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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 . . .
Even though much of the afternoon was rain, the morning was dry, just cloudy, and I managed to photograph about a dozen different butterflies including this little Hairstreak family butterfly, Dusky-blue Groundstreak, Calycopis isobeon, my favorite of the day! And that name is linked to my gallery where there are more shots from my garden. 🙂 And oh yeah, as you will see in that gallery, the top of his wings are solid blue! 🙂 Just one shot from this morning . . .
¡Pura Vida!
The Yellow-rimmed Skipper, Aethilla lavochrea (my gallery link where I have more photos from other sightings) is found from Mexico through Central America to Columbia, thus a mostly Central American butterfly and Costa Rica is central in it’s range. Evidently not many people are seeing and photographing this species, since most websites that even include it, have only 1 or 2 photos. Plus at butterfliesandmoths dot org all the photos are mine except for 1. 🙂 Here’s 3 photos from this April 2024 sighting . . .
One of the more common birds that has been back in my garden for a while now is the Blue-gray Tanager, Thraupis episcopus (linked to my gallery), that is found from southern Mexico through all of Central America and the northern half of South America. Read more on eBird. Here’s a couple of shots made in April . . .
This is my second time to see this rare butterfly, with the other time being in the south of the country near Golfito at Playa Cativo Lodge on Golfo Dulce at Piedras Blancas National Park AND I am the only person to have submitted any photos of it to butterfliesandmoths.org (Link to their page for this butterfly.) Or you can see the same photos in my gallery for the Megarus Scrub-Hairstreak, Strymon megarus. 🙂 Here’s four shots from a recent sighting in my garden . . .
The Great Curassow, Crax rubra (eBird link) with more information about this big bird, usually a little bit larger than the Crested Guan shown yesterday. But unlike the guan, the female curassow is more colorful than the male, unusual for birds. Though the male of this species has a bright yellow bump above his beak in great contrast to his all-black body, which I guess is to attract females and may be considered brighter to them. 🙂 See more of my photos of this Central-America-only species in my Great Curassow Gallery. I did not see as many of these on the trails but there were more of them at the fruit feeder by the restaurant deck, which is not my prefered place to photograph. These 3 photos were made on a trail.
This Red-spotted Scrub-Hairstreak or Strymon ziba is another new species of butterflies for me! Also found only in Central America and southern Mexico. See more of him on butterfliesandmoths. Here’s one of my shots and you can see more in my gallery: Red-spotted Scrub-Hairstreak.
¡Pura Vida!
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One of my favorite insects in the garden, who adds almost as much color as a butterfly! 🙂 The Green Orchid Bee, Euglossa dilemma (Wikipedia link) is a native of Central America, plus someone introduced it in Florida.
Since around the first of the year I have been using the sound identification feature of my Merlin phone app to identify birds. For years I only used it to identify birds by photograph. I was slow to adapt to the new sound recording ability, always hesitant to add new technology, like the old man that I am! 🙂 But when I did, I was so surprised at how easy it was to punch a button and record singing birds, usually many at at the same time! With it identifying each one and highlighting the ones singing at that moment! While at Carara Park a week or so ago I heard almost 3 times as many as I photographed! But I still prefer photos! 🙂
So while preparing my breakfast the other morning I turned it on and in 10 minutes it recorded 13 different species singing around my house! Including 2 Trogons! (Black-headed & Gartered). So I took my camera with me to the terrace to eat breakfast and hopefully see and photograph some of those 13. I got useable photos of only one! 🙂
It was the Yellow-green Vireo, Vireo flavoviridis (eBird link) shown by eBird to appear from the southern edges of the USA to the northern edges of South America, so in other words, mostly a Central American! 🙂 Here’s 3 shots from my terrace the other morning while drinking coffee after breakfast. And to be fair, I did see 2 others of those 13 recorded, but did not get useable photos of the Clay-colored Thrush or the Blue-gray Tanager (their back sides). And you can see other photos of this one in my Yellow-green Vireo Gallery which I’ve seen only 2 other times here in Atenas and nowhere else. Now here’s 3 shots from the other morning, including one of him/her singing . . .
