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These four shots from my garden are all of a female who is the one with the brown trim on top of wings, while males are generally all yellow and easy to confuse with other yellows, especially if they have spots. 🙂 They are Dina Yellow, Pyrisitia dina, (linked to my gallery of them).
This one almost fooled me because I did not see his yellow breast that I always associate with the Kingbird, I almost called it a Palm Tanager, but it’s not! Confirmed by Merlin as the Tropical Kingbird (linked to my gallery).
¡Pura Vida!
My neighbor and landlord “K,” who goes by the initial since his name is hard for some to say, recently planted a mass of zinnias on a hill behind his house and he invited me over to photograph the butterflies the flowers attract. In 15-20 minutes I photographed 13 species and that was not all of them! Here’s just 8 of the photos that I liked. One shot for the email and a gallery below that . . .
Another beautiful tropical butterfly that I first met in the Florida Everglades years ago, though a slightly different subspecies. This one found in Costa Rica is the Tropical Buckeye, Junonia evarete, (linked to my gallery) appearing from Florida & the Southwestern U.S. all the way down to Argentina. Here’s some recent shots of one in my garden . . .
This middle-eastern sounding name is actually a Central & South American butterfly, appearing from Mexico to Brazil and now in South Texas and Florida. It is similar to other Greenstreaks and to one group of Metalmarks, but my decision was that this ID is the best for these photos and I’ve requested it as an addition to butterfliesandmoths website. And unfortunately, my first one to photograph is slightly damaged or injured, but for now I’m still sticking with this identification. 🙂 The scientific name of Hassan Greenstreak is Chalybs hassan. The good thing about the website is that several “real” butterfly specialists are participating and one of them will correct me if they believe my ID is incorrect. (Happens a lot!) 🙂 Here’s 3 photos of this new species for me . . .
I consider my group of galleries titled Costa Rica TRIPS to be my best group of photo galleries, because they cover my trips to all my favorite nature places all over Costa Rica, now numbering 120 including day trips! Though I share some good photography from home here in Atenas, including my garden, the exciting stuff is usually from the trips! 🙂
And the newest one is from last week’s little 2-night trip to Xandari Resort on the edge of my provincial capital of Alajuela, Alajuela with their surprising private rainforest with waterfalls, all kinds of trees and wildlife, along with their gorgeous gardens near the rooms, restaurant, spa and their farm. A great little jungle island near a big city! This gallery is labeled 2024 June 11-13 — Xandari Resort, Alajuela (linked to the gallery) or you can click the image of the first page of the gallery below to get there . . .
If you are one of my readers in Costa Rica and want to check out Xandari, which has greatly reduced prices during rainy season, go to their website at Xandari Costa Rica! (Pronounced shaun-dar-ie) It is the Costa Rica location of a chain of resorts based in India, all focused on nature and local culture and people.
Now I will start catching up on some blog posts from my garden that I made before Xandari. 🙂 And my next trip is in July to Maquenque Eco Lodge where I’ve photographed more birds than any other location! 🙂 Plus I will celebrate my 84th birthday there! 🙂 Always something to look forward too when you live “Retired in Costa Rica!”
¡Pura Vida!
I said yesterday I had 15 species and I just realized the plain brown top is the top of the Carolina Satyr, meaning I moved those photos in with the Carolina Satyr dropping it to 14 and one unidentified Yellow could possibly be one of the other yellows, so I got either 13 or 14 species of butterflies with I think three new species. Xandari has always been a good place for butterflies for me, both in their forest and in their gardens, my third best place after my own garden and Hotel Banana Azul in the Caribbean! 🙂 Here is one pix for the emailed version of post, followed online by a gallery of all 15 photos . . .
The rain makes everything green and when it is not raining or cloudy, it is beautiful wherever you look. But when overcast or raining you can sometime see only a few meters away as these two shots from my room at Xandari show, looking out over the city of Alajuela and the Central Valley . . .
¡Pura Vida!
Yeah, ten were all the birds I photographed there this time, but it was only a little more than one day there and during rainy season, so okay for near a big city. But by comparison, I got photos of 15 butterfly species! I will eventually share more of them. And on my first day’s post there were two more birds, a Kiskadee and a Rufous-tailed Wren. Here’s 5 more . . .
I came back from Xandari this morning late and I’m still processing photos from there, including some made this morning before leaving. right now it looks like I photographed 15 species of butterflies, 10 species of birds and 4 other wildlife, 3 of which I am sharing here as other insect . . .
