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Maquenque ranks up there with Tortuguero on seeing and photographing the Green Ibis, though this time I was not able to get a close as before plus the cloudy/rainy weather made them look darker or nearly black, but they are always dark as you can see in my gallery: Green Ibis (linked). Just 2 shots here with more in the gallery. And though they all have a green tint, it is difficult to get that green to show up in a photo.
¡Pura Vida!
Where there’s water there’s Green Herons and I have a lot of photos from all over Costa Rica of this interesting bird in my gallery: Green Heron. And as in this wet look photo below, they can have many different looks, particularly when fishing from a limb , , ,
¡Pura Vida!
The Julia Heliconian (my gallery link) was also prevalent at Maquenque as in my garden, another favorite butterfly. Here’s the distinctive side view and top view . . .
¡Pura Vida!
This Tropical Checkered Skipper (my gallery link) and that linked gallery will show you that I have seen a lot of these in Atenas with this one at Maquenque the only one so far anywhere else. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
The Red Postman, Heliconius erato (my gallery link) is found from Southern Texas in the U.S. south through Mexico, all of Central America and most of South America. It is easily confused with the Postman, Heliconius melpomene rosina (my gallery link), found only in Costa Rica and Panama.
¡Pura Vida!
I don’t make reptiles a priority focus in my photography, but in a true rainforest of Costa Rica you will always see either the American Crocodile (my gallery link) which at Maquenque is only on a Rio San Carlos boat trip OR the smaller Spectacled Caiman (my gallery link) which is in the lagoons of the lodge. Snakes are seldom seen in the daylight and I no longer take the night hikes because I risk falling, but that is the best way to see them. This Spectacled Caiman was in a lower lagoon right at the water overflow location, probably hoping for a fish to wash over the dam. 🙂 Just one photo this time.
¡Pura Vida!
Read about the new species with the scientific name of Isthmohyla nacientes (linked article in Tico Times). It is a mountain tree frog living only above 4,000 feet.
For more information: A Facebook Page in Spanish
And Naturalista Costa Rica’s Post also in Spanish.
And a little bit on Wikipedia. All 3 articles can be translated to English by Google.
¡Pura Vida!
In the land of nature!
Just one of many photos with more available in the gallery: Yellow-throated Euphonia (linked).
¡Pura Vida!
Here’s a little gallery of 4 of the 5 dragonflies I tried to photograph at Maquenque with the fifth one a pretty bad photo and not used here. Anywhere there is a lot of water there are a lot of different species of dragonflies & damselflies . . .
When I’m not sure of the species name, I use genus or family name as with three of these. Then hope that someone on iNaturalist will make a positive species identification. 🙂
And I have a pretty good collection of Dragonflies & Damselflies in that linked gallery of 50+ species! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
One of the many common lizards in the rainforests of Costa Rica is the Green Basilisk (English common name) with the Spanish common name my preferred, Emerald Basilisk or of course actually Basilisco Esmeralda. 🙂 I have a lot of better photos in my gallery: Emerald or Green Basilisk (linked). But from this trip, just one shot of the whole lizard and then one “head & shoulder portrait.” 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
This large bird is one good sign that you are in a truly wild forest. I always see them at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge and also at Arenal Observatory Lodge, two of my other favorite places! See my photo collection in the gallery: Crested Guan. (linked) Just the one shot for the blog post today . . .
Pura Vida