Tag: my garden

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Back Home with Butterflies

I’ve been back from Villa Caletas for a couple of days and my most obvious wildlife observation has been the butterflies, some repeats here from earlier posts but the Yellow-rimmed Skipper is a new one for my gallery and blog. There are soooo many different skippers!   🙂

Remember to CLICK an image to see it enlarged plus see the link to my butterfly gallery below the images.

4 Butterflies Today

 

See my growing Butterfly Gallery! Bueno!  🙂

 

For friends in Costa Rica, I have found that the best book for identifying butterflies (though still not 100%) is A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America by Jeffrey Glassberg. I’ve been using the first edition but just ordered the Second Edition which is improved and for those who prefer electronics, it is available in a Kindle Edition. I’m still a little partial to paper wildlife guides, though I do use Merlin on my phone for birds!

For just Costa Rica Butterflies there is a little less extensive book by Carrol Henderson titled Butterflies, Moths, and Other Invertebrates of Costa Rica which is also available in an electronic  Kindle Edition. It is good for the most common butterflies & moths here and okay for maybe most people, but I like having many more butterflies to choose from in the Swift Guide, though I actually use both books. Because it is also more work digging through more choices!   🙂

See all my photos from this trip at 2019 Villa Caletas, Jaco Photo Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

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Clay-colored Thrush or Yigüirro

Clay-colored Thrush or Yigüirro
The National Bird of Costa Rica 
Joined me for breakfast this morning.
Atenas, Costa Rica
“With its unmistakable tune and people-friendly character, the clay-colored thrush is the national bird of Costa Rica. The melodious thrush, known locally as the Yigüirro, is one of the country’s most common birds. While the species ranges from South Texas to northern Colombia, it holds a special place in the heart of Ticos.

“In January 1977 the clay-colored thrush was designated as Costa Rica’s bird, under the government of Mr. Daniel Oduber Quiros. It was chosen in large part for its gorgeous song, which represents the arrival of the green seasons.”   Copied from the Go Visit Costa Rica website

This bird is the same size and a relative of the American Robin with similar behavior, though the song is more distinctive. He is here and singing year around but some say his song in May is what brings the Green Season rains which we are thirsty for after 6 months of dryness. 🙂 This simple bird as a national bird says a lot about Costa Rica and its practical people when we have so many showy birds like toucans and macaws and more resplendent quetzals than Guatemala who call it their national bird. Thankfulness for the life-giving rain that this bird supposedly brings notes the priorities of the happy Costa Rica people! ¡Pura Vida!  ~Charlie


Some of my other shots of this bird   (“Search” on my gallery)

Or the Costa Rica Birds section of my BIRDS photo gallery

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Nance Tree Bloom

Nance Tree bloom from this orange to yellow
It will later become little yellow berries eaten here.
My Home Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Americans: Please don’t let your government de-fund public broadcasting & Nature! 

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Tree-trimming the Quick Way!

Whack! Whack! and Drop the Machete!
All before I can turn on my cellphone & photograph it!
2 limbs of my Guarumo Tree were banging against roof in the wind.
My yard, Atenas, Costa Rica

Photo gallery of My Home Gardens

And for anyone planning to drive a car here in the near future, Ruta 27 will get a little faster next week and the La Patina Bridge repairs & widening is to be finished by April 30 according to this article in Tico Times. And it will speed up the buses to San Jose also!

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Lineated Woodpecker

Lineated Woodpecker
In my garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
I was thrilled that he was just 2 meters off my deck!
AND in the open! (for less than a minute!)
I have several shots of this species, but this is best!
One at Rancho Naturalista was previous best.
And I had a Fair Shot in Panama

Lineated Woodpecker
In tree in my garden, Atenas, Costa Rica
This “Peek-a-boo” sighting behind leaves is often all I get.
Still makes me happy! 

See my photo gallery of Birds photos made since I moved to Costa Rica. This gallery shows you my number one motivation for moving to and retiring in Costa Rica. I love the birds here!

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Triquitraque or Flame Vine Blooming for This Year

The brilliant orange flowers of Triquitraque or Flame Vine is a great contrast to the blue Plumbago flowers.
I saturated the color so they’re not really this red, but are a deeper orange than next untouched photos.

If I remember correctly they will bloom 2 to maybe 3 months, February-April. I had hoped for year around blooms like some of my other plants, but this gives me something special for this time of year. And this year they cover more of my stark concrete wall, which is what I wanted! 🙂  ¡Me gusta!

AND PHOTOS FROM LAST YEAR: 

See also my photo gallery Flora & Forests
And read about Flamevine which Costa Ricans call Triquitraque, Spanish for “a string of firecrackers” or sometimes can mean “creaking” or “rattling” in colorful conversations.  🙂
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Chachalacas at My Breakfast Table

Immature Gray-headed Chachalaca
Flying out of a Yellow-bell Tree in my gardens, Atenas, Costa Rica
Two Immature Gray-headed Chachalacas
Sitting in a Yellow-bell Tree in my gardens, Atenas, Costa Rica

Identification Explanations for the Birders Who Read This

When I first saw them I thought “Black Guan” which can be in this part of the country, but on closer examination, they do not have the red eyes and legs that all black guans have, nor the blue facial skin. I knew we had Chachalacas in Roca Verde, so I resigned myself to darker than usual Chachalacas and thought maybe Plain rather than Gray-headed, BUT, the book says Plain don’t live in this part of the country, only in Guanacaste. And my earlier photo of one in my garden (note how much lighter) fit the Gray-headed description and they live in the Central Valley. Plus some online investigation shows some juvenile Gray-headed Chachalacas to be very dark or black. Also the white tips on the tail feathers are only seen in the Gray-headed Chachalaca. Here’s another one at Rancho Naturalista  which is darker but not black. 
Whew! Identification can be a challenge sometimes and every species seem to have some exceptions!
See my photo gallery of BIRDS

Read about Gray-headed Chachalacas on NeotropicalBirds by Cornell University
Or a different kind of article on Wikipedia

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Orange-chinned Parakeet

Orange-chinned Parakeet zoomed in on him in my Strangler Fig Tree
My garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Orange-chinned Parakeet zoomed in even more
My garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Most are very timid and it is difficult to get close enough for a good photo. See my collection of birds in my BIRDS PHOTO GALLERY with nearly 200 shot in Costa Rica, a hundred in Nicaragua, plus more in Panama, Guatemala and Mexico. Central America is full of colorful birds!