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| Julia Butterfly My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Polydamas Swallowtail Butterfly My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.
~Jules Renard
Rufous-naped Wren, God’s Creation!
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| Rufous-naped Wren in Yellow Bell Tree off my Terrace |
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| Rufous-naped Wren |
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| Rufous-naped Wren with his feathers ruffled – possibly a juvenile |
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| Rufous-naped Wren posing by one of the few lingering flowers |
You probably don’t remember that last July 2015 I reported here about one of these inside my house.
My Costa Rica Birds PHOTO GALLERY or All My Costa Rica Galleries
RAIN IN THE DRY SEASON?
A surprise light shower or sprinkle on this Sunday afternoon, March 6, 2016. It is dry season in the central valley with no rain since October, and this one lasted maybe 10 minutes, getting everything wet, but not soaking my flowers and trees – a reminder that it will start raining again for real in May. And tomorrow night I will continue my every two day watering routine.
If you follow all my adventures you may remember that we had rain stop us from seeing Poas Volcano two weeks ago, but it is at a high altitude, “The Cloud Forest,” that has rain year around as does the coastal lowland rainforest such as Tortuguero where we had a little bit of rain on each of our two nights/3 days there. But the rest of Costa Rica is in the Dry Season until May. Read about the WEATHER in Costa Rica.
Genesis 1:20-23The Message (MSG)
20-23 God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
God created the huge whales,
all the swarm of life in the waters,
And every kind and species of flying birds.
God saw that it was good.
God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Five.
Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
God created the huge whales,
all the swarm of life in the waters,
And every kind and species of flying birds.
God saw that it was good.
God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Five.
Emphasis is mine. ~C.D.
Zooming In On Blossoms
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| Plumbago |
I think most of my photos have been of the total garden or yard and not each blossom. So here are some close-ups of a sort, zoomed in on with my Canon Rebel and 75-300 zoom lens. Enjoy!
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| Flame Vine or Triquitraque |
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| My large Heliconia There are so many varieties that I hesitate to identify the species |
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| This large Heliconia has seeds in it that birds eat or they grow to new plants |
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| There are 6 varieties of this small yellow Heliconia growing in wild and cultivated. I have two . . . |
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| This is my other small yellow Heliconia |
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| Then this small red Heliconia that is finally blooming again. None open yet. |
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| The almost constantly blooming Red Ginger here with a fully open bloom and . . . |
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| A Red Ginger bud just opening and growing sideways I cut all of mine back and so they are just now starting to fill with blooms again. |
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| One of the many colors of Lantanas I have as a border. They are coming back strong after I cut them to the ground 2 months ago. |
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| Porter Weed for Hummingbirds I have pink and purple. |
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| A special Costa Rican variety of Petunia that blooms heavy each morning and then all blooms drop off in the afternoon to none, nada! Every day! It is kind of like the Morning Glories my landlord has growing on his fence. They too bloom every morning only. |
The flower that smells the sweetest is shy and lowly. ~William Wordsworth
Polydamas Swallowtail – This Year’s First Butterfly!
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| Polydamas Swallowtail Butterfly My Garden in Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
Well, the butterflies are starting to come! And this is the first other than the Banded Peacock which was the only one to stay all summer (Your northern winters are our windy summers.). You may remember that I posted photos of this Polydamas Swallowtail Last June – not the most colorful but a butterfly!
I also hope to increase my photo gallery Costa Rica Butterflies this year where I now have 36+ species with a variety of Skippers, which I have already seen some of this year. As I remember last year, June and July were the peak months, but my garden didn’t get going good until into June, so a head start this year! 🙂 And truthfully, it has been too windy for butterflies since mid-December, but the wind will slow down and stop by April. Plus I’m going to the Monteverde Butterfly Garden next week which may give me some new ones, I hope! Though so far most of these butterfly gardens tend to have about the same butterflies.
“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince (One of my favorite little books!)
Palm Tanager
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| Palm Tanager In my cecropia or yagrumo Tree These first two shots were made at lunch today on my terrace while the weaker 3rd photo made at breakfast yesterday was almost my only shot! When you keep trying there will be a better shot eventually! Hopefully! |
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| Palm Tanager In my terrace cecropia or yagrumo tree. Different shots show different aspects of a bird. |
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| Palm Tanager Makes a Good Landing! I love to catch a bird landing or taking off! These are on my terrace rail at breakfast. Not best light for photo. I make my identification with app and 2 books, my best call, not 100%! Made the day before the top two shots. Click for larger image. |
This is in the family of the more common Blue-gray Tanager that I’ve photographed many times and the book says has a similar song. This is my first time to photograph these guys.
My Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery OR All My Costa Rica Photo Galleries
Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art. ~Izaak Walton
New Terrace Table & Chairs
I asked my landlord if I could have new cushions or cushion covers for the 4 large, clunky chairs with the large glass-topped table where I eat most meals. He agreed that they were very worn, dirty and some with broken zipper and Velcro tabs. So he said he would get one of his workers to find a seamstress to make new ones! (That’s the Tico way!) I go on the healthcare tour for 3 days and return to find a brand new table and chairs! I suspect it was cheaper to get this smaller, lighter-weight set than get new cushions if even available. So I have something brand new and fresh for my guest coming a week from Tuesday! And I like it! Even the smaller size!
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| There are a lot of advantages to renting! New furniture is one! 🙂 |
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| It makes the terrace look larger! |
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| And looks good from inside too! I like it better than the old one! Fresh and airy! New and clean! I’m ready for Reagan now! |
Black-cowled Oriole
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| Black-cowled Oriole Inside my house on a screen |
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| Black-cowled Oriole Inside my house as seen from outside before I opened the screen. He flew away, probably fearful of houses now. |
During the day when at home I leave the garden door without a screen open and the sliding glass doors and screens to the terrace open, thus easy for wildlife to sometimes explore inside. 🙂
When this happens I open all the other screens and then try to open the one he is on. As is often the case, when I started sliding this one (from the outside) he flew the other way out another window and up into a tree! I leave nothing fully open at night. Had a bat once and trying to avoid that if I can.
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| From Charlie! Retired in Costa Rica! |
See my Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery with 156 species I’ve photographed in Costa Rica so far! And with about 900 species of birds here, I have a ways to go! 🙂
Yellow & Orange Flowers
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| A neighbors up the hill has yellow & orange flowers blooming together. Click for larger image. |
Yellow Bells Keep Increasing!
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| Up close they are a very bright yellow trumpet-shaped flower |
The Yellow Bells are blooming earlier than I expected or remember from last year and do hope they are still around when Reagan arrives in February. They started with a few blooms on the high tips of limbs that get the most sun and are now spreading all over. They do attract hummingbirds!
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| From my lunch table today at about 1:30 facing NW. |
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| From the street today at 2:00 PM (bad time for photo) |
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| An even worse image at 2:00 PM but you can see that my terrace is surrounded! |
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| Bouquets on the terrace! |
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| And color below my horizon views! |
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| Plus they are already coloring the ground as blossoms drop! |
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| A tree in my neighbor’s yard. |
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.~Luther Burbank
And I’ve added most of the new birds to my Costa Rica Birds photo gallery. It’s growing!
Pura Vida!
A New Black Witch Moth
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| Black Witch Moth, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica Inside my house on screen. I opened screen, shooed him out. |
And this one is darker, though still not quite black! 🙂 And he was INSIDE my house.
Bee to the blossom, moth to the flame; Each to his passion; what’s in a name?
~Helen Hunt Jackson
And my photo galleries on:
Costa Rica Butterflies & Moths
Costa Rica Insects
Or all my Costa Rica Galleries together