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November Macaw Lodge GALLERY!

Finally, I have the photo gallery for my November trip to Macaw Lodge completed, just 6 days before I begin my Christmas Trip to San Gerardo de Dota! I have been very busy since that last trip! 🙂 I will now blog those 6 days before Christmas trip on my garden and some more from Macaw Lodge. :-)

This was just my second time to go to Macaw Lodge which is at the closest national park to where I live. And though I’ve visited 4 other lodges/hotels near that park, Macaw is my favorite and I’m likely to be returning! :-) You can read about the lodge on their website linked here: Macaw Lodge, and it is a lot more than a yoga retreat which the site seems to emphasize! :-) And now for my unique (and I think good) collection of photos from just 3 nights at Macaw Lodge last month, click the gallery image below or go to this web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-November-21-24-Macaw-Lodge-Carara-NP

CLICK image to visit this gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

AND ABOUT MY OTHER BLOG POST TODAY: Back in January I read an article about fun or funny “Annual National Days” in the U.S. and quickly did a blog post on what I thought was the most interesting one for each of the 12 months and today is the last one on “Underdog Day!” I promise not to do anything like that again, though it was kind of fun when I put together all 12 posts! :-) Tomorrow I’m back to only one nature blog post each day! My real passion! :-) 

¡Hasta luego!

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2nd Sighting of Rare Butterfly!

On butterfliesandmoths.org I have the only reports of this Yellow-haired Skipper, Typhedanus cajeta. My first sighting was earlier this year in my garden and this time it was at Macaw Lodge, Carara National Park. The above link is to the online butterfly site I volunteer for with only my sightings included there now. Plus here is a link to my Yellow-haired Skipper GALLERY. And below are 3 photos of this simple brown butterfly from my November visit to Macaw Lodge . . .

Yellow-haired Skipper, Macaw Lodge, Carara, Costa Rica
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Yellow Warbler

She was in the early morning shadows at breakfast on my terrace, thus poor photos, but I had to share since it’s the first Yellow Warbler I’ve gotten in a long time, maybe this year, though usually more common. There can be both local residents and migrants from the north, with this one being an adult female, meaning I can’t tell since both local and migrant females are the same, while males are different with the male in CR having a rusty-red head. There is also a CR Mangrove Warbler that is almost identical, but it only lives in the Mangroves along the coast, thus never here in Atenas in the Central Valley, while the Prothonotary Warbler can be in both locations but is a little more distinct or never confused with this one.

Yellow Warbler, Adult Female, Atenas, Costa Rica
Yellow Warbler, Adult Female, Atenas, Costa Rica

See more in my Yellow Warbler GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!

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My Table & Pix at Art Fair

This was where I spent most of last weekend at my table in the pre-Christmas art fair called Just In Time or JIT. I sold more than a lot of the others but not near enough to make it worth the work, time and expense. This will be my last time for this show and I’m out of the Galería January 14, meaning that after that if you want any of my pix for wall art, in books, on merchandise, etc., you will have to go through my website and order online. I’m no longer selling stuff in person! :-)

Interesting side note: In one of the photos below you will see the word “Pizza” on the next building. It was not open last weekend but will be sometime this week and it will be the very first American chain fast food in Atenas: Papa John’s Pizza! :-) It will be interesting to see if they make it with locally owned pizza places literally all over town! Plus other themed restaurants here also serve pizza, so I question the business decision, but pizza is very popular here (especially with the young) and they may have the marketing skills, the money (and lower prices) to put all the locals out of business like Walmart does when they move into other communities. Fortunately Walmart is not in Atenas as such, though they are the owners of two local supermarkets, Maxi-Pali and the smaller Pali Supermercado which do have lower prices and Walmart-brand stuff, but neither the quality overall nor service of the local cooperative supermercado that I prefer. I try to avoid such American places and don’t plan to eat pizza at Papa John’s! :-) As a smaller town we have been fortunate to avoid the invasion of American fast-food joints that are all over San Jose and Alajuela. Here’s 4 photos of my stuff at the weekend art fair . . .

My Table at the top of stairs going up to most of shops, including Galería Artenas.
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Rooftop Iguanas

Though I haven’t noticed them as much recently, I think they are always around, maybe a family, as one of these looks younger than the other.

Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Atenas, Costa Rica

The featured photo is of the older one on the roof, so email recipients have to go to the website by clicking the post title. 🙂 For more photos of this species, go to their gallery: Black Spiny-tailed Iguana.

¡Pura Vida!

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Art Fair All Day Today!

The “Just in Time for Christmas” Art Fair is open today from 10 am to 7 pm on the covered plaza of Calle 2 Plaza in front of Galería Artenas, next door to Linea Vital Medical Plaza. If you live in Atenas, I hope to see you today! 🙂

Check out the JIT Facebook Page.

¡Pura Vida!

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Art Fair Starts Today!

If you live in or near Atenas, I hope to see you this weekend at the “Just in Time for the Holidays” Art Fair at Calle 2 Plaza and Gallería Artenas.

Get the one of a kind gifts for everyone on your holiday list, or for yourself at the third annual Just in Time for the Holidays Art and Artisanal feria.  Over 20 local artists will be featured this year, including many of the past year’s favorites.  The art fair will be held December 8th, 9th, and 10th at Calle 2 Plaza, located next to Linea Vital in Central Atenas.  As in past years 10% of all sales will be donated to Rescate Animales Atenas, the Atenas Red Cross, Animales Atenas and the Atenas food bank.   Hours are:  Friday 3pm-7pm, Saturday 10 am -7pm and Sunday 10 am -2 pm. This feria is sponsored by Galeria Artenas. 

NOTE: This may be my last time to offer my “Nature As Art” in this show (still debating on my future in it) but I am definitely leaving the Gallería Artenas January 14, so now is the time to get my artwork in person in two places at once! My greeting cards and accent pillows will be only in the Gallería Artenas while everything else will be just outside on the beautiful new Calle 2 Plaza at my Art Fair table! This year I’m featuring a new Calendar 2024 of beautiful Costa Rica Butterflies! Plus a few new “Feliz Navidad” nature Christmas Cards! Come check it out!

In the future my photo art will continue to be available online through multiple sources by way of my website/blog! On my website/blog menu just click Gallery or Bookstore or CafePress for Wall Art & Books to Coffee Mugs & Accent Pillows! And my Nature As Art will continue to be available on the internet! Hey! I’m retired, 83 years old, and keep trying to make myself slow down! But I will never stop photographing nature! 🙂 And I’ll continue posting the photos on my blog! Sign up for that if not already subscribing. 🙂

The registered name & logo.

¡Pura Vida!

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Colorful Peacock Butterfly!

The Banded Peacock is one of those steady friends you can always expect to be here every year and in this strange weather year, he was again always here, even if in fewer numbers, continuing to add color to my gardens and other places I visited. These two photos were made just before I left for Macaw Lodge and I like how he contrasts with both the green and the yellow leaves as another butterfly with a rich brown color. There will be fewer butterflies now until next May, but fortunately a tropical country has some butterflies year around! And soon my copies of the Second Edition of Pura Vida Butterflies book will be here with 240+ species of butterflies, the most of any book available right now! Click that link to order your copy!

Banded Peacock Butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica
Banded Peacock Butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica

For more photos, see my Banded Peacock GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!

And don’t miss this weekend’s BIG ART FAIR at Plaza Calle 2! JIT! Just in time for the Holidays with gift possibilities for everyone!

CLICK image for the JIT Facebook Page!
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Yellow-bellied Elaenia

This common, little bushy-headed flycatcher lives all over Costa Rica on both slopes up to 1,800 meters, but generally stays inconspicuous and I rarely get to photograph him, though my Yellow-bellied Elaenia GALLERY has shots from 6 different locations over Costa Rica now, including multiple times in my garden. I was sitting on the porch of my little cabin at Macaw Lodge during and after a shower when these two came to a nearby tree for a few minutes. More patience and more sitting would probably give me more bird photos! 🙂 The Yellow-bellied Elaenia lives from Mexico south through all of Central America and much of South America. Read about him on eBird with the scientific name Elaenia flavogaster. Another refreshing bird find at Macaw Lodge!

Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Macaw Lodge, Carara NP, Costa Rica
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