Fountains Added to Central Park

With the very slow remodeling of Atenas Central Park being done totally by city employees and not an outside contractor, this multi-year project keeps surprising people and this one was not in the initial architect’s drawings of the remodeled park. For the new southwest corner entrance to the square block park, there is now a pair of modern fountains with a hint of historical reflection on the Stone Spheres of Costa Rica (Wikipedia link) and even though the sidewalk is still not completed, the two fountains have been dedicated and are functioning, though you can’t enter the park through this entrance yet! 🙂 Here’s 3 of my cellphone photos plus someone else’s night photo from the dedication I didn’t know about. And to my friend who was hoping they would add a fountain to the park, you got two! 🙂 Though I realize you were wanting an old fashion fountain like in the center of Alajuela’s Central Park. But hey! We have prehistoric stone spheres spritzing water like no other park in Costa Rica! 🙂

Stone Sphere Water Fountains, Atenas Central Park, Costa Rica
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Athis inca moth – A Rare Find!

One of my unidentified photos from Arenal just got identified by an authority with butterfliesandmoths.org and it is another one of those rare finds and mine is the first one ever submitted to butterfliesandmoths. 🙂 Wikipedia says “Athis inca is a moth of the Castniidae family. It is found from Mexico to Costa Rica.” You can see this photo of mine posted on butterfliesandmoths or in my gallery. And to learn more, the website that seemed to have the most information was GBIF (linked). And Project Noah (linked) has several nice photos, including different subspecies. I’m proud of my find and so glad that J. Wiley Rains of BAMONA identified it for me! Costa Rica is just full of “rare finds!” 🙂 And it is wonderful to be “Retired in Costa Rica,” the name of my blog! 🙂

Athis inca Moth, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Costa Rica

On this same trip I also found another semi-rare moth which you can see in my gallery, the Feigeria herilia, an equally interesting and different moth! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

2 Less Often Seen Birds

Both in the shadows of my Cecropia Tree, thus not great photos, but part of my purpose is to document what seen, when and where, which with eBird helps scientific research like also with my butterflies on butterfliesandmoths. Great photos or works of art come occasionally as an extra treat! 🙂

You can see more in my galleries linked below for these two bird species photographed all over Costa Rica:

Hoffman’s Woodpecker, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Swainson’s Thrush, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

And all my Costa Rica Birds GALLERIES.

Matthew’s Groundstreak

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

¡Pura Vida!

And my Costa Rica Butterflies GALLERIES.

Megarus Scrub-Hairstreak

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 . . .

Male Megarus Scrub-Hairstreak, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Arenal 2024 Photo Gallery

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.

And to visit there, see the Arenal Observatory Lodge WEBSITE.

¡Pura Vida!

28 Bird Species at Arenal

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!” 🙂

¡Pura Vida!