Throughout Central America and the northern half of South America you can find this beautiful tropical bird: Blue-gray Tanager, Thraupis episcopus (linked to my gallery) where there are 84 of my photos from 18 different locations in Costa Rica. You can also read about on eBird. This was a favorite shot at Banana Azul this year . . .
Blue-gray Tanager, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
I now have the Banana Azul BIRDS 2024 Gallery completed with 19 species this year without going to any of the parks or reserves! 🙂 Just click that linked title above to see them all!
This is probably one you have seen, found in most of the Eastern and Southern U.S. all the way south to Argentina, the Fiery Skipper, Hylephila phyleus (my gallery link). Like many butterflies, the top and folded wings views are different and distinct. Here’s a shot from the Caribe of both views, and of course the one with a bee in it made me smile! 🙂
Fiery Skipper, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa RicaFiery Skipper, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
These were not a particular goal for me and of course there were many others, had I spent more time at water’s edge of the beach or on any nearby stream, but here are 5 very common ones I did see, with the Cormorant being the most frequently seen this time, though not always the case. And note that all of these can be seen inland on fresh water except the pelican, though all are more frequent near the ocean or nearby mangroves and estuaries . . .
This swallowtail is the species of swallowtails that I see most often in my garden – and I still like it! 🙂 You can see the many that I’ve photographed in my Polydamas SwallowtailGallery (linked). The scientific name is Battus polydamas and even though most of the other swallowtails are more colorful, he/she is striking! (Male & female are basically identical). Here’s a front view and a side view and you can see several top views in the above-linked gallery which is all black with a yellow dot row. This is my first one to photograph outside my garden. He is found from South Texas and Florida south to Argentina.
Polydamas Swallowtail, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limó, Costa RicaPolydamas Swallowtail, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limó, Costa Rica
This Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Melanerpes pucherani (my gallery link) is possibly the woodpecker I’ve seen the most of in my 10 years in Costa Rica, out of 13 species found here, and in the above-linked gallery I have photos of this one from 9 different locations (all on the Caribbean Slope). And none from my garden, where the Hoffmann’s Woodpecker is the most common. That may be because they are more common on the Caribbean Slope and I live on the Pacific Slope. 🙂 But they are found on both slopes from Southern Mexico to Ecuador.
In my CR Birds big gallery you will find galleries for 9 of those 13 species (I’m missing 4!) and one Olivaceous Piculet, which is really a tiny woodpecker without the name! 🙂
Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
The Africanized Honeybee, Apis mellifera (Wikipedia article link), was introduced from East Africa into Brazil and it migrated north throughout Central American and into Texas. I’m pretty sure of this ID and that is what Google Lens called it. Photographed on a wildflower along the beach road, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica.
Africanized Honey Bee, Apis mellifera, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
All of the bees I’ve photographed in Costa Rica are in a general Bees Gallery, with several species and most unidentified so far. 🙂 They were photographed before Google Lens! 🙂
Julia Heliconian, Dryas julia, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa RicaJulia Heliconian, Dryas julia, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
This is one of my favorite butterfly species and I keep finding them almost everywhere I go in Costa Rica. See more of my photos of this beauty in my gallery: Julia Heliconian, Dryas julia.
All natural beaches around the world have driftwood, which usually changes during every tropical storm or other reason for big surf! 🙂 The exception is a rare few beaches near big rich corporate hotels that have driftwood removed to maintain their “pristine” beaches. 🙂
This particular piece of driftwood was on Playa Negra (“Black Beach,” named for the dark volcanic sand there) directly behind Hotel Banana Azul in Puerto Viejo and is more like a simple log, partially buried, but it had a nice glow in the early morning sunrise last Saturday along with the color and texture. Of course there are more interesting shapes of driftwood, usually older and often sun-bleached to a light gray, nearly white.
In some coastal towns people display large, unusually shaped pieces of driftwood as works of art in their homes, restaurants and other businesses, both here and in every other coastal area I’ve visited around the world. See the driftwood links below these 2 photos . . .
Driftwood at Sunrise, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa RicaDriftwood at Sunrise, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
Here’s some driftwood-related websites I found online:
. . . for reasons unknown to me. Normally I see a lot of these Brown Pelicans, Pelecanus occidentalis (my gallery link) on both coasts and usually every day there, but these were the only ones I saw this time and I was a good distance from them, walking on the beach road, so not great photos or close-up like you can see in my gallery linked above. Here’s two shots and I cropped in on the second one just to make them seem bigger, but certainly not my best images. 🙂
Brown Pelicans, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa RicaBrown Pelicans, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
One of those many colorful and beautiful butterflies in Costa Rica is the Crimson Patch, Chlosyne janais (linked to my gallery). It is found from Colombia north through Central America and Mexico to South Texas. Here’s two views of one on the beach road near Hotel Banana Azul last week . . .
Crimson Patch, Chlosyne janais, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa RicaCrimson Patch, Chlosyne janais, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica
