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Neighborhood Boa Constrictor

Walking back from town yesterday I saw a guy trying to catch a big snake with a broomstick out by the small apartment complex’s garbage basket (Canasta de Basura). He was obviously experienced and quickly caught the large snake and conveniently stopped for me when I pulled out my cell phone for a photo. I’m guessing that it is his pet Boa that had escaped and could have soon found a home in one of our gardens nearby. 🙂 But no worry! They are non-poisonous and live on small mammals, birds and even other reptiles which they squeeze to death and swallow whole. Hmmm.

There are several varieties of Boas and after researching online I think it is this one described by Wikipedia as: “Boa imperator or Boa constrictor imperator (in common usage) is a large, heavy-bodied, non venomous species of snake, of the boa genus, that is commonly kept in captivity.”

I have photos of several types of Boas from 6 different locations in Costa Rica, both wild and captive in my Boa Constrictor GALLERY. One shot here for the emailed blog announcement followed by 3 others from yesterday’s serendipity snake experience . . .

Boa Constrictor, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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6 Damsel-Dragonflies

That last Friday morning butterfly hike also yielded 6 different species of Damselflies & Dragonflies and I spent hours trying to positively identify them without success! So I just decided to present them without identifications which I really hate doing, but I got only two “probable” IDs! Frustrating! And more difficult than identifying butterflies and moths for me! 🙂

Here’s one for the emailed version and all 6 in a gallery to follow . . .

And all were seen and photographed on Calle Nueva, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica last Friday, 28 October.

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Butterfly Bonanza!

This past Friday morning about 8am I made the 9 to 10 block walk to our Technical High School after which Avenida 10 turns into a dirt road (Calle Nueva) that skirts Residencial Roca Verde and goes through some farms to the village of Rio Grande on the connector highway to Ruta 27 (our “semi-freeway”).

I did not have to go far to meet my goal! It was a good source of birds in the past, if I went early. But this time I sought butterflies and they don’t get out until about 8am. I was not disappointed! 🙂 In a couple of hours and 200 meters of dirt road, I saw and tried to photograph about 20 different species of butterflies and 6 species of dragonflies (that I’ll share soon).

I got useable photos of only 11 species of butterflies but 8 of these are totally new species for me (* starred pix titles), first time ever seen! And I identified all but one with my trusty butterfly book. Below is one shot for the email announcement and then a gallery of 11 different species of butterflies I saw last Friday morning. A nice morning! 🙂

Giulia Clearwing, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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My Wildlife Safari on Avenida 8

Yesterday morning I spent about an hour or so walking down an old favorite, “Shady Lane,” that I haven’t walked in quite awhile. It is the extension of 8th Avenue past the Roca Verde entrance in what is still a semi-rural area. Since I’m focusing on butterflies now, I waited until after 8am because they require plenty of sunshine and most of my butterfly photos are made between 8 & 2. 🙂

A juvenile Ctensaurus or Black Iguana, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.

Below is a gallery of 16 different species of wildlife seen along this urban street and 4 of them aren’t butterflies! 🙂 Plus a slide show of some flowers and trees also seen on this tropical neighborhood safari!

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My New Butterfly Photo Gallery

The general address for my Butterflies & Moths of Costa Rica stays the same, but all the sub-galleries or individual butterfly galleries will unfortunately have new web addresses. This is because I want this gallery to be scientifically accurate to match my volunteer work with butterfliesandmoths.org. Thus each of nearly 200 individual butterfly galleries will be titled with their common name and sub-titled in smaller letters with their scientific name. Then they have been placed in folders or family galleries according to their taxonomy. Thus the first level of galleries you see on the first screen image below are the families such as Hesperiidae – SKIPPERS (35+) or the largest family in my collection is Nymphalidae – BRUSHFOOTS (79+). The individual butterfly galleries are presented inside these family folders in the taxonomic order found on butterfliesandmoths.org, making my gallery a good research tool for anyone doing research on butterflies and moths in Costa Rica! 🙂 The bad part is that all my old blog posts (before yesterday’s) that have a link to an individual butterfly gallery – that link will no longer work! So sorry! But that is the cost of scientific accuracy. Before I just had them arranged alphabetically by common name – not the best way! 🙂 To check out my Costa Rica Butterfly & Moth Photo collection, click the first page image below or go to this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/Butterflies-Moths

My Photo Gallery: Butterflies & Moths of Costa Rica – CLICK IMAGE to visit.

I have one of, if not the largest collections of Costa Rica Butterfly photos online that I know of at about 200 species. Before getting involved in the butterfliesandmoths website, my primary source was and still often is the excellent book A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America by Jeffery Glassberg.

And I could say the same things about my CR Birds Gallery which has about 360 species and has always been arranged in taxonomic order by families based on the order found in Princeton Field Guide: Birds of Central America, my preferred bird guide now, other than eBird online.

¡Pura Vida!

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Orange-barred Sulphur . . .

. . . I’m pretty sure, though on my only photo of the top of wings the usual orange bars or patches are not obvious which I blame on a weak or out-of-focus photo with sun-glare! 🙂 The only other one I know of with those dual spots on both wings like these is the Cloudless Sulphur and I’ve never seen one this orange – so I’m sticking with Orange-barred Sulphur, Phoebis philea. See my Orange-barred Gallery. And below are 4 shots of today’s sighting . . .

Orange-barred Sulphur Butterfly, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Cow Portrait

This morning walking back from the public clinic where I got my free latest Covid booster shot and prescriptions (the public healthcare is simply great here!), I was struck by the interesting face of one of the Brahma Cows in the pasture across the street from my house, snapping this shot on my cellphone! 🙂

Brahma Cow across the street from my house, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.

“Even a cow creates ambiguous signifiers.

The moo of mystery.”

~kidadl.com

¡Pura Vida!

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New Rare Butterfly

Yesterday morning I photographed a tiny little butterfly that I knew was new for me but when I got it identified I find very few photos online and mine will become the first to appear on butterfliesandmoths.org. 🙂

The scientific name is Dynamine agacles core and the common names are either Pale Sailor, Tiny Sailor or Dainty White Sailor , depending on the source! 🙂 It was very small, like when wings folded about the size of my thumbnail or double that with wings open. Here’s five of many photos I made . . .

Pale Sailor Butterfly, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

The Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl or Mochuelo Común en español, is one of the smaller of the many owls found in Costa Rica and for the first time I saw one this morning in my yard uphill from me with four photos to follow (though I was shooting into the sun). I’ve seen this species 3 other places in Costa Rica and you can see those photos in my Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl GALLERY. And one of the more interesting sightings was outside Costa Rica of a family of this owl in Guatemala which they locally called “Guatemalan Pygmy-Owl” but I’m pretty sure it is the same species. 🙂

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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When not raining . . .

. . . it is the greenest time of the year during our “Rainy Season,” May-November in the Central Valley of Costa Rica or most of the middle of the country with rain every afternoon for 2 to 4 hours. While the Rainforests along both coasts have rain year around and are always very green and likewise the Cloud Forests high in the mountains. By the middle of December the rain will taper off to nada where I live and we will see no more rain until next May (and I have to water the garden). Though I will travel some to places where it does rain! 🙂

The Green Hills of Atenas, Central Valley of Costa Rica, yesterday before the rain – seen from my terrace.

“Green is the fresh emblem of well founded hopes.

~Mary Webb

¡Pura Vida!

See more in my Costa Rica Vistas GALLERY.