“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”
– Kahlil Gibran
A slideshow of poems in the sky . . .
Continue reading “Poems in the Sky”Poems in the Sky
Tidepool Exploration
One of my plans for this second visit to Punta Leona was to photograph lots of interesting sea creatures in the Tidepools of Playa Mantas at low tide. Well, the low tide time I could go out for was cloudy and misty rain, but that is okay if there are sea creatures! 🙂 But I was disappointed with no starfish, seahorses, blowfish, crabs, etc! Only a couple of minnow-like fish, lots of broken up coral and shells and some fossils and lichen. But below this introductory photo are photos of what I did find and it was interesting, even if not what I was expecting. I will try tidepools again in September when I’m on the Caribbean Coast and see if my luck is any better there. 🙂
Rocky Tidepools circled in RED where most photos were made.
Red-crowned Woodpecker
This Red-crowned Woodpecker female (my gallery link) at Punta Leona is using whatever source of insects she can find in her environment. 🙂 And for what it is worth, this is my first sighting of this particular woodpecker and will be a “lifer” on eBird for me. It is not as common as the very similar Hoffman’s Woodpecker.
¡Pura Vida!
Dirce Beauty
A butterfly that I don’t see very often, though in 5 locations now, is the Dirce Beauty, Colobura dirce (my gallery link) was one of the 11 species that I photographed at Punta Leona. B&W butterflies don’t have a lot of fans, but it is one more of the many species found here!
¡Pura Vida!
Cinnamon-bellied Saltator
The Cinnamon-bellied Saltator – Saltator grandis (my gallery link) as seen at Hotel Punta Leona was eating a flower (or maybe taking it to his/her nest?).
¡Pura Vida!
Pale Owl-Butterfly
This Pale Owl-Butterfly – Caligo telamonius (my gallery link) is one of several species in the Caligo Genus with the large eye spot on each wing so that when they spread their wings they may appear to a predator as a much larger animal (like an owl) and thus a defensive mechanism. Owl-butterflies are also one of the largest butterflies in Costa Rica. This one was spotted at Hotel Punta Leona Christmas Week. Some earlier sources called it the “Yellow-fronted Owl-Butterfly.”
¡Pura Vida!
Crested Guan
One of the good things about Punta Leona is that there are many species of bird and I got only 11 this trip compared to 21 species on my 2019 visit there. Of course the big turkey-sized Crested Guan (my gallery link) is a favorite of many of the foreign tourists. Not good lighting for this shot, but you can see better photos in the above linked gallery from all over Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!
Black Spiny-tailed Iguana
This one looks a little different from the ones in my garden, but animals like people do have different looks, personalities, etc. 🙂 This one at Hotel Punta Leona Christmas week. See more of my photos of this species in my gallery: Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Ctenosaura similis.
¡Pura Vida!
Banded Peacock
One of the most seen butterflies all over Costa Rica is this Banded Peacock, Anartia fatima (my gallery link) photographed here along one of the roads/streets in Punta Leona Resort, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!
Parides Genus
There are 5 different “Cattleheart” (Parides) butterflies that are very similar to this one but I don’t think any are an exact match, so I’m putting it in the Genus and will hope for an expert identifier on iNaturalist to give it a correct species name. Then I will change it in my gallery. These black, red and white Swallowtails (linked to my gallery where there are about a dozen species of these ). They seem to be quite common in Costa Rica and not easy for me to differentiate all of the species. 🙂
