charliedoggett.net
Both my gardens and ones I visit
Or if you prefer, use this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2025-July-1-6-Esquinas-Rainforest-Lodge
I consider these “Trip Galleries” the best of all my photo galleries where I put only the best photos from that experience. Then I link some of these photos to subject galleries such as a bird species gallery, etc. The trip galleries can also be of help if you plan a trip to one of these wonderful places I visit here in Costa Rica! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
. . . at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge is surprisingly also one of the largest! (a little larger than toucans.) And maybe size does help with visibility, 🙂 plus the fact that the ones living there are used to people (all nature-lovers) and thus don’t run at the site of a dangerous human! 🙂
The Great Curassow, Crax rubra (eBird link) is a tropical pheasant-like bird found from eastern Mexico throughout Central America to the northwestern edges of Columbia and Ecuador. I see them in most of the protected forests and national parks I visit in Costa Rica. See some of my other photos in the Great Curassow Gallery. Just another of the many nature joys in Costa Rica! 🙂 And yes, they are similar to the Crested Guan (my gallery link) also here and about the same size, but with a bright red waddle. I heard guans on this trip but neither saw nor got photos. Both of these birds remind North Americans of Wild Turkeys, which we do not have here.
And a gallery of 5 shots . . . (click an image to enlarge)
Continue reading “Most visible Bird . . .”
. . . is one thing I photographed at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge last week and they are all 7 together in a gallery below this email photo . . .
I love all of the tropical flowers, and among my favorites are the 35+ species of Heliconia flowers native to Costa Rica, and yes, they do grow in the wild, especially in rainforests or along rivers and other bodies of water. My cabin this week is surrounded by at least a dozen different species of Heliconia flowers. Below the one photo for the email version you will find a gallery of fourteen heliconia blooms from around my cabin. Happy Fourth of July! And yes, I’m having a great 85th birthday! And the rain is never a problem! That helps make all these beautiful flowers! 🙂
. . . is the most common hummingbird in gardens from southern Mexico to northwestern South America, says one website, meaning they are throughout Central America and I see at almost every lodge I visit. Plus, hands down he’s the most common bird in my garden! 🙂 In June I was photographing them a lot and chose my 12 favorite shots from June for a gallery in the online version of this post (below this one photo for the email version). The software for my chosen blog template doesn’t support galleries in the emailed version. Plus, if you’d like to see more photos of this active and colorful bird, I’ve added these 12 shots to the 130 already in my GALLERY: Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Amazilia tzacatl (linked to the gallery). There you can see my favorite shots of one feeding on a Bird of Paradise Flower at Arenal Observatory Lodge and several shots over the years of one feeding on my Torch Ginger flowers, as the most colorful meal here! 🙂 While the most common flower everywhere for them is the “Porterweed” in these photos. 🙂
I’m getting my best help with identification through iNaturalist or through multiple channels with them. And I finally determined that this new Yellow for me is Westwood’s Yellow, Eurema westwoodii, linked to iNaturalist, but not much info there or anywhere else online about this species and it is not even included in BAMONA. I have a gallery for Westwood’s Yellow with just two observations, June 2 & 7 this year. The 2 photos here are from my June 7 observation.
This is a Blue-eyed Setwing, Dythemis nigra (linked to my Gallery) which is not a new species for me and these photo IDs have been confirmed by iNaturalist. I have both dragonflies and damselflies visiting my garden somewhat regularly, though they tend to stay closer to the water of a stream across the cow pasture from me. Two shots from different angles . . .
¡Pura Vida!
See my GALLERIES: Dragonflies & Damselflies Costa Rica
is one of my daily garden visitors whom I may not photograph enough. He’s colorful, active, and always on the move . . .
¡Pura Vida!
is usually trying to hide behind leaves in the garden, but if I keep trying I usually get a shot, though there are much better ones in my GALLERY: Giant Butterfly Moth, Castniomera atymnius. All photos are either from my garden or the Esquinas Rainforest Lodge where I will be next week. Just one shot here . . .
¡Pura Vida!
is one of my “regulars” this year and varies in color from an Apricot orange color to the common yellow of all the other yellows! But, he/she always has lots of brown spots and usually the distinctive double white spots on folded wings (solid yellow on top). Here’s just two shots from this month, one yellow and one orangey. See more in my GALLERY: Apricot Sulphur, Phoebis argante.
¡Pura Vida!
