Category: Plants

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Stripe-headed Sparrow

Though it is still too windy for many birds, they have to eat and late afternoon is their last chance of the day. Two of these Stripe-headed Sparrows – Peucaea ruficauda (eBird link) were moving from a tree to the fence and to the ground, looking for possibly seeds or insects or worms. It is another purely Central American bird found from Costa Rica to Mexico. See more of my photos of this bird in my Stripe-headed Sparrow GALLERY. You will note there that I’ve seen this sparrow only one other time here in Atenas (2020) and once in Guanacaste at Rincon de la Vieja (2019). Thus not one of my regulars! 🙂 And for you birders here in Costa Rica, yes, he is very similar to the Black-striped Sparrow seen on both slopes of Costa Rica (while this one is only on the Pacific Slope), BUT with multiple obvious physical & color differences, making both easy to ID. 🙂

Stripe-headed Sparrow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Stripe-headed Sparrow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Palm Sunday

Though I am surrounded by palms every day in Costa Rica, I smile as I think of my memories of children on Palm Sunday waving palm fronds during my years in The Gambia, as well as in the States and here in Costa Rica! And I rejoice with Christians everywhere on the remembrance of the triumphant entry of Jesus in Jerusalem before his crucifixion and long for His second coming as I believe his sadness for Jerusalem then would be many times more today.

They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ~John 12:13 NIV

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Frangipani

The flowers of the Frangipani – Plumeria rubra (Wikipedia link) in a neighbor’s yard that I snapped from my driveway. This flowering plant is native to Central America but has been cultivated in other tropical areas around the world now. We even had some in The Gambia when I lived there back in 1999-2002! 🙂

Frangipani – Plumeria rubra, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See more flowers in my Flora & Forest Galleries.

¡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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Flores Suave

I usually stick with the English language in the blog, but somehow I thought this Spanish title fit better – with “suave” having many meanings in Spanish from smooth & soft to tender and mild. I use “suave” to order tender meat (carne suave) or mild salsa (la salsa suave) and to tell the doctor where my skin is tender or sensitive (piel suave). So I thought of the Spanish word when I started photographing flowers in my garden that seemed smooth, soft or tender and below this one photo is a gallery of 6 such flowers . . .

Plumbago
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Dark Calephelis Butterfly

This Dark Calephelis, Calephelis velutina (linked to my gallery) seems to be fairly rare, with this being my third sighting and not very many have been submitted to iNaturalist CR or butterfliesandmoths.org. This one was in my garden while the last one was in the neighborhood on Calle Nueva. And my first sighting was in Cartago Province at Guayabo National Monument. Here’s two different views of this Metalmark Family butterfly species from Monday in my garden . . .

Dark Calephelis, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Dark Calephelis, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Living for the Unremarkable Moments

My life has been cram-packed with “remarkable moments” and experiences, both good and bad. One of the many reasons for moving to Costa Rica was to slow down with nature and sort of let my final years of life just “fade away.” A quote in a blog that I read said . . .

“Busyness and fear constrict us in youth; fresh air and nature free us in old age.” ~Anne Lamott

And so I yearn for days with nothing planned or no where I have to go. A leisurely breakfast and coffee with the online newspaper is a perfect morning, followed by a walk in the garden. Even with all the wind right now, meaning few or no birds or butterflies, there are always plants and flowers or buds like I shared yesterday or a gaze at the surrounding hills, a cow across the street, or another amazing palm frond contrasting with the evergreens as it just fades away. And so today I rejoice in the unremarkable! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Beautiful Buds!

And these 6 little buds on the end of one stem of my Desert Rose plant will make 6 beautiful flowers, all clustered together. This plant just keeps blooming, year around. It looks like it probably needs a bigger pot, but I’m afraid to mess with it! 🙂

Desert Rose Flower Buds, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See my garden gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

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Baby Elephant Ears

The tall plants I had that were blocking the sun, not only stopped some other plants from flowering but seemed to kill my Elephant Ear plant (for a lack of sun) and I loved those! Well when the gardeners were removing the tall plants, one started to remove and dispose of the tubulars (dead trunk of Elephant Ear plant) left from the only Elephant Ear plant I had and another gardener told him “No, new plants will grow from those dead tubular remains.” Well, he was right! And quickly they have started growing from the remains of my old plant. Here’s two shots of the new Elephant Ears growing out of the remains of the old one. 🙂 Nature is amazing!

Baby Elephant Ears growing out of the remains of an old plant.
Baby Elephant Ears growing out of the remains of an old plant.

¡Pura Vida!

You might enjoy looking at My Garden GALLERY!

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Cigar Plant Shredded by Wind

A couple of years ago my gardeners planted this Cigar Calathea, Calathea lutea (linked to Wikipedia). It has many other cigar names which I guess is because of the cigar-shaped flower, but the leaves are not used for cigars! Rather, they are used for the presentation of food in some restaurants or to wrap food to go. It was surrounded by other tall plants like the Ti Plant, but I had those removed because they blocked the sun and flowers below would not bloom without sun! Here’s a series of photos made this week, with a couple earlier showing un-shredded leaves.

The Cigar-shaped Flowers of Calathea lutea, Atenas, Costa Rica
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