This is my second sighting of Matthew’s Groundstreak, Rubroseratta mathewi (linked to butterflies and moths where only one other person has confirmed a sighting). It is another one of those tiny, fingernail-sized butterflies here. I continue to be amazed by the variety of butterflies right here in my own garden that are expanded more when I travel! For the photos of my other sighting and one more from this, see MY GALLERY: Matthew’s Groundstreak. Here’s one shot from this April sighting . . .
Matthew’s Groundstreak, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince
This is my second time to see this rare butterfly, with the other time being in the south of the country near Golfito at Playa Cativo Lodge on Golfo Dulce at Piedras Blancas National Park AND I am the only person to have submitted any photos of it to butterfliesandmoths.org(Link to their page for this butterfly.) Or you can see the same photos in my gallery for the Megarus Scrub-Hairstreak, Strymon megarus. 🙂 Here’s four shots from a recent sighting in my garden . . .
Finally, I have processed all the photos and organized them into another fun gallery representative of Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails inside the Arenal Volcano National Park of Costa Rica. And the blog will be back to my little creatures and fun nature from my little garden. You can click the first page of the gallery below or if preferred, this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2024-May-6-11-Arenal-Observatory-Lodge-Trails
CLICK this image of the first page of gallery to go there.
Okay, I thought I was nearly through with the birds gallery, but still needed to process these other wildlife and the trip gallery’s Other Wildlife Gallery (linked to it) or you can click the below image of the first page of that gallery to go there!
CLICK the first page image of the galley above to visit it.
The featured image at top of post is of a White-nosed Coati which is pretty common all over Costa Rica. The other 10 species are also fairly common and I really hate that I missed the three species of monkeys found at Arenal, but my favorite place to photograph them is from about halfway up “The Nest” bird-watching tower at about 4:30 to 5:00 each evening as they return through the trees from feeding to their bedding down location, and it was raining every afternoon I was there and I did not want to get out in the rain! Sorry!
In the past I’ve gotten some good photos of both Mantled Howler Monkeys and the Central American Spider Monkeys at Arenal. The two monkey names above are linked to my species galleries which include photos from Arenal. The third monkey in Arenal, the White-faced Capuchin, I have never seen there, but I’ve linked them to my species gallery also, which includes photos from other places in Costa Rica I’ve seen them. All three are fairly common all over Costa Rica and I’m sorry I did not make more of an effort to photograph this trip! 🙂
I will clean up a few more lodge photos and then announce this total trip gallery soon I hope! 🙂
The next big trip is for my July 4 birthday to Maquenque Eco Lodge which has been my favorite lodge in Costa Rica, even though I don’t stay in the tree houses any more, one of my reasons for loving it. Then another favorite lodge good for butterflies is Xandari near Alajuela and I’ve sneaked in a 2 nighter there the in the middle of June. 🙂 But I really am slowing down on the travel as I am physically tiring more now and after Maquenque, nada mas until my annual Caribe trip in September. And in the meantime, I’m actually starting a process to look at and compare senior adult living facilities nearby, which surprises even me! 🙂 I’ll keep you blog readers posted on that and of course any future travel along with photos from my garden!
Both birds and butterflies are the two groups of photos from a forest trip that take me a long time to process the literal thousands of photos and this time I did the butterflies earlier and finally I have finished the birds with 28 species photographed and only 1 is unidentified. Click the first page of the bird gallery below to see it or you can go to this web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2024-May-6-11-Arenal-Observatory-Lodge-Trails/BIRDS
CLICK this image of the first page of the gallery to go there.
Plus I have added the better photos from this trip gallery to my Costa Rica Birds by Species galleries, so they are found in both places. 🙂 And now I will more quickly finish the entire “Trip Gallery!” 🙂
Like in my garden and some other places visited in Costa Rica, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails seemed dominated by the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and when I finally get my Arenal ’24 Birds Gallery finished, you will see a lot of Rufous-tailed Hummingbird photos as without-a-doubt my most seen hummingbird, though I place this Violet-headed Hummingbird (eBird link) as number 2 seen by me while at Arenal and as the only other hummingbird I got useable photos of on this trip, though I’m pretty sure I saw a Cinnamon Hummingbird but without a useable photo of him/her. So here’s one shot of the Violet-headed Hummingbird plus the featured photo at top and in my Big Costa Rica Birds Gallery, my Violet-headed Hummingbird Gallery has more photos from this trip plus shots from 3 other locations earlier in Costa Rica! So check it out for another beautiful Hummingbird here! The Violet-headed Hummingbird is found only in Central America and the northern fringes of South America, exactly like the seemingly more dominant Rufous-tailed Hummingbird.
Violet-headed Hummingbird, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Costa Rica.
From earlier trips, I’ve shared the aerial views of the beautiful, thick forests at Arenal Volcano National Park, so this time some different views from my May 6-11, 2024 visit. Five shots . . .
with overcast skies, clouds or rain every day (rainy season now), but it is still a nice “extra” visita in addition to the volcano adjacent the lodge. And as you can tell on the Google Map I’ve included below, the portion you see from the lodge or the Arenal Volcano National Park on the map in lower right-hand corner of the lake is only about 1/20th of the total 20-mile long lake that fills the valleys where the river used to flow. It is the largest lake in Costa Rica and a major source of electricity. Several small towns had to be relocated when the dam was built. Read the lodge’s description linked. It is one of the most popular places for Costa Ricans to go bass fishing and some tourist! 🙂 3 photos & a map . . .
