Two New Species in November

Whether a bird, butterfly or other animal or plant, photographing a new species is always special for me! And living in the country with the most species per square kilometers makes that a continuous possibility, even after 10 years of living here! 🙂 During the week of a visit from Nashville friends, Gary & Kenna Eaton, I got photos of two: a butterfly and a moth caterpillar, with still some uncertainty on the ID of the caterpillar, while hoping for a confirmation of my ID by a scientist or naturalist on iNaturalist or on butterfliesandmoths.org. Here’s the two photos . . .

Silver-studded Leafwing, Hypna clytemnestra, La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park,
Sarapiqui, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica

Read more about this butterfly on iNaturalist Costa Rica which calls it a “Brightwing” butterfly (in Spanish of course) where you can see many other photos of this “uncommon” butterfly in Costa Rica. There are also two more photos on butterfliesandmoths.org, one other from Costa Rica and one from Cuba, where incidentally it appears on a postage stamp! 🙂

Now the humble little caterpillar . . .

Spotted Apatelodes Moth Caterpillar – Apatelodes torrefacta,
Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

See all of my 313 identified Butterflies & Moths of Costa Rica GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!

2 Bat Species in Carara Park

The Northern Ghost Bat, Diclidurus albus (Wikipedia Link) is an obvious identification because the only other white bat in Central America is the Honduran White Bat and it has obvious yellow ears & nose, leaving this as the only other white bat. I’ve seen it twice in my nearly 10 years in Costa Rica and both times in Carara National Park where I got this photo more than a week ago.

Northern Ghost Bat, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Read on for the White-lined Bat . . .

Continue reading “2 Bat Species in Carara Park”

Piratic Flycatcher

A pirate because he steals nests made by other birds, the Piratic Flycatcher, Legatus leucophaiuss (eBird link) is not new to me, but these were difficult to identify at first, even confusing one with the Streaked Flycatcher, but he was not large enough. I had several sightings of this bird during my 2 hours in Carara Park and I’m now reasonably certain of these identifications, even with poor light and shadow problems. I’ve seen this species in three other locations (Arenal, Xandari & Monteverde) as shown in my Piratic Flycatcher Gallery. Here’s three totally different photos of the same species . . .

Piratic Flycatcher, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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Kingbird Catches Insect

In Carara National Park on my last morning in Tarcoles, I barely got photos (in poor light) of this Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus (eBird link) before and after he caught an insect for his breakfast. 🙂

Tropical Kingbird, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Tropical Kingbird, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

I have some much better photos in my Tropical Kingbird Gallery. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!