Category: Garden

Both my gardens and ones I visit

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Cinnamon-bellied Saltator

This Cinnamon-bellied Saltator, Saltator grandis (eBird link) was for years called the “Grayish Saltator” but was one of many birds that have had their names changed during my ten years of birding here in Costa Rica, which is sometimes confusing, but it keeps you on your toes! 🙂 It is strictly a “Central American + Mexico bird” (Mexico is “officially” part of North America). According to eBird I have now observed 14 of this species in Costa Rica which you can see in my GALLERY: Cinnamon-bellied Saltator. I got this shot in the shadows (hindering photo quality) during my “sitting bird expedition” the other evening in my yard. He is semi-common here, plus I’ve observed him in four other locations around Costa Rica. The cinnamon belly is seldom seen (like in only one shot in my gallery). 🙂

Cinnamon-bellied Saltator, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Flame Vine

My Flame Vine is finally blooming, at least in spots. In the past it covered my back wall and bloomed in January, like everything is different this year! But even with fewer flowers and later, it is still one of my favorites! 🙂 “Flame Vine” is the most common English name, while in Costa Rica Spanish, it is called “Triquitraque” and the scientific name is “Pyrostegia venusta.” 🙂

Flame Vine or Triquitraque, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Yigüirro

is the Costa Rican Spanish name for the English-named Clay-colored Thrush. (my gallery link) This is the bird that gently wakes me up each morning singing, and, as tradition has it, he/she is singing in the rains for the beginning of our winter or rainy season in May.

Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Where are all the butterflies?

“The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind” (apologies to Bob Dylan)

Some large Yellows are flying up in the tree limbs and other smaller yellows, whites and skippers I’ve seen down lower without ever stopping for a photo! 🙂 But Friday I did manage to get a couple of shots of this Polydamas Swallowtail, Battus polydamas (my gallery link) quickly stopping by both the Porter Weed (below) and the Plumbago (above), one of the few who land on that sticky flower! (Maybe the ‘sticky’ keeps him from blowing away!?) 🙂 And though that answer is not as philosophical as Bob Dylan’s, there simply will not be many butterflies until this wind quits blowing! 🙂

Polydamas Swallowtail on a Porter Weed flower, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Canivet’s Emerald

Another “uncommon” bird found only in Central America from Eastern Mexico to Western Costa Rica, the Canivet’s Emerald, Cynanthus canivetii (eBird link) with some of my other earlier garden shots in my Canivet’s Emerald Gallery. I mostly get females (white chest) while in my first year I had a male (green chest). And for my Costa Rica readers, this species appears only on the Pacific Slope, while in Mexico to Honduras it is only on the Caribbean Slope. 🙂 Here’s three shots from yesterday in my garden . . .

Canivet’s Emerald Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Chachalacas!

A small group of young Gray-headed Chachalacas, Ortalis cinereiceps (linked to eBird) landed in my trees yesterday and did a lot of chattering before flying on elsewhere. The wind doesn’t seem to bother larger birds as much as the smaller ones. And this bird lives only between Guatemala and Columbia! Here’s 3 different views . . .

Gray-headed Chachalaca, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Teleus Longtail

One of the common Skippers all over Costa Rica is the Teleus Longtail (my gallery link), and he is just one of about 20 different “Longtails!” Here’s a couple of shots of one in my garden recently on a less windy day:

Teleus Longtail, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Teleus Longtail, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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The Always Here Bird

The wind has been very heavy again for many days which discourages birds or butterflies on my hillside, but the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird is always here! And they chase off any other species of hummingbirds, but don’t seem to be bothered by the few butterflies I’ve had (maybe thinking they don’t eat much?). 🙂 I had to photograph those two flying pix from a greater distance +the movement and thus not good images, but I still like the action shots as well as the “sitting portraits” like this one . . .

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Spiny-tailed Iguana

On another very windy day I was unable to photograph bird or butterfly, but did get this Spiny-tailed Iguana (my gallery link) sunning on a limb of my slowly dying Cecropia Tree which doesn’t get as many birds as it used to. But all wildlife are a joy for me and this one doesn’t seem to be bothered by the wind. 🙂

Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica