Category: Garden

Both my gardens and ones I visit

Posted on

Banana Azul Photo Gallery Ready!

This year’s visit to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica included a week at Hotel Banana Azul with a day hike in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge and my collection of photos are ready to see at https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2026-09-14-18-Banana-Azul-Gandoca-Manzanillo or you can click on the first page image below to get there. Two disclaimers as to why there are not as many photos this year: The bizarre weather with a Super-El-Niño, wind and rain every day (normally the driest month there), a muddy beach road with no butterflies at all (my main thing there now) and the global-warming and ocean rising has caused enormous erosion of the beaches there now, with almost no beach left. But it is still a beautiful nature place and I have a lot of photos from this year’s trip.

CLICK above image to go to the photo gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

I’ve done blog posts of Caribe photos ahead through the end of September, but wanted to announce my trip gallery now. The first of October I will continue sharing nature photos from my garden and on walks in my hometown of Atenas. If I just look, there is some nature to experience every day! 🙂

Posted on

Scarlet-rumped Tanager

This one on the Caribbean side has an identical male as the Pacific side male with a slightly different female and they are thus considered different subspecies. I keep my photos separated in two galleries. For more of these from the Caribbean Slope, see Scarlet-rumped Tanager, Passerini’s (my gallery link) and yes, when I first came to Costa Rica these were call Passerini’s Tanager, while the ones on the Pacific side were called Cherrie’s Tanager. If you want to see if you can tell the difference in the two females, check out the other gallery: Scarlet-rumped Tanager, Cherrie’s (linked). And note that some sources say that the difference is seen only in the immature birds! 🙂 It is also interesting that some sources also say that the Cherrie’s is found only in Costa Rica and thus the scientific name includes the Latin “costaricensis.” 🙂 In my photos it seems that the Pacific side females are slightly darker in color with no other differences to me and I have never been where I could compare immature ones. These two photos are both male.

Scarlet-rumped Tanager, male, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Tabacón

For those familiar with the Arenal Volcano area of Costa Rica, you know that name as the name of a Hot Springs Resort there, but did you know that it was named after a plant, Anthurium upalaense (Tabacón) (Research Gate article link)? It is much larger than the anthuriums in my garden and is found on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica with some also overlapping into nearby Nicaragua and Panama. The large leaves of the plant collect small dead leaves falling from other plants where they rot to feed the anthurium. That long red spadix is not a flower but contains many many tiny little flowers that are pollinated by insects and turn into many berries that are eaten by birds. Another amazing new discovery in nature for me! 🙂 And almost exclusive to Caribbean Costa Rica!

Anthurium upalaense (Tabacón), Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limon, Costa Rica
Anthurium upalaense (Tabacón), Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limon, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Fridericus Spreadwing 

I hope that I’m identifying this new species for me correctly, Fridericus Spreadwing, Quadrus fridericus (iNaturalist Costa Rica link). Both photos were made on the same day, but I think they are two different individuals. And of course I’ve started a gallery for Fridericus Spreadwing (linked) with one more photo than these.

Fridericus Spreadwing, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Florida White

Found in many more places than the U.S. state of Florida, this butterfly is throughout tropical America from Brazil north to the Florida peninsula and South Texas including the Caribbean islands and all of Central America. I see him frequently in my garden as you can see in my gallery Florida White (linked). In the gallery, the ones with large swatches of dark brown (black) trim are females in the wet season only.

Florida White, my garden, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Florida “Blizzard?”

From Google: “In coastal Florida often tell modern “nature stories” about the massive, sudden irruptions or migrations of these butterflies. During peak population explosions, millions of Florida Whites hatch simultaneously. Residents describe looking out their windows and thinking they are seeing a “beachside blizzard” or “flying white ashes” blowing down the highway. It creates an ethereal, temporary winter wonderland in a tropical climate. [1]” Click that footnote “1” for a video of that “blizzard.” 🙂

Posted on

Melwhite on Milkweed

Is it a contrast or a harmony of colors? Either way, I like these photos of the Common Melwhite (my gallery link) on the Tropical Milkweed flowers (NaturalistaCR link).

Common Melwhite butterfly on a Tropical Milkweed flower, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

How do I get that mottled green background? (Someone asked.) Simply by using my 600mm lens from a distance of 6 feet or more. The long lens automatically puts my focus point in focus and everything else blurry. In this case, my “jungle-like” garden is mostly greens with only occasional flowers, thus the mottled green background. When I shoot up, with the sky as background (often with birds), the background can be anything from bright blue to gray to white, depending on the weather, and more rarely golds to oranges. I’ve tried a close-up lens for both flowers and insects and it just doesn’t work for me (for multiple reasons). 🙂

Posted on

Mexican Fritillary

This colorful orange butterfly lives throughout Mexico and Central America, the West Indies and a few strays along the Southwestern U.S. border. See more photos in my gallery: Mexican Fritillary (linked). A bit of interesting indigenous history that includes this butterfly from Google Search:

The “Flower World” (Xochitl): In early Classic Teotihuacan and Postclassic Aztec culture, orange butterflies symbolized fire, rebirth, and a floral spiritual paradise. [1, 2] ~Google (Click the two footnote numbers for more information from their sources.)

Mexican Fritillary, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Blue-black Grassquit

Another seed-eating bird found only in Central & South America, the Blue-black Grassquit (my gallery link) with the one above on a little bush or plant in the cow pasture across the street from me. This male was jumping straight up in the air from this bush about two feet or 60 centimeters as a courtship display, which I’m yet to catch an action shot of! 🙂 See more from there and from 6 other Costa Rica locations in my above-linked gallery. And/or read more about them and see their distribution map on eBird and a very good article on Wikipedia.

Most often seen in the grasses of a meadow or cow pasture as above, eating seeds, Blue-black Grassquit, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Feigeria buteo Moth

A new one this week, in the family of Erebid Moths (my gallery link), similar to the Black Witch Moth I see a lot of here. The Feigeria buteo (my gallery link). It’s always nice to find a new species for my collections! 🙂

Feigeria buteo Moth, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Banded Peacock

Still one of my most-seen butterflies that also continues to appeal to me, the Banded Peacock Butterfly (my gallery link), found all over Costa Rica as well as the rest of Central America, Mexico and the southern edges of Texas.

Banded Peacock, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!