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There was more than this, but these are the ones I have useable photos of beyond the birds and butterflies already shown. All wildlife is so interesting and varied anywhere you go in Costa Rica. One pix for the email announcement and then a gallery of all 9 photos.
The Butterfly Conservancy in the village of Castillo on Lake Arenal near Arenal Observatory Lodge is very good with multiple greenhouses for the different butterfly habitats plus outside natural butterflies with all being native to Costa Rica. And for the history-lovers, this is the little town that was once called Nuevo Arenal after the lake was flooded to make electricity and covered the original town of Arenal. 🙂
I only got useable photos of 14 species with 15 photos here because the White-spotted Prepona is so different with folded wings and open wings. 🙂 And I will just start with him as the first two photos followed by 13 more:
Archaeoprepona amphimachus (above)
Today I’ll just share 5 butterflies that I have only one view of and then even though I have another dozen or so from the lodge, they are not identified yet and and I’m behind on that ID work! So tomorrow I will start on the identified butterflies from the Costa Rica Butterfly Conservancy in Castillo on Lake Arenal, not far from the lodge and where a lot of lodge employees live.
¡Pura Vida!
And my Photo Galleries for these five species . . .
This first day of butterflies will be 4 I photographed on the Arena Observatory Lodge property with the preferred 2-shots: spreadwing & folded wing. Of course they don’t always cooperate for those two views helpful in identification! 🙂
My last 4 species of birds from Arenal Observatory are in 5 photos because the Red-legged Honeycreeper male & female are so different, with only their legs matching! 🙂
With 4 birds in today’s post and 4 more tomorrow I will have shared all that I got useable photos of on the Christmas trip. And no, I got no “lifers” or first-time seen birds on this trip, but that is expected when you have photos of more than 359 species of birds in Costa Rica! It’s getting harder to find a new species! 🙂
Trying to group birds by size is not real accurate, but now it leaves me with 4 “smaller” birds for tomorrow and 4 others for the next day! 🙂 Then I will get on to other wildlife and the many butterflies photographed at Arenal Observatory!
Yes, you can sometimes see a hawk at Arenal Observatory, but I did not this time nor the two larger toucans, Keel-billed and Yellow-throated, which I have every other visit. But these 5 are still impressive birds and there’s six photos because the male and female of the Great Curassow are so different. I debated about putting the Collared Aracari here, since he’s the smaller toucan, but he seemed too big for the “medium birds” post that’s next. 🙂 And despite their bad reputations, both vultures are beautiful (when flying) and so important to the ecology of our lands!
As usual, one photo for the emailed notice with the others in the online post . . .
Possibly my favorite bird seen at Arenal Observatory Lodge with the only other place seen so far being at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge at Piedras Blancas National Park near Golfito. The rich colors make this bird very attractive though he/she tends to stay behind the limbs and leaves of trees with berries, thus difficult to photograph! 🙂
Three more shots below including one eating a berry, plus you can see my other shots of this bird in my Bay-headed Tanager GALLERY! I love my growing collection of Costa Rica birds! 🙂