Category: Costa Rica

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Tropical Buckeye

This has always been one of my favorite butterflies, even in the states with a slightly different version, seen a lot when in Florida. Here’s two shots of one in my garden the other day . . .

Tropical Buckeye, Atenas, Costa Rica
Tropical Buckeye, Atenas, Costa Rica

See my Tropical Buckeye Gallery for more photos of this colorful guy! And note that in earlier years here I called it the “West Indian Buckeye” and I was wrong then. All I have seen here are the “Tropical” and theoretically we may have some “Mangrove Buckeye” here, though I’ve not seen one yet. Probably down along the coasts in the mangroves!  🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Whirlabout

Though that sounds like me over the last few days and in the coming days, it is actually the name of a butterfly, Whirlabout, Polites vibex, and here are two photos of one recently in my garden.

Whirlabout, Atenas, Costa Rica
Whirlabout, Atenas, Costa Rica.

And what have I been so busy about? Well, several things . . .

Continue reading “Whirlabout”

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Fluffing the Great Tail!

Before I left on my recent Maquenque trip I caught a few shots of this male Great-tailed Grackle fluffing his tail in my Guarumo or Cecropia Tree. I thought it kind of funny, interesting and almost like art!  🙂  Here’s just 3 shots at different stages of his fluff!  🙂

Great-tailed Grackle fluffing his tail, Atenas, Costa Rica.

Continue reading “Fluffing the Great Tail!”

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Maquenque Trip Gallery Created

Finally I have all my photos for the 5 nights in April 2023 at Maquenque Eco Lodge and Reserve including the sub-galleries I’ve already shared. This was another great photo trip to one of my favorite places in Costa Rica with photos of 62 bird species (6 lifers!), 10 butterflies and more than 30 species of other animals! Plus my usual “Nature as Art” photos of everything from flowers to weird leaves and beautiful landscapes. Just this one trip gallery will show you why I am so excited about being “Retired in Costa Rica!” the name of my blog and website. Enjoy the photos! Just click this image:

CLICK this image of this first page of the gallery to go to it.

Or use this address:    https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-April-9-14-Maquenque-Ecolodge

¡Pura Vida!

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10 Butterfly Species at Maquenque

Although birds are the biggest category of wildlife for me at Maquenque Ecolodge, there are a lot of other wildlife and on this April trip I photographed 10 species of butterflies with one being a Lifer or first time seen (the Glassy-winged Skipper). Below is 1 photo of each of the 10 species for those who don’t go to separate galleries. Or here’s links to the online gallery with all my butterfly photos from this trip.  https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-April-9-14-Maquenque-Ecolodge/OTHER-ANIMALS/BUTTERFLIES

CLICK above image to see all my butterfly photos GALLERY from Maquenque.

Or below see just one photo of each of the 10 species . . .

Continue reading “10 Butterfly Species at Maquenque”

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Maquenque 2023 BIRDS Gallery!

I have finally finished sorting and processing all my bird photos from the April 9-14 trip to Maquenque Ecolodge on San Carlos River at Boca Tapada. You can see the 62 species of birds I photographed this trip including 6 Lifers! (That’s 6 birds seen for the first time in my life!)  Go to this address or just click the gallery image below and that link will take you there:

https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-April-9-14-Maquenque-Ecolodge/BIRDS

Maquenque 2023 BIRDS Gallery — CLICK image to open.

Note that only the birds gallery and one other is done in what will eventually be a larger “Trip Gallery” with other sub-galleries not completed yet. As usual, it was another “photo-rich” trip!  🙂

Because I found 2 more “lifers” since the earlier lifers post, I will include photos of all 6 lifers below. None are spectacular but they represent 6 more in my Costa Rica Birds GALLERY of 365 total species of birds photographed here so far!

Continue reading “Maquenque 2023 BIRDS Gallery!”

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Tanagers at Maquenque

Here’s either 4 or 5 species of Tanagers I photographed at Maquenque Ecolodge and the reason for the uncertainty is that one photo is of a baby or young juvenile and one can’t be certain of the species unless with its mom.  🙂 Many different baby Tanagers will look like this . . .

Here’s the baby first and I would guess either Blue-gray or Palm Tanager which adults outnumbered the other Tanagers. But face is similar to the Yellow-winged, so not certain!  🙂

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Agouti

A break in my sharing of the many birds at Maquenque to share two photos of two different Agoutis I photographed there. Officially they are the Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) or in Costa Rica either Guatusa or Agutí centroamericana. There are different subspecies in Mexico and in the northern half of South America but all in the Dasyprocta family which is a rodent related to Guinea Pigs.

Read about them on Wikipedia or see my photos from all over Costa Rica in my Central American Agouti GALLERY.

Central American Agouti, Maquenque Ecolodge and Reserve, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica
Central American Agouti, Maquenque Ecolodge and Reserve, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica

Notice the color difference of the above two. They can be various shades of brown to reddish-orange to grayish or yellow & gray to blackish. They are more difficult to photograph than Coatis because they are more shy of humans and stay in the grasses and shrubs of the forest.

¡Pura Vida!