Tag: Limón

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Black-cheeked Woodpecker

This Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Melanerpes pucherani (my gallery link) is possibly the woodpecker I’ve seen the most of in my 10 years in Costa Rica, out of 13 species found here, and in the above-linked gallery I have photos of this one from 9 different locations (all on the Caribbean Slope). And none from my garden, where the Hoffmann’s Woodpecker is the most common. That may be because they are more common on the Caribbean Slope and I live on the Pacific Slope. 🙂 But they are found on both slopes from Southern Mexico to Ecuador.

In my CR Birds big gallery you will find galleries for 9 of those 13 species (I’m missing 4!) and one Olivaceous Piculet, which is really a tiny woodpecker without the name! 🙂

Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica

If interested in more info, see the Black-cheeked Woodpecker eBird Page.

¡Pura Vida!

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Africanized Honeybee

The Africanized Honeybee, Apis mellifera (Wikipedia article link), was introduced from East Africa into Brazil and it migrated north throughout Central American and into Texas. I’m pretty sure of this ID and that is what Google Lens called it. Photographed on a wildflower along the beach road, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica.

Africanized Honey Bee, Apis mellifera, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica

All of the bees I’ve photographed in Costa Rica are in a general Bees Gallery, with several species and most unidentified so far. 🙂 They were photographed before Google Lens! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Julia Heliconian in Caribe

Julia Heliconian, Dryas julia, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
Julia Heliconian, Dryas julia, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica

This is one of my favorite butterfly species and I keep finding them almost everywhere I go in Costa Rica. See more of my photos of this beauty in my gallery: Julia Heliconian, Dryas julia.

¡Pura Vida!

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Pelicans were scarce this time . . .

. . . for reasons unknown to me. Normally I see a lot of these Brown Pelicans, Pelecanus occidentalis (my gallery link) on both coasts and usually every day there, but these were the only ones I saw this time and I was a good distance from them, walking on the beach road, so not great photos or close-up like you can see in my gallery linked above. Here’s two shots and I cropped in on the second one just to make them seem bigger, but certainly not my best images. 🙂

Brown Pelicans, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
Brown Pelicans, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Crimson Patch

One of those many colorful and beautiful butterflies in Costa Rica is the Crimson Patch, Chlosyne janais (linked to my gallery). It is found from Colombia north through Central America and Mexico to South Texas. Here’s two views of one on the beach road near Hotel Banana Azul last week . . .

Crimson Patch, Chlosyne janais, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica
Crimson Patch, Chlosyne janais, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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New Bird & Butterfly on Final Day

I still haven’t processed all my photos from today and will get a few more in the morning before I leave, but I’m pleased to get a different bird and butterfly from all the other days here . . .

Cocoa Woodcreeper, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica
Zebra-striped Hairstreak, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica

And one of many shots of sunrise this morning that I haven’t all processed, but will eventually share more, including the throng of local people out at sunrise on Saturday morning! 🙂

Continue reading “New Bird & Butterfly on Final Day”
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Wild Hummingbirds on Wild Flowers

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird feeding on a Red Button Ginger Flower (Costus woodsonii) that grows wild only in Costa Rica, Panama & Colombia! 🙂

Because of some pains that make walking difficult, I’m limiting myself to short walks down the beach road (one lane, dirt) and of course the hotel gardens instead of longer hikes in the nearby national park and separate wildlife refuge. I’m up to 15 species of birds now, just right here! And I don’t know how many butterflies because I haven’t processed those photos from today, but know that I got some new ones again! One of the beach road joys is watching wild hummingbirds – they are all wild, including those in my garden at home! 🙂 And like at home, the Rufous-tailed seems to be the dominant hummingbird here too! 🙂 Here’s just two shots for now and more will be in the trip gallery later.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird feeding on a Red Button Ginger Flower (Costus woodsonii) that grows wild only in Costa Rica, Panama & Colombia! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Rainy Day in Paradise

I flew out of San Jose Airport at noon in the rain and through clouds most of the 25 minute flight to Limón. The taxi drive to Banana Azul was off an on rain and it continued solid until about 4 when I made these cloudy shots of my room and it continued to fade until there is not rain at about 5:30. Three shots today: first leaving San Jose, then my room deck & office where I will prepare all blog posts this week and the view from my deck toward the ocean under clouds. Hopefully nature shots tomorrow!

Rainy Day in San Jose
My upstairs room’s deck & my tropical office.
Cloudy view from my deck toward the beach.

¡Pura Vida!

Tonight I will watch the Walz-Vance Debate on either CBS internet streaming or on a TV here on CNN International.

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Small Plane Adventures

At least I think that taking a small plane to any destination in Costa Rica is a type of adventure and I love making cellphone photos from my window seat. Here’s a few shots from my recent flight to Limón, a 30 minute flight compared to a 5 hour drive. I fly to the more distant places requiring more than a 3 hour drive, like Limón, Liberia, Puerto Jiménez, Golfito and Uvita. Sansa is now the only in-country commercial airlines since Canadian-owned Nature Air went bankrupt. There are more than one charter services and a few private pilots like my driver Walter who, if you hire him to fly, rents a plane. So it is more expensive than Sansa on which you can fly to anywhere in Costa Rica from the San Jose airport for about a hundred dollars each way, some less and some more.

One shot for the email version, then a little gallery where you click an image to see it larger.

Leaving the Domestic Terminal at San Jose Airport.
Continue reading “Small Plane Adventures”
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My “Lifer” Bird on this Trip

And for new readers, the explanation of “Lifer:” It is a bird that someone sees for the first time in his life. You can see on my “life list” that I have observed 552 species from many countries in the Americas and Africa, with 373 of those in Costa Rica. And that does not count this bird because I haven’t reported it on eBird yet! He was the only bird I got a decent shot of at the Cahuita National Park, though I got photos of 14 species of butterflies there! 🙂

It is just an inconspicuous little flycatcher, found only in lowland rainforests of Central America and the northern half of South America. I am pleased with these two shots of both front and side views! It is a Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Terenotriccus erythrurus (linked to the eBird description).

Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Cahuita National Park, Limón, Costa Rica.
Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Cahuita National Park, Limón, Costa Rica.

You will note that I saw and photographed many more birds in Gandoca-Manzanillo (which is always the case) and those birds were linked to in an earlier blog post on Gandoca-Manzanillo which can be seen in the first sub-gallery created for this trip gallery: Refugio Gandoca-Manzanillo. It is a wildlife refuge with fewer people visiting than the national park and has always been a better place for birds than Cahuita for me. I photographed 9 species there, 7 species at the hotel and just this one at Cahuita, BUT IT IS A LIFER! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!