charliedoggett.net
Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby
For the White Angled-Sulphur, it depends on which side and angle you are viewing it, with the top of open wings (didn’t get this time) it is bright white with two bright yellow patches and four brown spots, but the folded wings views can be either green, as one of these shots sort of is, or a more yellow look as two of these three photos appear and one shows a sliver of the bright white top. See all of the many looks in my White Angled-Sulphur, Anteos clorinde GALLERY.
Just the day before yesterday I had my gardeners install a new garden bench up the hill beside my house at roof level and beside “K’s Little Zinnia Patch” (linked to an earlier blog post) under a palm tree with easy photography of butterflies in both the Zinnia Patch and in my row Porterweeds which also attracts hummingbirds. PLUS a view of the trees and the hills around me for birds. It will become one of my morning rituals to go sit and photograph nature around me! It is a challenge to hike up the steep driveway and then I needed a place to sit. So I installed one! 🙂
And see more photos of the bench and its vistas in this slide show online:
Continue reading “Bird & Butterfly Bench”
Whether a bird, butterfly or other animal or plant, photographing a new species is always special for me! And living in the country with the most species per square kilometers makes that a continuous possibility, even after 10 years of living here! 🙂 During the week of a visit from Nashville friends, Gary & Kenna Eaton, I got photos of two: a butterfly and a moth caterpillar, with still some uncertainty on the ID of the caterpillar, while hoping for a confirmation of my ID by a scientist or naturalist on iNaturalist or on butterfliesandmoths.org. Here’s the two photos . . .
Read more about this butterfly on iNaturalist Costa Rica which calls it a “Brightwing” butterfly (in Spanish of course) where you can see many other photos of this “uncommon” butterfly in Costa Rica. There are also two more photos on butterfliesandmoths.org, one other from Costa Rica and one from Cuba, where incidentally it appears on a postage stamp! 🙂
Now the humble little caterpillar . . .
See all of my 313 identified Butterflies & Moths of Costa Rica GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
It takes me a while to process the many photos I usually take and then label and get into galleries – but it is done! for the November 10 & 17-22 Visit by the Gary Eaton’s. Linked to the gallery or click on the image of first page below . . .
I placed it in my “CR TRIP GALLERIES” because it was their trip and much like a trip for me with a variety of photos, many of which are okay even if not my best! 🙂 After all, I had cancer surgery on my nose in the middle that week and was dealing with feet & leg inflammation from the new blood pressure medicine, but in spite of all that, I had great time Gary & Kenna! And I hope you are able to return to Costa Rica in the future to see other areas and different National Parks! I love it all! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Just two shots here with this link to my gallery: Nov 18 La Paz Waterfall Gardens, where there are 11 species of birds and 6 species of butterflies, including a new or first-time seen species, the Silver-studded Leafwing – Hypna clytemnestra. And I included the waterfall photos I made on an earlier trip since I did not feel like that mountainous trail in the rain this time. The feature photo at top is of Templo Falls, also in the rain back in 2015! 🙂 Because it was raining most of the time there this trip too, I did not try to photograph the many beautiful flower gardens this trip and the rain had most of the usual hummingbirds hiding under leaves. 🙂 But hey! Cloud Forests and Rainforests need rain! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
This is the most frequently seen “large” butterfly in my garden and here are a couple of shots from the other day . . .
The Julia Heliconian, Dryas julia (my gallery link) is a favorite butterfly of many here and is found from Brazil north to South Texas and the Florida peninsula. A lot more photos in my gallery linked above.
¡Pura Vida!
My photos of this new species will also be the first photos submitted to butterfliesandmoths dot org. The common name may confuse you if the eyes look black to you, which has to do with the light, but they are a deep red color. The Common Scarlet-eye, Nascus phocus (My gallery link with more photos from this sighting) is found from Argentina to Mexico. Here’s 2 photos (top & side views) . . .
¡Pura Vida!
Many yellows & sulphurs are similar and difficult to identify, but sometimes getting even a bad photo helps to make the identity. That was the case for this Apricot Sulphur, Phoebis argante (my gallery link) that I photographed in my garden recently. The first shot of the side view or folded wings is a light yellow with brown spots like a dozen or so of the yellows and sulphurs, but then he flew to another plant with the top of his wings showing in the second photo below which is out of focus, but the solid orangy-yellow top makes him an Apricot Sulphur. 🙂
See more photos in my Apricot Sulphur Gallery. He is found from Paraguay north to Mexico.
¡Pura Vida!
A colorful Skipper, the Two-barred Flasher, Astraptes fulgerator (linked to my gallery) is in the Hesperiidae Family of butterflies, found from Argentina north through Central America to the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Here’s just one shot in my garden recently and you will see many others in the above linked gallery.
¡Pura Vida!