I’ve seen this one only one other time and the side view or folded wings view was more brown/tan than this one in my garden which is common, though the top of the wings always stay bright orange, yellow & black. It is the Tiger Mimic-White, Dismorphia amphione (linked to my gallery). It is another Central America only butterfly, found from Mexico to Columbia. Here’s two shots from my garden . . .
Continue reading “Tiger Mimic-White”Golden Melwhite makes me Smile
This is one of the many “high-energy” butterflies and has a crisp bright yellow contrasted with a bright white most of the time, flitting through my garden and beyond! The Golden Melwhite, Melete polyhymnia (linked to my gallery) is found only in Central America with a few strays seen in Columbia, South America. iNaturalist shows a subspecies for only Central America named Melete polyhymnia florinda, Mariposa blanca crema de borde negro Centroamericana. Here’s three shots recently from my garden . . .
Continue reading “Golden Melwhite makes me Smile”Rounded Metalmark
This tiny little butterfly was one of the most seen in my garden last year, but not nearly as much this year. This particular Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis (my gallery link) I believe is unique to either Costa Rica or Central America and should be a subspecies or new species, but this is where BAMONA says to put it for now and even though the ones on iNaturalist CR are darker, they are certainly in the same family as my usually more brilliantly colored observations (see my gallery). And for what it is worth, I travel all over Costa Rica but have only seen this fellow in my garden here in Atenas, Alajuela. 🙂
Continue reading “Rounded Metalmark”Florida White . . .
. . . a long way from home! 🙂 But then with Costa Rica in the geographical center between North & South America, just about any species from either continent can be here! Though this is my first time to see this Florida White, Appias drusilla (linked to my gallery). I’ve seen this one in Florida with less of this beige or tan coloring, but I believe my ID is correct even though I will be the first to report one from Costa Rica on butterfliesandmoths.org, though iNaturalist has 36 observations from Costa Rica and says they are found all the way south into Brazil. Here’s two shots from my garden . . .
Continue reading “Florida White . . .”Mournful Sphinx Moth
or at least that is what I think this is! And certainly in the Sphinx Moth Family (linked to my gallery). The only other one in this family I’ve seen is what most people call the “Hummingbird Moth.” Here’s multiple shots I got the other day of this new one for me . . .
Continue reading “Mournful Sphinx Moth”Ugly Brown Butterfly?
That is what some might call this, one of many similar to him. He is a Common Spurwing, Antigonus erosus (linked to my gallery with 4 pix). There are many other similar “Spreadwings” or other categories. Here’s just one shot from my garden. Go to the above gallery for more of this one.
And he is a tiny one! Maybe one inch wide.
¡Pura Vida!
Boisduval’s Yellow & Bee!
And the butterfly decided to back away from this flower, giving way to the bee! 🙂 Plus this is a less frequently seen butterfly here, another interesting “Yellow,” the Boisduval’s Yellow, Eurema boisduvaliana (linked to my gallery).
¡Pura Vida!
Doves “Tree-Hide”
A couple of White-winged Doves were hiding in the Strangler Fig Tree the other day – meaning that any shot I made would show part of them behind leaves or limbs. But still they are an active part of my home environment! 🙂 See some much better photos in my White-winged Dove Gallery. They are the most frequent doves/pigeons in my garden with maybe Inca Doves second.
¡Pura Vida!
Tropical Kingbird
This handsome Tropical Kingbird – Tyrannus melancholicus (linked to my gallery for them) is another special bird seen all over South and Central America. I photographed this one while he waited in line for some of those palm berries shown yesterday in my garden. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Palm Berries Feast
These berries on one of the very tall palms in my garden are shown here feeding a Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus (my gallery link) while other Kiskadees and Yigüirros wait their turn on a limb of my nearby Cecropia tree (though occasionally there were 2 or 3 birds on this cluster at the same time). 🙂 Those two species and a few flycatchers have now just about stripped all the berries off this tree. And though butterflies have caught my interest more lately, and there are more of them, I still watch and photograph the few birds that come to my garden, mostly Doves, Kiskadees and Yigüirros (Clay-colored Thrush). Here’s just the one photo of this species found in Central & South America . . .
¡Pura Vida!