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Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby
Though this is a repeat butterfly for the blog, these are maybe better photos than I posted back in 2020 and again on June 15 this year with some doubt then of the ID, but I’m relatively certain now that these are Cloudless Sulphur Butterflies, Phoebis sennae, butterfliesandmoths.org link. They seem to be fairly common all over North America and that website will soon start showing them in Costa Rica! 🙂
Mid-morning as I walked through the garden, June 15, these two different species of Swallowtails were the only ones flitting around the flowers or mainly just the Porter Weeds. Neither are new to me and in fact you can see that I have better photos in their respective Photo Galleries:
And their top views . . .
Continue reading “Two Different Swallowtails Sharing Flowers”
This is my second year and third sighting of this butterfly in my garden over 7+ years which means he is not especially common also shown by the lack of reports online on the butterfly site. Many of the Longtail Skippers are very similar and have this bluish coloring on the body with the main difference being in the spots arrangement and the white fringe.
My second time to see this colorful butterfly was almost two weeks ago (yeah, I’m writing posts way ahead again, but will do it live daily on my trip in July). It was after breakfast, walking in my garden, when I found him. The Guava Skipper, Phocides polybius (Wikipedia link) is found from South Texas through Mexico and all of Central America down to Argentina. My only other time to see one was at Xandari Resort Alajuela for my birthday in 2019. Those photos plus these here can be seen in my Guava Skipper Gallery.
The one at Xandari was bluer than this one which is darker or close to black. And it is interesting that most of my butterfly photos at home show them on a Porterweed flower even though I have many other flowers. An obvious preference for butterflies and hummingbirds! 🙂 And by the way, they are called “Guava” because they lay their eggs on a Guava Plant, which is somewhere between a shrub and a small tropical tree. 🙂
Now here’s six shots in a slideshow for a change . . .
Continue reading “Guava Skipper”
This is my fourth time to see one of these colorful butterflies and all but one was in my garden, with the other one at Xandari Nature Resort in Alajuela. See my Blue-winged Sheenmark Gallery or see other people’s photos at this Butterflies of America site. I found no thorough articles online except to note that they’ve been reported from SE Mexico south through all of Central America to Ecuador. In other words another of those mainly in Central America butterflies! 🙂
This Dorantes Longtail, Urbanus dorantes (Link is to butterfliesandmoths.org) was in my garden the 3 or 4 weeks ago with one of the yellows being the only two at that time. I wrote this post and then forgot about it, lost in my “drafts.” 🙂 This one is found from Argentina north through Central America and Mexico to South Texas and Florida plus the West Indies. I’m expecting more butterflies to start arriving soon or sometime in June.
One of my regular butterflies that I never tire of. His bright red spots make up for his otherwise drab appearance. Polydamas Swallowtail on butterfliesandmoths.org and check out my Gallery Polydamas Swallowtail. That’s 7 years worth all from my garden!
This Tailed Sulphur, Phoebis neocypris (link to butterfliesandmoths.org) is patterned very similar to the Cloudless Sulphur and thus my ID for either could be the opposite! 🙂 These three images made in my garden recently.
This butterfly in my garden is like many of the others, hard to identify, but the closest match in my book and online seems to be Salome Yellow (Eurema salome) (link to butterfliesandmoths.org). The book was more helpful for this butterfly than this online site though other sites verified the single spot on top. While the bottom side of the wings is very similar to both the Cloudless Sulphur and Tailed Sulphur, the heavier border and single dark dot on top seals it for this species, I think! 🙂
Occasionally I realize how much I would miss if I had a car instead of walking to town. 🙂 More than just reducing my carbon footprint and helping my health by walking, I get the serendipity of seeing a new or rare butterfly or bird – like this one! Another lifer!
As with the Western Pygmy-blue seen at Chachagua, this one is tiny or thumbnail sized (a tiny bit larger than the Pygmy-blue) and my first time to see or photograph this Blue Metalmark – Lasaia sula Staudinger (butterfliesandmoths.org link).
One house that I always pass on the way to town has lots of flowers and by their corner they have an occasional bed of zinnias, not oft seen here. This metalmark was on the zinnias with a Polydamas Swallowtail and I got photos of both with my cell phone before continuing on toward town. 🙂 What a life! 🙂