¡Pura Vida!
“Music of the ground . . .”
This Year’s Christmas Color
¡Pura Vida!
¡Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas!
Bird & Butterfly Bench
Just the day before yesterday I had my gardeners install a new garden bench up the hill beside my house at roof level and beside “K’s Little Zinnia Patch” (linked to an earlier blog post) under a palm tree with easy photography of butterflies in both the Zinnia Patch and in my row Porterweeds which also attracts hummingbirds. PLUS a view of the trees and the hills around me for birds. It will become one of my morning rituals to go sit and photograph nature around me! It is a challenge to hike up the steep driveway and then I needed a place to sit. So I installed one! 🙂
And see more photos of the bench and its vistas in this slide show online:
Continue reading “Bird & Butterfly Bench”Two New Species in November
Whether a bird, butterfly or other animal or plant, photographing a new species is always special for me! And living in the country with the most species per square kilometers makes that a continuous possibility, even after 10 years of living here! 🙂 During the week of a visit from Nashville friends, Gary & Kenna Eaton, I got photos of two: a butterfly and a moth caterpillar, with still some uncertainty on the ID of the caterpillar, while hoping for a confirmation of my ID by a scientist or naturalist on iNaturalist or on butterfliesandmoths.org. Here’s the two photos . . .
Sarapiqui, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica
Read more about this butterfly on iNaturalist Costa Rica which calls it a “Brightwing” butterfly (in Spanish of course) where you can see many other photos of this “uncommon” butterfly in Costa Rica. There are also two more photos on butterfliesandmoths.org, one other from Costa Rica and one from Cuba, where incidentally it appears on a postage stamp! 🙂
Now the humble little caterpillar . . .
Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
See all of my 313 identified Butterflies & Moths of Costa Rica GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
Gallery Completed of the Eaton’s Visit
It takes me a while to process the many photos I usually take and then label and get into galleries – but it is done! for the November 10 & 17-22 Visit by the Gary Eaton’s. Linked to the gallery or click on the image of first page below . . .
I placed it in my “CR TRIP GALLERIES” because it was their trip and much like a trip for me with a variety of photos, many of which are okay even if not my best! 🙂 After all, I had cancer surgery on my nose in the middle that week and was dealing with feet & leg inflammation from the new blood pressure medicine, but in spite of all that, I had great time Gary & Kenna! And I hope you are able to return to Costa Rica in the future to see other areas and different National Parks! I love it all! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Carara National Park
The featured photo above is a Masked Tree Frog and just two more photos below from my visit with Gary & Kenna Eaton to the transitional forest Parque Nacional Carara (linked to official website in English.) I have many more photos in my gallery: Nov 22 Carara National Park. 🙂
Carara is just an hour from my house and one of my better close birding places along with the nearby Tarcoles River. They were originally scheduled to go there with Walter on their way to Punta Leona, but heavy rain closed the park that day. Some of the trails were still muddy, but our excellent guide, Franklin, provided high rubber boots for us, so we didn’t return with muddy shoes! 🙂 I usually see many more birds there than on this trip, but the unusually heavy rain this November has affected many such activities as birding! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
La Paz Waterfall Gardens
Just two shots here with this link to my gallery: Nov 18 La Paz Waterfall Gardens, where there are 11 species of birds and 6 species of butterflies, including a new or first-time seen species, the Silver-studded Leafwing – Hypna clytemnestra. And I included the waterfall photos I made on an earlier trip since I did not feel like that mountainous trail in the rain this time. The feature photo at top is of Templo Falls, also in the rain back in 2015! 🙂 Because it was raining most of the time there this trip too, I did not try to photograph the many beautiful flower gardens this trip and the rain had most of the usual hummingbirds hiding under leaves. 🙂 But hey! Cloud Forests and Rainforests need rain! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Poas Volcano
On November 18 we visited two big favorites of tourists with the first being Poas Volcano National Park as soon as they opened at 8 am because clouds often cover the top of that mountain and you then see nothing. 🙂 We had great weather for seeing the volcano, the only one in Costa Rica you can look down into the bubbling cauldron and smell the sulphur. I’m including 4 shots with this post or you can see more in my gallery: Nov 18 Poas Volcano. Tomorrow a few shots from La Paz Waterfall Gardens, the other visit that day near Poas.
Juvenile Black Spiny-tailed Iguana
It is tempting to call this a Green Iguana, but those do not live in my garden and these do! 🙂 The babies and juveniles of both species are very much alike, so location determines this ID. I see them in my garden a lot! And their parents & big brothers & sisters walk around on my roof and climb the trees! 🙂
See more of my many photos of this species in my GALLERY: Black Spiny-tailed Iguana. And oh yeah, the scientific name is: Ctenosaura similis.
¡Pura Vida!
Rufous-backed Wren
One of the most common birds in my garden is this Rufous-backed Wren, Campylorhynchus capistratus (my gallery link) and this one used to be called the Rufous-naped Wren, but just like with butterflies, “they” are always changing names of birds, making it hard to keep up with the latest names sometimes. Here’s a shot of one on my neighbor’s roof. And you can read about them on eBird. Found only from Southern Mexico south through Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!