A Dazzling Surprise

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! 🙂

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Mexican Silverspot & A Wasp

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. 🙂

Mexican Silverspot & a wasp on a Red Vein Indian Mallow flower, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Costa Rica.
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Crimson Patch & Semana Santa

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

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Maquenque Trip Gallery

In case you did not see the links in the last few posts, I have my trip gallery up and ready to visit in my big photo gallery. In some ways my “Trip Galleries” are my main photo galleries with them feeding specific theme galleries like Birds, etc. Plus if you are considering a visit to one of the places included, the photos will give you a good idea of what to expect. Click the print screen image of the gallery below or use this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2022-February-14-19-Maquenque-Ecolodge-Reserve-Boca-Tapada

 “We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone”

– Katie Thurmes

¡Pura Vida!

SALE ON MY PHOTO BOOKS – 25% OFF March 4-6 only with discount code: BOOKFAN in Bookstore

This Week’s “Wildness”

“Wildness . . . has also been defined as a quality produced in nature, as that which emerges from a forest, and as a level of achievement in nature.”

~definitions.net

I leave tomorrow morning for my third visit to a favorite rainforest lodge, Maquenque Ecolodge & Reserve in Boca Tapada, which is in my province of Alajuela but in the far north near the Nicaragua border, a 3 hour drive for my driver Walter. 🙂 Read on for why this is a favorite lodge and check out the links to my two other visits there . . .

One branch of a very large lake plus they are on a big river.
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A Bird, A Bug & A Bouquet

Well, we had a real sunset tonight, so that will be a separate post a little later. Here’s the representatives of daytime today . . .

Yellow-throated Toucan eating breakfast one morning.
Butterfly on a “Hot Lips” Flower
One of my many “favorite” Costa Rica flowers.

Later tonight I will have some sunset photos to share.

¡Pura Vida!

Second Day Report

I woke up to rain this morning which continued until after breakfast when it cleared off and was mostly a hot, sunny day as you can expect some of the time on the coast. 🙂 The below photo is what the ocean view looked like just AFTER breakfast. All afternoon I hoped for a clear skies sunset but around 4pm the clouds and rain starting moving in. Below this ocean image is a gallery with a couple of birds (12 species today!), one butterfly and one tree from a wonderful walk in the rainforest this morning plus my effort at a sunset photo again this evening in the rain. 🙂

After breakfast, around 8 am, clear skies that continued until about 4 pm.
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