In addition to that leaf collection yesterday from “Country Lane,” I got this Banded Peacock Butterfly on the Zinnias one house has planted along the gravel road. Of course I have a Banded Peacock Gallery of my earlier photos which is a part of the bigger set of Costa Rica Butterflies Galleries.
My newest photo book is my cheapest ($8.83), smallest ( 6×9 in, 15×23 cm) and shortest (30 pages) as an introduction to why I retired in Costa Rica with 47 photos demonstrating my nature photography here. It’s not exactly a portfolio because of the cheaper paper, but . . . it actually is a cheaper version of a portfolio 🙂 and it also describes the 5 ways I experience nature and share it. As with all my books there is a FREE PREVIEW electronically of all pages in the bookstore at:
This will become my “give-away” book to guides, lodges and others here in Costa Rica, since some of my other books are too expensive to keep giving them away as I have been. But I’m still not in the photo-selling or book-selling business. I’m retired! 🙂 I make my photos to share with others online and the books become ways to do that physically on occasions. Prints and wall art are available in my gallery with no profit for me, just a good service of (and profit for) my gallery host. 🙂
And while you’re in my bookstore, check out some of my other photo books! They have free previews too!
Another new one today! And like those Skippers, I can’t identify with my books or the internet. This one is possibly a moth but not necessarily! 🙂 Since June 24 I’ve been trying to photo a new/different butterfly every day. I missed 3 days, but have posted 10 almost in a row and all 10 different. 🙂 Doesn’t take much to entertain me! 🙂 And that shows the vairety of butterflies in my garden!
Three days ago I had a photo of a male which includes the 2 bright yellow splotches on upper wings and four little brown dots. The female of this species is all white but different from the all-white Florida White because of the very strong veins. Often the males and females are like two different species in butterflies and birds. 🙂
And unidentified for me! Skippers take up almost half the pages in my butterfly ID book, 119 pages with only 161 pages for all the other butterflies! Plus browns & golds are a dominant color on possibly most of them, so you will forgive me for not finding these two Skipper butterflies in the book for identification. In my galleries I have identified seventeen different specific Skippers and have only one gallery for Unidentified Skippers with only 7 in it. 🙂 There is a general article on all 3,500 known Skippers on Wikipedia.
Skipper, Atenas, Costa Rica
Skipper, Atenas, Costa Rica
You thought I was going to run out of unique butterflies didn’t you? 🙂 Well, when I do I will go to other nature and the birds have been mostly away from my house the last week or so. And I will keep looking for more butterflies! My Costa Rica Butterflies Galleries. I have all the Skippers together alphabetically, Skipper, name; Skipper, next, etc.
Like me recovering from cancer and the just-as-bad cancer treatment, this pitiful-looking damaged butterfly is still flying and eating! 🙂 He is a Ilus swallowtail or Dual-spotted swallowtail, Mimoides ilus (Wikipedia link) and note that it is very similar to another butterfly that I originally labeled this as, the Emerald-patched Cattleheart. The main difference is the Cattleheart has emerald or light-green spots on the upper wings instead of white as this Swallowtail has. (And by the way, Cattlehearts are in the Swallowtail family!) See my Dual-spotted Swallowtail Gallery or all of my CR Butterflies. Note that in the additional photos below this feature image there is one of a non-damaged Dual-spotted that got in my house on the window screen before I opened it and let him fly out.
Damaged Dual-spotted Swallowtail, Atenas, Costa Rica
And some more shots including of one not damaged (+ health update) . . .
This type of little Skipper butterfly is actually more colorful than he would let me photograph this time, since his upper back is a bright blue. You can see some pix with the blue showing in my Two-barred Flasher Gallery and to learn more see this article in Wikipedia. Binomial name: Astraptes fulgerator.
Two-barred Flasher, Astraptes fulgerator, Atenas, Costa Rica.
This beautiful Green Orchid Bee, Euglossa dilemma(Wikipedia link) is endemic or native to Central America, though some yokel recently introduced them into Florida in the states. I never tire of seeing the little shiny emeralds flitting about my garden. 🙂
Green Orchid Bee, Euglossa dilemma, Atenas, Costa Rica
Another of my regular garden butterfly visitors is the Juno Heliconia, Dione juno (Wikipedia link), also called Juno silverspot and Juno longwing. They are a nice sparkly butterfly like the checkerspots on the bottom of wings or side-views while all orange with black trim on top almost like another favorite, the Julia (though not as large). See my gallery of this variously named Dione Juno or check out my bigger CR Butterflies Gallery. This Juno is found from the southern U.S. down through Central and most of South America.
Possibly the most common butterfly in my garden though certainly not the most colorful! But at least I’m out in the garden again! 🙂 To see other photos I’ve made of this species, my Polydamas Swallowtail Gallery or for more butterflies see my Butterflies of Costa Rica Galleries! 126+ 🙂