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I still haven’t processed all my photos from today and will get a few more in the morning before I leave, but I’m pleased to get a different bird and butterfly from all the other days here . . .
And one of many shots of sunrise this morning that I haven’t all processed, but will eventually share more, including the throng of local people out at sunrise on Saturday morning! 🙂
Continue reading “New Bird & Butterfly on Final Day”
I have recently been scanning the trunk and larger limbs of my Cecropia Tree and the big palm, looking for one of the several species of Crackers which almost always land on trees where they are well-disguised. And sure enough, yesterday morning one came to my Cecropia Tree – This one a Gray Cracker – Hamadryas februa (linked to my gallery). This is my second Gray Cracker with the other one seen at Hacienda Guachipelin, Rincón de la Vieja NP.
In my Brushfoots Galleries you will find that I have photographed 6 different species of Crackers, most at Xandari Resort in Alajuela, but two in my garden, one at Danta Corcovado Lodge and one in a reserve in Nicaragua.
And yeah, I know, it is more brown than gray, but that is the way it is with several of these “official” names! 🙂 Though on butterfliesandmoths you can see that some or more gray. My six different species of CRACKERS in the above linked Brushfoots Galleries are . . .
¡Pura Vida!
In the morning I’m flying to Limón Province for five nights at my best butterfly hotel, Hotel Banana Azul in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca where I walk the sandy beach road for a large variety of butterflies. I usually go in early or mid-September, so I’m hoping there are still a lot of butterflies there the first week of October! 🙂 STARTING TOMORROW, BLOG POSTS WILL BE DONE AT NIGHT for the next 6 days. All from Limón Province, Caribe Sur. I always include a visit to Gandoca Manzanillo Refugio and one to Cahuita NP, both of which are very good for both birds and butterflies! And sometimes other nature spots, but at 84 I’m slowing down and walking with a cane, so maybe not as much this time! 🙂
Two days ago Walter took me and another customer/friend to see the “Real” Costa Rica near the highest point in Atenas Canton where a high percentage of the people are his coffee-farming relatives, showing us his mountain-top lot with the view seen in the feature photo, along with meeting some of his relatives and going to the Atenas Highest Point Mirador, called “Piedra La Zopilota,” because the rocky outcropping of the mountain top is where vultures hang out and raise their children. 🙂 It is a steep mountain gravel road that required his 4-wheel drive vehicle to get there. I made a lot of neat photos of the gorgeous scenery, wildlife, lunch at a relative’s restaurant, and the three of us adventurers which you can see in the Trip Gallery: 2024 September 26 – Highest Point in Atenas. Check out these “real” Costa Rica coffee farming hills! It might even make you want to visit or move here yourself! 🙂
You might also be interested in these links . . .
¡Pura Vida!
Note: Walter is my best friend in Costa Rica, also my driver, translator, healthcare assistant at most doctor appointments, and thus sometimes substitute son! There are multiple pix of him in the above linked Gallery and a few of me and Julia, his other friend on this day trip. 🙂
Facebook page with several images like this . . .
Read more: Highest Point in Atenas
¡Pura Vida!
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.
– Lord George Gordon Byron, 1813
9 more photos below . . .
Continue reading “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods”
There were oh so many more hummingbirds at Maquenque, but I’m getting too “slow on the draw” to capture these fast and constantly moving birds. And these four shots aren’t real good, but at least I got some that aren’t Rufous-tailed H, which is all I get at home now. 🙂 Here’s a shot of each of four different species of hummingbirds and only a tiny sample of what’s at Maquenque throughout the forests and gardens.
See more in my Stripe-throated Hermit Gallery.
Continue reading “4 Hummingbirds”
One of the Maquenque Managers took me out into the thick rainforest today where one of the new Treehouses is being built, while the workers were on their lunch break. 🙂 They discovered the roosting place for a couple of Crested Owls at eye level from one new treehouse in the forest, but hidden from the normal human eyes behind the limbs and leaves of the large tree they’re in. It was impossible to get a good photo, but here are three shots that show three different things: first the top 2/3 of one with the second shot showing the bottom 2/3 of one and the third shot showing a portion of both owls, just to show that there are two there! 🙂 They weren’t poising on an open limb for me! 🙂
Shooting through the foliage is a common challenge when birding in a forest anywhere and could be a part of your challenge if you come stay in a treehouse at Maquenque, but in my past stays in treehouses here I’ve also had some very clear shots of toucans, spider monkeys and howler monkeys; so don’t let a little jungle challenge stop you from a great experience here at Maquenque Eco Lodge & Reserve! (Link to lodge website.)
You can sort of see the “crests” which seemed to be relaxed while resting.
¡Pura Vida!
And you may want to see my Crested Owl Gallery, though I have only one other photo.
And you can read about them on eBird. Found in Central America and the northern half of South America.
I said yesterday I had 15 species and I just realized the plain brown top is the top of the Carolina Satyr, meaning I moved those photos in with the Carolina Satyr dropping it to 14 and one unidentified Yellow could possibly be one of the other yellows, so I got either 13 or 14 species of butterflies with I think three new species. Xandari has always been a good place for butterflies for me, both in their forest and in their gardens, my third best place after my own garden and Hotel Banana Azul in the Caribbean! 🙂 Here is one pix for the emailed version of post, followed online by a gallery of all 15 photos . . .
The rain makes everything green and when it is not raining or cloudy, it is beautiful wherever you look. But when overcast or raining you can sometime see only a few meters away as these two shots from my room at Xandari show, looking out over the city of Alajuela and the Central Valley . . .
¡Pura Vida!
Yeah, ten were all the birds I photographed there this time, but it was only a little more than one day there and during rainy season, so okay for near a big city. But by comparison, I got photos of 15 butterfly species! I will eventually share more of them. And on my first day’s post there were two more birds, a Kiskadee and a Rufous-tailed Wren. Here’s 5 more . . .
I just can’t stop photographing this unique tree! But every photo is different! 🙂 This species lives up to 25 or 30 years, which is a short life for trees, but they perform many functions in the rainforest & cloud forest. Here are two blog posts on it’s longevity from the University of Georgia in Costa Rica Blog. (Lots of universities from around the world have campuses in Costa Rica! One reason is that we have more species of plants and animals than any other country its size in the world!) 🙂
My Cecropia Gallery.
¡Pura vida!
Postscript: Thanks to my Tennessee friend Larry Yarbrough for this link to an article titled Birding for the Soul, about how birding and other nature activities, like looking for butterflies, 🙂 not only lifts your spirits but is mentally and spiritually strengthening and it helps world research on saving nature. I hope you will get involved with nature in whatever way pleases you and enjoy the benefits! 🙂 ~Charlie