Category: Ecology

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Chainsaw Massacre Across the Street

Last February I wrote a blog post titled “Tree by the Pasture” featuring one of my favorite trees, plus it is (was) across the street from my house in a vacant lot beside the houses on the edge of the cow pasture. Well I was quite troubled the other day when I heard a chain saw continuing most of the day Monday and continuing on Tuesday and went over to see what was happening, fearing they would take down that beautiful tree to build another ugly house, which is what they seem to be doing.

A Dark Green Umbrella by Pasture
Closer-up to big tree Then.
I’ve since learned that it is a Higueron Tree.
Or a Giant Banyan Tree.
The two photos in the last February Post of my favorite tree.

Well, below are my photos of the following 2 days of their chainsaw massacre. Will they leave the ugly stub or eventually level it?

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Cloud Cuckoo Land a Must-read for . . .

. . . lovers of stories, books and libraries – the 3 main characters in this multi-layered story of totally different people from the 1450’s all the way through 2020 and to the future in 2164, all impacted by this fictitious lost and found story by a very early Greek writer who called his story “Cloud Cuckoo Land” (in Classical Greek of course!). It touches on so many life issues and about our own future on earth that I won’t try to list them all. You move between the stories of totally different people (ages 12 to 86) affected by Cloud Cuckoo Land (the Greek novel) in Constantinople (1450’s), Bulgaria (1450’s), Idaho (1940’s to 2020), Korea (1950’s), and outer space (2164) so that like his “All the Light” book (just 2 overlapping stories) you can get confused at first (if not more so). Eventually the many complicated pieces of the puzzle start coming together and you too begin to get what all these others are getting from Cloud Cuckoo Land. It is more multi-layered than Anthony Doerr’s previous classic All the Light We Cannot See (Goodreads Reviews), but just as impactful (if not more so) and will certainly become another classic! I highly recommend both books! 🙂

Read some other Goodreads Reviews of this NY Times best seller, Cloud Cuckoo Land. Now I will simplify my reading escapes with another Agatha Christie mystery! 🙂 Rest my simple mind which is still spinning from this read. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

This book is my current read as the #1 on the New York Times best seller list by Pulitzer Prize winning author Anthony Doerr who wrote the best WWII novel I’ve read yet, All the Light We Cannot See that at first I found hard to read with two different parallel stories during WWII of a 12 year old girl in France and a 12 year old boy in Germany and of course their lives eventually cross. A powerful story! Worthy of all the awards! And now . . .

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FAVE BIRDS – Montezuma Oropendola

This bird has always intrigued me with its bright colors and unique nests and because I have seen him all over the country from coast to coast, mountains, valleys and lowlands! Read about the Montezuma Oropendola on eBirds site or see my collection of photos in my Montezuma Oropendola Gallery. I tell more about this photo and the unique nests they make in my Backstory below plus links to the places I made my photos as trip galleries.

Montezuma Oropendola, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Arenal Volcano NP.
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And One More Biological Reserve . . .

Costa Rica is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world and already has set aside more than 25% of its total land as either National Parks or Biological Reserves (one at a time). On National Park Day this year (August 24) the park system opened a new reserve in celebration of the nation’s 200 years of independence. Read the whole English article in Tico Times or here’s the summary Introduction:

Reserva Biológica del Bicentenario de la República – Pájaro Campana, a name which invokes the country’s upcoming bicentennial, is located in the canton of Coto Brus, Puntarenas.

The reserve covers an area of 5,075 acres and borders La Amistad International Park, which is shared with Panama, and Las Tablas Protective Zone.

Its forests house biodiversity of scientific and conservational interest, and its rivers supply drinking water to communities in Costa Rica’s Southern Zone.

“These areas become natural laboratories that promote research, for proper management of the protected wild area,” said President Carlos Alvarado.

~Tico Times
Reserva Biológica del Bicentenario de la República – Pájaro Campana

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

—Margaret Mead

¡Pura Vida!

Check out my Flora & Forest Galleries.

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Costa Rica: “Champions of the Earth”

There are many reasons that the United Nations gave Costa Rica the “Champions of the Earth” Award.

Costa Rica was the first tropical country to stop and reverse deforestation. It has managed to produce about 99 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, a rare accomplishment even among the wealthiest nations. And in 2019, it became one of the first countries to craft a national decarbonization plan . . .

~The Washington Post

Read more in this Washington Post article: Costa Rica’s environmental minister wants to build a green economy. She just needs time.

Above in old growth forest, Savegre Lodge, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.
Feature photo at top is view from my room at Villa Caletas, Jaco, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

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Mid-day Walk “Leaf Collection”

Tuesday I had a morning doctor’s appointment in San Jose, getting back a little before noon and took a walk on my nearby “Country Lane” extension of 8th Ave. As I entered the road I asked myself, “What can I photograph today?” Almost immediately my eyes fell on a leaf! And so I tried to see how many different leaves I could make photos of with my cellphone. Here are 13 that were accessible and I purposely did not include fern fronds since I did a post on them last week, nor palm fronds because most are too high to reach with my cellphone! 🙂

Here’s one for the email and then you go to the full post for the gallery of 13 leaves!

A leaf growing alongside a country road.
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White Angled-Sulphur Butterfly

This is not one of the most common butterfly in my garden, though I’ve seen several as shown in my White Angled-Sulphur Gallery. You can read about this Anteos clorinde on Wikipedia and then note in these 3 photos for today that when they land on a leaf or flower they often look solid white or occasionally with a greenish hue for camouflage, but when they open their wings they have two large bright yellow splotches and four little brown dots that make them unique. There are better images in my gallery.

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