Tag: Costa Rica

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Lunch with Spider Monkeys

As I finished my quesadilla lunch today, I stepped out of the dining room to a tropical Guaba Tree where a couple of Spider Monkeys were eating both fruit & leaves for their lunch! 🙂 Here’s just one photo. You can see more photos of this wiry guy in my Central American Spider Monkey Gallery. And oh yes, only “new world monkeys” (Central & South America) have prehensile tails and can hang in a tree like this fellow with all hands and feet free! Nada in Africa and Asia! 🙂

Central American Spider Monkey, Maquenque Eco Lodge, Costa Rica

Part of the fun of living Retired in Costa Rica!

¡Pura Vida!

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Woodpecker House-building

I captured some images today of this Black-cheeked Woodpecker building a new house where soon some new little woodpeckers will be raised at Maquenque Eco Lodge.  🙂

Black-cheeked Woodpecker house building, Maquenque Eco Lodge, Costa Rica
Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Maquenque Eco Lodge, Costa Rica

And I’m getting lots of other bird photos plus other wildlife here in the rainforest which I will eventually share here or in my gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Maquenque Eco Lodge website

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Birthday at Maquenque

Maquenque Eco Lodge is in Boca Tapada and a long drive of about 3.5 hours here and my driver brought me here with his wife an daughter and treated me to lunch with birthday cake and ice cream. They are already treating me royally in the dining room as I am using the WiFi here before I eat. And though I photographed more birds this afternoon, I’m using two dragonflies for tonight’s post.

One of the Amberwings, Maqueque Eco Lodge, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica.
I think this one is a Square Tail, Maqueque Eco Lodge, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

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New Species: White-striped Longtail

I shake my head in amazement that I keep getting photos of new butterfly species in my own garden in the little coffee farming town of Atenas in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. But here is another one seen last week for the first time: White-striped Longtail, Chioides albofasciatus (linked to my gallery with more photos). And you can see on the butterfliesandmothsMAP that they’ve only been reported from the SW U.S. and Mexico until now, but they are know to appear as far south as Argentina.

White-striped Longtail, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Flora Volcán or Pagoda Flower

I planted a Pagoda Flower, Clerodendrum paniculatum, in my yard last year after seeing several large shrubs with many flowers in two or more lodges. (They were introduced here from SE Asia.) Mine seems to be “just hanging on” with two stems shooting up, one flower each, but nothing like what I had hoped for. Maybe this year it will grow into a bush and give me more than just 2 flowers. 🙂 Here’s two shots from the other day . . .

Volcano or Pagoda Flower in my garden, Atenas, Costa Rica
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Crab’s Claw Heliconia

The rainy season is the big time for Heliconia flowers and this year in my garden they are massing on one side for some reason. I thought I would share what I see when I look out of my kitchen window while washing dishes! 🙂

Crab’s Claw Heliconia, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

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Julia Heliconian

I think this is one of the more beautiful butterflies that I see all over Costa Rica and is native to Central America down through Brazil with some now in South Texas and Florida. And of course the name reminds me of my loving special needs daughter Julianne who died of kidney failure in 1997, one of a series of tragic losses back then.

See some of my other photos of this butterfly in my Julia Heliconian Gallery. Here’s 3 photos of one in my garden on May 24 . . .

Julia Heliconian, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Whirlabout!

Yes, this butterfly whirls about the garden, though not with the same image of a dancer whirling her skirt about the dance floor or stage, but this fun-named skipper butterfly is fun to have in my garden now and then! See more photos, all from my garden, in my Whirlabout Gallery! They are found throughout the southeastern U.S. on south through Central America into Argentina. See others’ photos on butterfliesandmoths. Here’s one photo plus the feature at top . . .

Whirlabout, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!