to begin Christmas! Your prayers for her and the doctors in Independence, Missouri will be appreciated by all!

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” ~Philippians 4:6

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Artisan Birds Christmas Tree

My collection of artisan bird ornaments got pulled out of storage this year and stuck on an ugly artificial tree or bush, but I think that the Latin American Artisan Birds are beautiful, so I created a slideshow of about 20 closeup photos of some of my collection. See them in the online version of this post . . .

ÅS

See 20 (not all) of my artisan bird collection in the slideshow online . . .

Continue reading “Artisan Birds Christmas Tree”