charliedoggett.net
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| Green Tree Anole went across my garden and up the wall. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Notice how long the tail is, making him similar to a Pug-nosed Anole, but I’ll stick to my identification of Green Tree Anole. The line shadows are from ornamental grasses above the wall. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| A 4 or 5 shot panorama of wall behind high school that I walk by almost every day. There’s more beyond gate at right, next. |
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| More behind the high school gym to the right of above image. |
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| The front of the high school however would never have graffiti. |
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| Wall on big city recreation park in front of primary school, more in next photo. This park has soccer, basketball, volleyball, skateboard, and more recreation. |
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| Though not all great art, it too seems too well organized to be vandalism. Note the skate board ramp is also painted with graffiti above & below. |
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| Skateboard ramp in city park in front of Escuela Central. |
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| The one and only gas station in Atenas! A part of the farmers’ cooperative in front of their Mercado where I buy most of my groceries, Coopeatenas. |
I have only used it two times during the couple of weeks I had a rent car. It is straight out of one of those 1950’s Texaco TV ads where the attendant runs up to your car as soon as you pull in, asking what kind of gas you want and if you want your fluids checked. Then while the tank is filling, he washes your windshield. The way gas stations were meant to operate. Only the well-off have cars here. Most people walk and ride taxis and buses.
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| Blue-breasted Hummingbird grounded on my balcony. Another first for me. He did fly away later. Guess he was resting. |
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| Blue-breasted Hummingbird, Atenas, Costa Rica |
They are in my garden, on my balcony, and I’ve even had one fly inside the house! This is the third species of Hummingbird I have photographed here. Yesterday I posted a Cinnamon Hummingbird and my first week here was a Blue-tailed Hummingbird. They and the butterflies are little flying jewels around my house! And below is the butterfly in my garden this afternoon:
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| Great Southern White Butterfly on my Tutti Frutti today! You can also see where the leaf-cutter ants are eating it! I’m treating the ants with Mirex-S! |
Today I also planted some new plants in my garden after purchasing them in Spanish (with the help of my driver Nelson). My gardener will make some more improvements, but I couldn’t wait and went plant shopping today!
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| Philodendron Xanadu, 6 plants added to garden. Leaves will fill in, in time. I wanted to put them together in a blank spot, but only about 3 inches of dirt there above my septic tank cover. So, I have to wait on ground cover. The little light green leaves bottom right is my ground cover, Pilea. |
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| Polka Dot plants were added along my back walk where there is more shade. I think these are a type of philodendron too. Can’t remember what called in states. |
A very full and fun day between my two Spanish lesson days! Doing what I enjoy!
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| Cinnamon Hummingbird in my garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cinnamon Hummingbird, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cinnamon Hummingbird, Atenas, Costa Rica |
Finally! One stays long enough for me to go get the camera and a few shots! Most have been diving into the foxglove and straight back up in the air, hard to catch even if with camera. But this little guy hung around the Plumbago for awhile, sipping nectar. You may remember that during my first week in the new house I shot this Blue-tailed Hummingbird in my neighbor’s shrub/tree. I’ll try for more of course!
A Route of Evanescence
With a revolving Wheel —
A Resonance of Emerald —
A Rush of Cochineal —
And every Blossom on the Bush
Adjusts its tumbled Head —
The mail from Tunis, probably,
An easy Morning’s Ride –
—Emily Dickinson
Above the flower bed. Over the lawn …
A flashing dip and it is gone.
And all it lends to the eye is this —
A sunbeam giving the air a kiss.
—Harry Kemp
I have a gallery of Costa Rica Birds by Charlie Doggett over 100 species!
On the walk through my neighborhood I just couldn’t include all the images, so here are two more that a few of our homes have as their vista, the pastoral farm hills around Atenas. And the third is a similar view from my bedroom and office/guest room.
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| Some have farms, cattle, coffee, or other use while other hills are investments. Hopefully they will not all be developed as the wildness around us disappears! |
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| Some have roads over them like above, for what reason I know not. Some of these hills are coffee farms or were in earlier times. |
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| And from my office/guest room before I added fishtail palms for privacy. |
And how appropriate that on the day I post these pastoral scenes Sarah Bartlett at McKendree sends this link to a visual version of Ode to Joy by Beethoven.
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| Dina or Leuce Yellow is a new name to me but that is the internet ID on this guy. Yesterday and today are my first times to see him in my garden. Similar to a Sulphur; found in Caribbean, Central & South America. |
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| “Red sky at night, Sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.” Last nigh’t sky from west end of my balcony through the trees. |
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| Last night’s sky from the driveway above my roof a few minutes later. |
Well, sure enough, it did not rain yesterday and has not so far today and it is after 4:00! I have to go water the new plants! I was enjoying the rainy season shower every afternoon! But regardless, I’ll keep my new trees and flowers alive with hose water! 🙂 And then look at this beautiful image:
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| And looking northwest toward Central Atenas a gorgeous pink & blue! I love seeing what God creates! |
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| Ash-throated Flycatcher is a rare migrant in Costa Rica. Here one is in my Yellow Bells Tree at end of balcony, at end of rain. |
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| Zoomed in a little you see the hint of yellow on breast like the other flycatchers. |
“The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.”
― J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird
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| Except for Atenas Central, there are few sidewalks (like Donelson-Hermitage) So in the neighborhood between Roca Verde and Atenas Central, the neighbors got together and decided to build their own, since government isn’t doing it. |
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| Today it was young adult volunteers mixing & pouring cement, other times have had some older adult men doing it, at least a quarter mile finished now! The orange roofs on hill at top of photo is a part of Roca Verde. |
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| Today’s young men shoveling cement into the forms. Great! I gave them a thumb’s up and said “Muchas Gracias” as I walked by. Again you can see one Roca Verde hill in distance. |
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| This is an earlier photo I took going down the hill toward our gate. I feel much safer walking on a sidewalk than in narrow streets or very rough shoulders if any! The closer to Central Park, the more sidewalks. |
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| First shift leaving high school. Almost all students walk to school here. |
It is interesting to watch how many people still walk in the street, possibly from years of habit, I would guess half. Of course further up you have no choice and that includes walking by the high school where there are no sidewalks. Gangs of teens leaving or arriving just fill the streets and cars wait (photo below or at right).
But it was sad to see in Tico Times recently that Pedestrian Deaths Outnumber Drunk Driving Deaths in Costa Rica. Speeding and irresponsible lane-changing are the top two causes of road deaths here.
Maybe this one more sidewalk will save another life or two. Everything is not perfect in Costa Rica! Infrastructure is still lacking in many areas.