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One of my regular butterflies that I never tire of. His bright red spots make up for his otherwise drab appearance. Polydamas Swallowtail on butterfliesandmoths.org and check out my Gallery Polydamas Swallowtail. That’s 7 years worth all from my garden!
The Polydamas Swallowtail (Link to butterfliesandmoths.org) seems to be one of the most common in my garden and one of first showing up early this year! 🙂 I have 28 photos in my Polydamas Swallowtail Gallery, all made in my garden! 🙂
Unlike other butterflies here, I have no photos from my many visits to other locations in Costa Rica. These photos were made day before yesterday, May 6, which means it is early for a lot of butterflies, other than Yellows flitting about, and in past years butterflies have peaked at my house in June & July. I’m located in the western foothills of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. I have a trip north of here next week and hope for some different early butterflies there and then on my July trip is to the southwest of the country, maybe something new there, I hope! 🙂
Costa Rica has an incredible variety of butterflies as a part of more than 300,000 insect species, the most for any country it’s size. Part of that is due to our location as a “connecting bridge” of land between North and South America. The above butterfly website shows this particular Swallowtail appearing across the Southern U.S. and throughout Central America and the Caribbean Islands.
¡Pura Vida!
See all my Costa Rica Butterfly Galleries. 139+ species!
Possibly the most common butterfly in my garden though certainly not the most colorful! But at least I’m out in the garden again! 🙂 To see other photos I’ve made of this species, my Polydamas Swallowtail Gallery or for more butterflies see my Butterflies of Costa Rica Galleries! 126+ 🙂
Yawn! Not much going on yesterday! So I walked out into the garden and snapped some butterfly photos. None new, but I like this shot of the Brown Longtail and equally the Cloudless Sulphur shot, which is found from Canada to South America by the way! 🙂 No usable shots of the many Giant Whites I saw but I included a shot of an injured or damaged Polydamas Swallowtail, since broken wings seem common among most butterflies. Life can be harsh, even for a butterfly! 🙂
See my Costa Rica Butterflies Photo Gallery – 109+ species!
Butterflies are nature’s angels. They remind us what a gift it is to be alive.
-Robyn Nola
¡Pura Vida!
My favorite time in my house is during breakfast on my terrace when I usually have many visitors and sometimes try to photograph them, whether bird, butterfly or other creature. This morning I managed to grab shots of 4 after trying and failing to get shots of two tiny orange & black butterflies that flew as a pair and never lighted on a flower for me. Shooting them in flight is very difficult and I failed. Both these butterflies and birds are regular repeats for me, but each one is a unique individual! 🙂
See my Costa Rica Butterfly Gallery and Bird Gallery for more images.
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” ~Rachel Carson
¡Pura Vida!
And 4 species today! 🙂 I went out and photographed the above flowers for a one-shot post when I realized there was a dozen or so butterflies beyond them on my Porterweed flowers of these 4 species (one I incorrectly named the other day}:
See more of these 4 and 100 others in my Costa Rica Butterflies Gallery.
¡Pura Vida!
These three butterflies are all frequent visitors to my garden and even inside my house, but when I photograph one I often try to double check the identity which is so difficult on butterflies, even with two books and a third one on order, plus some internet help.
Well, the featured photo today is one I have been calling a “White-striped Longtail” and after more research, I have determined that he and the others like him I’ve photographed here are actually “Brown Longtail” (link to their gallery).
Sorry for the incorrect identification earlier! The other two here today are still labeled the same and I’m confident correctly! 🙂 But you will see two shots here of the Polydamas Swallowtail because the top and bottom are so different. The same is true for Blomfild’s but I was unable to get a good top view today (wings closed most of time) – there are several top shots of him in my gallery
All of these were shot in my garden except the Blomfild’s Beauty on my kitchen window before I opened it to let him out. 🙂
Relatives of this Brown Longtail are also in my gallery as Plain Longtail and the Teleus Longtail.
Butterflies are fun to study and observe (photograph) and are one of the most colorful creatures of Costa Rica. With 1500 different species of Butterfly and 12 000 different species of moths, the numbers are staggering! I will never finish photographing them! 🙂 Possibly the best “butterfly garden” to visit in Costa Rica is Butterfly Conservatory near Arenal which I hope to see when I’m at Arenal Observatory Lodge in November, though not the high month for butterflies! 🙂 In Atenas we have more butterflies in June-July-August.
See my newly revised Butterflies of Costa Rica PHOTO GALLERY that is better organized for your viewing pleasure! 🙂 Easier to find a specific butterfly but if using it to identify your Costa Rica butterfly photos, the sub gallery for each species usually gives you multiple images to compare! Though prejudiced, I think I have the best Costa Rica butterfly photo gallery online now! 🙂 80+ species! Check it out!
I also have a little 7X7 inch photo book titled My First 50 Butterflies in Costa Rica. You can preview all pages electronically for free at this link. Best viewed full screen for bigger photos.
Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine.
¡Pura Vida!
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| Polydamas Swallowtail My Home Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Polydamas Swallowtail My Home Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Polydamas Swallowtail On my “Quince de Abril” Flower My garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
My Butterfly/Moth Photo Gallery with 50 species!
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| Julia Butterfly My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Polydamus Swallowtail My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Statira Sulphur My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
