The tall plants I had that were blocking the sun, not only stopped some other plants from flowering but seemed to kill my Elephant Ear plant (for a lack of sun) and I loved those! Well when the gardeners were removing the tall plants, one started to remove and dispose of the tubulars (dead trunk of Elephant Ear plant) left from the only Elephant Ear plant I had and another gardener told him “No, new plants will grow from those dead tubular remains.” Well, he was right! And quickly they have started growing from the remains of my old plant. Here’s two shots of the new Elephant Ears growing out of the remains of the old one. 🙂 Nature is amazing!
Baby Elephant Ears growing out of the remains of an old plant.Baby Elephant Ears growing out of the remains of an old plant.
Trying to eat from a hummingbird feeder in my garden. And pretty badly damaged on one wing. The Blomfild’s Beauty, Smyrna blomfildia (my gallery link) is a fairly common butterfly that I usually see a couple of times a year. Just one shot . . .
A couple of years ago my gardeners planted this Cigar Calathea, Calathea lutea (linked to Wikipedia). It has many other cigar names which I guess is because of the cigar-shaped flower, but the leaves are not used for cigars! Rather, they are used for the presentation of food in some restaurants or to wrap food to go. It was surrounded by other tall plants like the Ti Plant, but I had those removed because they blocked the sun and flowers below would not bloom without sun! Here’s a series of photos made this week, with a couple earlier showing un-shredded leaves.
The Cigar-shaped Flowers of Calathea lutea, Atenas, Costa Rica
When watering the other day this Tropical Buckeye, Junonia zonalis (linked to my gallery) was hanging out on and around the water hose. So I had to go get the camera! 🙂 The Buckeye has always been one of my tropical favorites since the first one I saw in the Florida Everglades many years ago. There are 3 or 4 varieties of the Buckeye, but all are similar and this is the one we have here in Costa Rica. Here’s 3 totally different views of this “Hose Buckeye” . . .
. . . for me! Not rare or that unusual, but the first one I’ve seen. Photos of 235 individuals in Costa Rica are posted on iNaturalist. And a lot from all over on butterfliesandmoths. Saw him today at midday on my Cecropia Tree. Not seeing as many butterflies or birds with the continued high winds. And it was a strong gust of wind that had him flying away too quickly to catch a shot of the top of wings which are dark brown with bright orange in the middle. Orion (Cecropian) – Historis odius are his English common names & scientific name. The common name here in Spanish is Mariposa lumbrera (Light Butterfly). And even in the wind, there are many nature discoveries to be found! 🙂
Orion (Cecropian) – Historis odius, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaOrion (Cecropian) – Historis odius, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Not real common, though I’ve seen at least 3 other times in my garden, the Eastern Tailed-Blue, Cupido comyntas (linked to my gallery) has before been almost totally blue on top with less brown than this one, but with research, I’m confident that this set of photos is properly identified, even though Ceraunus Blue has more brown like this, it has a totally different set of black dots. Plus one article says that females are more brown, so maybe this is a female! 🙂 And all photos are of the same individual. Plus, interestingly, every time I’ve seen this species, it has been in grasses and never yet on a flower. 🙂 Here’s 3 photos . . .
The Parrot’s Beak – Heliconia psittacorum is one of several subspecies of this one family of the many Heliconias! It is small and adds a delicate touch to any garden. Plus it is purely tropical and I like it! 🙂
This Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus (linked to eBird) is perched proudly on the powerline cable in front of my house like so many do. He is common in both South America and Central America and one of the many little joys of living in Costa Rica! 🙂 See more of my photos in the gallery titled Tropical Kingbird — Tirano Tropical with that second name being the Spanish name for this bird along with the unofficial local common name of “Pecho amarillo.” 🙂
Tropical Kingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Hope you’re happy America!
UPDATED Monday, 8:33am after reading similar, more detailed article in the Washington Post:
Another one of your deportee planes just landed in Costa Rica’s San Jose Airport with 135 Refugees (Tico Times link) after a 4 hour flight from California, they faced an 8 hour bus ride to a migrant camp near the Panama border (Darien Gap). That included 65 minors and several senior adults & 2 pregnant women. All will be cared for lovingly by the Costa Rica people and helped to get to either their birth country or, because many can’t go back, will be helped to residency in another accepting country like Costa Rica. The refugees are from all over the world including Asia who are being sent here and to Panama, two countries who agreed to be intermediary locations for persons forced out of the U.S. The same day these 135 came here, 300 arrived in Panama. The richest country in the world kicks out people it doesn’t want and lets other, poorer countries like Costa Rica & Panama take care of them. Hmmmmmmm. While at the same time talking about taking over the Panama Canal. You guys really chose Trump as your president?
The U.S.A. kicks out its refugees & immigrants. Some here have landed in Costa Rica for help. –Photo taken from Tico Times was made by Patricio Bianchi/AFP/Getty Images.
I guess those Republican Evangelicals have forgotten what the Bible says about accepting refugees and migrants. So sad! And it is also sad to watch from a distance as Trump (“Perched like a king!”) and his evil cohorts (the Republican Party & Rich People) destroy my birth country. But I guess we will all eventually get used to China & Russia as the new world leaders.
This has been one of the most common butterflies in my garden and maybe they are starting to return early! 🙂 For at least two years I called it a Carolina Satyr, which most sources say appears only in the Eastern U.S. while from Mexico south the almost identical butterfly is the Hermes Satyr and I have yet to learn the difference in the two, other than their locale. I expect to see a lot more in the coming months. See more of my photos of this beautiful work of “brown art” in my Gallery Hermes Satyr.
Possibly a migrant, this Baltimore Oriole, Icterus galbula (linked to eBird) was in and out of several trees in my garden Sunday. We do have some resident Baltimore Orioles here, just like some of us humans from up north! 🙂 But this time of year they are likely to be migrants. And I’m still amazed at how far birds fly!
Baltimore Oriole, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
See also my Baltimore Oriole Gallery for more photos of this northerner made in many places all over Costa Rica! And you might also be interested in some of his relatives who are also down here . . .
And there are 3 other species of Orioles in Costa Rica that I have no photos of. 🙂 They are: Streak-backed Oriole, Spot-breasted Oriole, and Yellow-tailed Oriole. Orioles are in a bigger family that includes Blackbirds.
