Not a new butterfly for me though the first one seen this year. It is beautiful in it’s own complicated sort of way like a paisley design? 🙂
The scientific name is Smyrna blomfildia (Butterfliesandmoths.org) and it is found throughout Central America and Mexico and the southwestern fringes of the United States. Just two shots here and FYI, that is a narrow ceiling level screen for air flow in my laundry room (much lint) and I did vacuum the screen after seeing these photos! 🙂
Blomfild’s Beauty, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaBlomfild’s Beauty, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
This month is my second time to see one of these in my garden in June 2020 when I did a blog post first titled “Flying Shrimp” and then went back and changed it when someone told me it was a “Hummingbird Moth.” Well, now I’m a little better versed in butterflies and moths and the scientific name is Aellopos titan (link to ButterfliesandMoths.org) and the accepted common name Titan Sphinx Moth, though some still call it “Hummingbird Moth.” It is found throughout South and Central America north throughout the eastern half of the United States. It is one of the weirdest looking creatures I’ve seen in my garden.My Titan Sphinx Moth Gallery includes those photos from 2020 as well as this year’s. Interesting! 🙂
I must admit that I was more focused on butterflies than birds when we walked Calle Balsilla last week, plus we were later getting there which means fewer birds, but I did get these 4 bird species along with my 11 species of butterflies! 🙂
Inca Dove, Calle Balsilla, Atenas, Costa Rica
Interesting that the above dove is the only bird I photographed that was not totally black in color! 🙂
Judith LaBelle introduced me to a new “country road” in Atenas the other day that is likely better for birding! But, because of car trouble, we got there later than planned, with not as many birds photographed (only 4) which I will share tomorrow, but I was wowed by the butterflies flitting along the side of the road when no farmer riding a horse was going by. 🙂
It’s on the other side of Ruta 27 by the Tarcoles River after the dam or after Rio Grande has become Rio Tarcoles. There is a small rural community known as Balsilla de Mora, centered around a church by that name in Atenas Canton that includes some people living over the nearby province line in San Jose Province adjacent to our Alajuela Province. Farming people don’t pay much attention to canton and province lines! 🙂
I’m featuring this neat unidentified butterfly that was our trip target and then 10 more butterflies below it for a total of 11, including 4 new species for me! 🙂 And I’m thankful to Judy who saw this same butterfly on her last trip there and took me back looking for it. There is never a guarantee of repeat sightings of birds or butterflies, but, just as we were leaving, we saw it! I still can’t find it in my books or on the internet, but will keep trying for an ID! 🙂 There’s 1,500+ butterfly species in Costa Rica!
This Skipper showed up on my kitchen counter here in Atenas, Costa Rica last week and I have searched diligently both in books and the internet and cannot identify him specifically, but I am pretty sure he is in the subfamily of Skippers called “Grass Skippers” (Hesperiinae) and that’s the best I can do! There are over 1,500 species of butterflies here in Costa Rica, not to mention the over 12,000 moths! So ID is a challenge and I’m taking on that challenge the best I can. 🙂
A Grass Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
And one more photo in slightly different light . . .
On one of my walks to town the other day these high school aged kids did not see me snap a photo of them with my phone. They were evidently doing a service project, possibly through the school, painting this public picnic table at the City Sports Park next to the covered Basketball Court. Hopefully they are painting all of the several at this park which are always full at lunch time with a very popular empanada shop across the street in one direction and fried chicken (el pollo frito) a block the other direction. 🙂
Teenagers painting picnic table in a public park, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
This is another Polydamas Swallowtail like I showed before my trip, but the underside of his wings here are more obviously brown than the others which were dominated by black. It could be because I had better light, but it still seems somewhat like a different species. Polydamas Swallowtail (butterfliesandmoths.org) for descriptions, locations, etc. and you can compare all of my many photos of this species in myPolydamas Swallowtail Gallery. And it is interesting to note that all of my photos were made in my garden.
Or maybe that should be “Juvenile” or even “Immature” as some of the words scientists use to describe young wildlife without all the characteristics of their elders, like the big dinosaur fins on their back! I struggled for some time on the ID of this guy I photographed in my garden last Saturday, thinking at first he was one of the many anoles, but after a lot of research, I’m pretty confident of this ID. 🙂
Another new butterfly for me! And in my home garden no less! 🙂 The Royal Firetip or Mysoria barcastus is found from Mexico through most of South America, and just one more of our myriad of butterflies here! Though I’m finding new butterflies on most of my trips to different forest locations, the vast majority ofmy Costa Rica Butterfly Collection (150+) has been photographed in my Gardens here in Atenas! And I have now become as interested in butterflies as in birds, with both being somewhat of a challenge to photograph. 🙂 Here’s 3 photos of this new species for me:
