Category: Costa Rica

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How to Subscribe to this Blog?

Someone just wrote with that question and I thought I would share my answer to him with everyone and hope you share it with anyone you think might be interested in my nature-centered blog!

It is a fairly simple process, though as with most technology, it requires multiple steps. . .

  1. Go to any blog post or the blog page (linked)of my site.
  2. First item at the top of the right-hand column of the page or post is “Blog Subscription by Email.” 
  3. Simply type in your email address where indicated. 
  4. CLICK the Subscribe Button.
  5. You will soon receive a computer-generated email to confirm that you are a real person and not a robot subscribing. YOU MUST RESPOND TO THAT EMAIL TO SUBSCRIBE. (That is WordPress’ security step.) You will then receive an email notice of each new post I publish. You can easily unsubscribe by clicking a button at the bottom of any post. 

And for those who prefer a language other than English, note that the next item in that right-hand column is a Google Translate option.

¡Pura Vida!

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Cramer’s Swallowtail

A totally new species for me! And considered “Rare” in Costa Rica. Described on iNaturalist as:

“Battus lycidas is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae native to the Americas. It is commonly known as Cramer’s Swallowtail, the Lycidas Swallowtail, and the Yellow-trailed Swallowtail. Little is known about this species, but it is not considered threatened. It is found from Mexico to northern Bolivia and southern Pará, Brazil. It is rare in Costa Rica. The larvae feed on Aristolochia huberiana.”

I continue to be amazed and sometimes overwhelmed by the number of species of butterflies I’m seeing this year, and most in my garden in Atenas, Alajuela so far! Note that one of the common names iNaturalist uses is “Yellow-trailed” because of those yellow markings on the top of the wings. Well, mine and some others by this same species name I’ve found online have blue on top of the wings. There are probably subspecies of these, like many of the other butterflies. This one might have the common name of “Blue-trailed?” Note that on the iNaturalist Taxa Page they show photos of both the blue and the yellow of this species. And the only two live photos included on Butterflies of America are exact matches of my side view photos, showing brown on the wings, white tail, and yellow dots on the body. And obervations.org shows only photos of these with blue trails on top like mine. And Pam’s Butterflies has on 2 photos of side view like mine. Here’s one photo for the email announcement and others follow online with the same photos going into my gallery.

Cramer’s Swallowtail, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Cramer’s Swallowtail”
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There is a pleasure in the pathless woods

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.

– Lord George Gordon Byron, 1813

9 more photos below . . .

Continue reading “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods”
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Howarth’s White

Was new to me this year and now a commonly seen butterfly in my garden. The obvious things for ID are the stand-out veins, the dark black dot above and below two lesser gray dots. This one was seen last week at 8th Ave. & 3rd Street in Atenas.

Howarth’s White, Avenida 8 & Calle 3, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See more of my photos in the Howarth’s White GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!

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Ruby-spotted Swallowtail

Another especially colorful butterfly I got last week at 8th & 3rd was this Ruby-spotted Swallowtail, Papilio anchisiades (linked to my gallery). I’ve seen this one multiple times here in Atenas and also in Jaco at Punta Leona and at Hotel Banana Azul in the South Caribbean. Here’s three different views of the one last week from the sidewalk on 8th Avenue. And yes, he is very similar to some of the “Cattleheart” butterflies here, though all of them have slightly different spots and arrangement of those spots! 🙂 In my best butterfly book I just found about 22 of these large black butterflies with red (pink) & white spots, with 14 of them classified as “Cattleheart” and 8 others as “Swallowtail.” All found in Central America and most unique to here.

Ruby-spotted Swallowtail, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Golden Melwhite

After the Oxcart Parade last Sunday, I walked home and of course had my cameras, including the one with a telephoto lens, so as always I walked by the Zinnia garden at 8th Avenue and 3rd Street and this time was able to photograph several of the always numerous butterflies with something better than my cell phone! 🙂 Though hot and tired at midday, I still was able to quickly photograph 9 species, 7 of which I’ve identified. One of my two favorites was this Golden Melwhite, Melete polyhymnia (linked to my gallery of them). Tomorrow I will share another species from that sidewalk stop that I like, a seldom-seen Swallowtail.

For today I share 4 shots of this delicate Yellow and White tiny butterfly, plus you can see more in the above-linked gallery . . .

Golden Melwhite, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Blomfild’s Beauty

An old favorite that I haven’t seen in over a year just appeared yesterday in my kitchen window. I photographed with both a camera and the cellphone and then opened the window and let him out. During breakfast and after for 2 or 3 hours I leave the sliding glass door and screen open each morning, thus creatures like this get in. 🙂 See more of my photos of this unusually patterned butterfly in my Blomfild’s Beauty – Smyrna blomfildia GALLERY. It’s interesting to note that all my photos are inside the house or the cabin at Macaw Lodge except for two shots outdoors at Xandari Resort. They are found from Peru north to Mexico. Here’s one shot from yesterday and see more in the above gallery.

Blomfild’s Beauty, Smyrna blomfildia, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Brilliant Thoas Swallowtail

I have photographed so many different species of butterflies the last three months that I will never catch up on sharing all of them, but this one is just too colorful to miss! 🙂 Thoas Swallowtail, Papilio thoas (linked to my gallery) is almost a twin to the slightly larger Giant Swallowtail and easily confused. He is found from South Texas to Brazil and fairly common here in Costa Rica. Here’s three different views of one in my garden recently . . .

Thoas Swallowtail, Atenas, Costa Rica
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2024 Oxcart Parade

I finally got all those photos sorted, culled, and processed to create a nice gallery for this year’s Oxcart Parade, my first since 2018! You can click the image below of the first page of that gallery or go to this address . . . https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/PEOPLE/2024-08-11-OXCART-PARADE

CLICK IMAGE above to go to the gallery.

Or below is one sample photo from each category gallery . . .

Continue reading “2024 Oxcart Parade”