I had only one full day (along with two partial days) at El Silencio Lodge last month and on that full day it rained until after 2 pm, so it was nearly 3 pm before I headed out on what the lodge sometimes calls “Mystery Trail” for my 2 km hike mostly uphill to the three beautiful waterfalls that I shared photos of yesterday, then 2 km back to cabin before dinner.
But as is often the case, the journey is as beautiful or life-changing as the destination! And this was no exception! Every hiking trail is a “Mystical Footpath” to me and when I have more time than I did that day, I find exciting insects and lizards along every trail and in some places birds, monkeys, sloths and other wildlife! But this report is more on the trail and many streams along the way found in a photo gallery below this one pix. In the gallery you can click an image to see it larger and full-width or by clicking the first image you can go through all 12 as a manual slide show that you click through my story in pictures! Enjoy views from my Cloud Forest Hike of last month . . .
The three falls on the lodge property rival some of the big commercial falls in and around the little town of Bajos del Toro where there are 31 waterfalls you can visit! But these lodge falls are assuming that you are willing to walk 2km, mostly uphill to get to them and then they are fairly close together once you get to the first, which is Melody Falls. Then hiking back to your cabin is another 2 km, though mostly downhill and a lot easier and faster! 🙂 I was hiking solo, thus I did not wade into the stream for a better view of Melody Falls. Unfortunately I have history of slipping and falling on wet rocks! 🙂 So all of these photos were made from the dry trail or flat land by the three falls. Tomorrow I will share a few pix of the streams and other views along the trail to and from the falls which I think is almost as beautiful or interesting. But here’s one pix of each waterfall with it’s sign to identify it. And it works better if you go to the website to see them, so after the first one in emailed version, a link to the other photos in the blog post online . . .
FIRST OF 7 REPORTS FROM MY RECENT TRIP TO EL SILENCIO LODGE, BAJOS DEL TORO, ALAJUELA, COSTA RICA.
I use the word “handsome” because to me it better describes all Trogons, male and female, than “beautiful,” (though they are beautiful too, especially the Quetzal!) and here I have a photo of a male and a female Collared Trogon (link is to eBird info) which was earlier combined with one called “Orange-bellied Trogon,” another name change keeping us old men birders on our toes! 🙂
I’ve seen this one in six places in Costa Rica, all shown in my CR Collared Trogon GALLERY. And there are more photos of these 2 at El Silencio in my “trip gallery:” 2023 El Silencio Lodge. A tropical bird found only in Central America and northern South America. And this one is always in the mountains or cloud forests while different species of Trogons are seen in the lowland rainforests.
My latest book, Princeton Field Guide to Birds of Costa Rica, lists 9 species of Trogons in Costa Rica including the Resplendent Quetzal. I have photos of 7 of these in my Costa Rica Birds GALLERIES (just 2 more to go!). 🙂 Scroll down past the hummingbirds, water birds, hawks and owls to the Trogons. 🙂
I’m showing the female of the Collared Trogon here first because she is one of the very few distinctively brown birds and I like brown! 🙂
Female Collared Trogon, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Costa RicaMale Collared Trogon, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Sorry for the delayed reports on El Silencio, but I got two weeks ahead on my blog posts during the last trip (Esquinas Rainforest Lodge) and didn’t want to start sending two posts a day! I hope you enjoy the variety of photos I will be sharing from El Silencio and see why it is another one of my “favorite places” here in Costa Rica! 🙂
And after 7 days of El Silencio photos I will be back to pix from my garden and neighborhood here in Atenas! 🙂 Next trip is September 18 to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica which is totally different from the mountains! 🙂 And I’m going to save those dates for “live” reports daily from the Caribe! 🙂
And if you want to learn more about El Silencio, see their website: El Silencio Lodge. It is an upscale lodge that costs more than most I visit, but the owner likes my photo books and gave me a free night this time! 🙂
For years this has been on the hill above my house in the yard of “the big house,” where my former landlord lived and is now rented to a wonderful young couple. And I’m pretty sure it is one of the several species of Agave and my gardener called it an Agave. But it could be something else. I first called it a “yucca” which the garden says it is not. 🙂
Over more than 8 years here the flower has never gotten that tall! Sorry I didn’t ask someone to stand by it for comparison. It is taller than two men or more that 12 feet (3.7 meters) I’m sure! And maybe even equal to tree men or 18 feet! Shooting from my yard down the hill it took 4 photos to make this vertical pano! 🙂 Another fun tropical anomaly! 🙂
An amazingly TALL Agave Flower in my backyard reaching for the sun! 🙂
I tried to identify it online and the closest match (not exact) was to the Tequilana Agave, grown mostly in Mexico and used to make Tequila! 🙂
Lots of meetings, government regulations, fees, expenses, rental space, requirements and limitations, plus how a cooperative will work together as one, all seem to make it complicated, but it is slowly coming together! 🙂 Thanks especially to Elisa & Margaret, the leaders of the group! We communicate with each other on a private WhatsApp page and now have a gallery FaceBook page (public) with not a whole lot for the public yet. 🙂 And we will be the location for this year’sJIT – Just in Time for Christmas Art Fair which uses the same FaceBook page as last year and is now set for December 8, 9 & 10, 2023. In Calle 2 Plaza Atenas!
TENTATIVEOPENINGS are a “soft” opening on October 4 and a “Grand Opening” on November 9 with the Christmas Art Show a month later, December 8-10. BUT, note that there are many things that could delay the first two dates, though Christmas Show is pretty solid! 🙂
The registered name and logo. 7 of the 10 to 12 participants we can never get all together! 🙂 By one of the flower murals outside our gallery space in the new Calle 2 Plaza, next to Linea Vital Clinic.A shelf set up by some of the ladies as an example of how pottery may be displayed in the gallery.
Please Remember that Everything is Flexible now . . .
Meaning that the opening dates and the participants could change in the next month or two as we struggle to put everything together. But a very fine art gallery is coming to Atenas soon! 🙂
In fact, I have a whole GALLERY of Unidentified Skippers. And hopefully I will eventually get all of them identified, but until then, it is a large category of my photos! 🙂 Just one photo of this one today!
Unidentified Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Intel Costa Rica Helping the USA!
And Tico Times online has Good News for both the U.S. & Costa Rica with this article yesterday: Intel Investing $1.2 Billion in Costa Rica which means there will be an increase in the 3,000 employees and over 5,000 contractors already working on the research & development plus manufacturing of semiconductors here! And a lot better product than what the U.S. gets from China! 🙂 Costa Rica continues to be the technology hub of Central America and for much of all the Americas. ¡Pura vida!
In the Glassberg book, this matches what Jeffrey Glassberg calls the Bright Scintillant, a Calephelis Species, but my butterfly websites don’t list it as an official species, so I continue to list it in the next closest match, Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis, though I think it should be listed as a separate subspecies. Most of the characteristics of these two are the same with the Bright Scintillant obviously being brighter and also the border fringe is brown and white checkered, while the Rounded is one solid color. But I’m not in charge of naming butterflies, so I label them the best I can with what information I do have. 🙂 Here’s four shots of one recently in my garden and be aware that he is tiny, only a little larger than my thumbnail . . .
That’s not a carnival ride or some crazy new dance, but the common name for a Skipper Butterfly with the scientific name of Polites vibex, Whirlabout. And I know you probably think these two photos are of different butterflies, and though they are of different individuals of different sizes, they are the same species, with the folded wings the lighter color and the open wings orange and dark brown for males and all-brown for females. The other times I have photographed one in my garden, he looks a little darker or brighter orange than these, as you can see in my Whirlabout Gallery, but I’m fairly confident of my ID each time. There is no end to new discoveries with butterflies! 🙂
Whirlabout Skipper, Atenas, Costa RicaWhirlabout Skipper, Atenas, Costa Rica
