Category: Butterflies

Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby

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Caterpillars on the Milkweed!

When I first planted the Tropical Milkweed I was hoping they would attract the Monarch Butterfly which is not as common here as in the States, but none yet. Then the other day I found 3 caterpillars on one of the Milkweed plants and with the iNaturalist AI have identified them as caterpillars of the Queen – Danaus gilippus butterfly (Linked to my gallery) which is related to the Monarch. Maybe in the near future I will have some fresh Queens birthed in my garden! 🙂 So far, the only two Queens I’ve seen have been elsewhere.

I’m hoping that their eating all the leaves off my best Milkweed plant will not kill it! 🙂 They were first planted between two tall flowers and thus only get sunshine midday which is really not enough sun for milkweed. I just a few days ago planted 3 more Milkweeds in a different part of the garden where they get both morning and midday sun, so hopefully they will do better! I’m on the side of a hill with lots of trees, so plants like this that need lots of sunshine will always struggle on my little lot.

Caterpillar of Queen Butterfly – Danaus gilippus, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
(Note that most leaves are already eaten!) 🙂
Caterpillar of Queen Butterfly – Danaus gilippus, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
(Note that most leaves are already eaten!) 🙂
Tropical Milkweed, in my garden, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica — Those caterpillars ate all those leaves!

¡Pura Vida!

I have not focused on caterpillars, but do have a little gallery with what caterpillars I’ve photographed in Costa Rica at CATERPILLARS (linked) with most in the “Unidentified” folder for a total of 15 species, assuming no overlap or duplication.

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Xandari ’26 GALLERY Ready

CLICK above image to go to the Xandari Travel Gallery 2026

And if after a few seconds, that click doesn’t work, then just go to this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2026-06-8-10-Xandari-Nature-Resort-Alajuela

Visiting places like this here in Costa Rica and making photos is my greatest joy! I hope you enjoy some of the photos! And I may still share a few more on the blog, but they are starting to happen now where I live! And in 2 1/2 weeks I will be at Maquenque Eco Lodge, one of my other favorite places from which to share my love of nature! And there I will celebrate my 86th birthday! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Salome Yellow

One of the 17 species of butterflies I photographed at Xandari, Salome Yellow (my gallery link) is just one more of the large variety of butterflies found at Xandari and soon to be shared in a trip gallery for my little two-night trip there earlier this past week.

Salome Yellow, Xandari Costa Rica, Alajuela

¡Pura Vida!

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The Charlie Doggett Photo Library

Xandari has more of my photo books in their lobby than maybe any other hotel/lodge in Costa Rica. And they were on a bookshelf in a back corner of the lobby for quite a while, but when that corner was made into an office, they moved my books to just inside the front door, nicely displayed on top of a miniature oxcart, one of the historical symbols of Costa Rica. And my friends in Reception tell me that a lot more people are using the books now! 🙂

All of the lodges that I regularly visit have some of my books in their lobbies and I know that people use them as I have received letters of thanks from tourists by way of my website Contact Page. 🙂 It is kind of fun to gift people I don’t know from around the world with a tiny expression of my Costa Rica Pura Vida in my nature photos here! 🙂

Charlie Doggett Photo Books displayed on a small Ox Cart in the lobby of Xandari Resort.
Charlie Doggett Photo Books displayed on a small Ox Cart in the lobby of Xandari Resort.

¡Pura Vida!

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Chiapas White

The only other time I’ve seen this species was in 2022, also at Xandari! That year it was on flowers by the Room 19 Terrace (coincidentally the same room I was in this year), but this year I saw it by the Frog Pond near the Sunset Pool, the opposite end of the hotel! 🙂 I got better photos then as you can see in the Gallery Chiapas White. It is also called “Orange-striped White” and “Dimorphic White,” while in Spanish it is “Mariposa Pamela.” It is found only in Central & South America and some consider it “rare” which is partly because they often spend their time in the treetops and thus not seen as often. My first observation was 1 of only 38 in Costa Rica on iNaturalist and 1 of only 2 in BAMONA. 🙂

Chiapas White, Xandari Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Red Postman or Erato Heliconia

This is one of two butterfly species called “Postman.” This one with the addition of “Red” in the common English name, has the scientific name of Heliconius erato (my gallery link) and at least one website uses a different common name of “Erato Heliconia” instead of “Red Postman.” And that is just in the English language! 🙂

Then to make it more complicated, the other species that looks the same to most people has the common English name of plain “Postman” or other websites use the common name of “Melpomene Heliconian,” which like the other one is a twist on the scientific name which is: Heliconius melpomene rosina (my gallery link). Any hobby that includes scientific names and information will get complicated sometimes! 🙂

A single photo of the Erato version for the emailed blog post, followed by a gallery of 4 different shots from different angles to help the identifiers. 🙂

Red Postman or Erato Heliconian, Xandari Costa Rica, Alajuela
Continue reading “Red Postman or Erato Heliconia”
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Two Nights at Xandari

This little visit to a favorite nature place nearby was scheduled for May 25 and had to be postponed at the last minute because of a sick stomach. I re-introduced Xandari in that May 25 blog post Two Nights at Xandari (linked) within which are links to my 7 other trips there including for one birthday and one Christmas celebration. It is my 3rd best butterfly location (for the number of species) after my Garden and Hotel Banana Azul in Caribe Sur.

In that post I did not link the hotel’s website because they emphasize things like their Spa and pools rather than nature, but if curious, here is the link: https://www.xandari.com/Resort-Spa-costarica-overview.php

Garden Art, Xandari

It was started and first operated by a Frank Lloyd Wright Style Architect and his Art Teacher wife who continued to teach in a special artist pavilion there. The contemporary rooms are decorated with art and sculptures from her and her students as are the gardens with sculptures. A large forest on a mountain north of the city of Alajuela (my provincial capital) with two major waterfalls, a farm, garden and forest trails and of course their Spa and a great restaurant! In their lobby is the only public library of Charlie Doggett photo books! 🙂 They are one of several nature-centered tourist locations in Costa Rica that I have bonded with and I’m always welcomed as a VIP guest with chocolate-covered strawberries and a room upgrade if I want it. Though their “small” rooms are much larger than most other hotel rooms and I’m sure some people retreat there just for their great rooms not to mention 3 pools or the trails for me! 🙂 Whoever bought it from them made it a part of the Xandari chain of exotic hotels out of India. Thus lots of international visitors here! 🙂

Looking out from one of several different rooms I’ve had at Xandari.

Like with most trips, I will probably do posts at night for the next two or three nights, then get back to my usual morning posts. Being able to visit special nature places like this is just one part of my Pura Vida retirement experience in Costa Rica and this is my first overnight trip this year! With 3 more planned for the rest of this year, to 3 of my other favorite places here! So it will be a very good year as I turn 86 next month at Maquenque Eco Lodge! 🙂 Stay tuned for more nature adventures!

¡Pura Vida!

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Brazilian Skipper

A cool little reddish-brown skipper that I’ve seen in my garden before. See other photos in the gallery: Brazilian Skipper.

Brazilian Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Tomorrow is the day to which I moved my little 2-night visit to Xandari Nature Resort in Alajuela (because I was sick on the original date in May) and tomorrow morning I will repost or link to the May post about Xandari, a favorite nature place with a large variety of butterflies! Probably my 3rd best location for butterflies. 🙂 And . . .

MY REPORT ON: Pause 10: Final Project—Your Mindful Photography Journal 

That little online class is completed with that above link going to my report on the last class. In the next week or so I will write my personal evaluation of the whole course and say whether I recommend it. 🙂 If interested in Photography & Mindfulness, read all my notes there.

And get ready for my next Nature Adventure at Xandari this week!

¡Pura Vida!

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Laverna Metalmark – Dark & Light

Many species of butterflies can have greatly different looks and yet be the same species and in this case (I think) even the same individual can look quite different because of the light or shadows, the angle of the shot or even the background which I think is the case for these two photos taken within a few seconds of each other on different color backgrounds. I vaguely remember the same individual flying from the blue Plumbago flower to the green leaf of a Heliconia flower.

Laverna Metalmark on a blue Plumbago Flower, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Laverna Metalmark on the green leaf of a Heliconia Flower, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See more of this regular in my garden in the gallery: Laverna Metalmark.

¡Pura Vida!

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Yellow-tipped Flasher

Not new for me, but the first one this rainy season, Yellow-tipped Flasher (my gallery link) is an interesting Skipper Butterfly found from Argentina to Mexico with it seems an abundance in Costa Rica. 🙂

Yellow-tipped Flasher, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!