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Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby
is usually trying to hide behind leaves in the garden, but if I keep trying I usually get a shot, though there are much better ones in my GALLERY: Giant Butterfly Moth, Castniomera atymnius. All photos are either from my garden or the Esquinas Rainforest Lodge where I will be next week. Just one shot here . . .
¡Pura Vida!
is one of my “regulars” this year and varies in color from an Apricot orange color to the common yellow of all the other yellows! But, he/she always has lots of brown spots and usually the distinctive double white spots on folded wings (solid yellow on top). Here’s just two shots from this month, one yellow and one orangey. See more in my GALLERY: Apricot Sulphur, Phoebis argante.
¡Pura Vida!
This butterfly in the Swallowtail Family is one of the more brilliant and the only Cattleheart with two rows of pink (red) spots on the bottom of his hind wings. And note that this particular individual is damaged and has only one hind wing. You will find much better shots in my gallery: Pink-spotted Cattleheart, Parides photinus, and all but one photo are from my garden. 🙂 Found only from Costa Rica to Mexico.
A few days ago I shared a Mexican Silverspot and this one is different but similar, with the side view spots differently arranged and the top view totally different. Some more of the flying color found in Central America! See my GALLERY: Juno Longwing or Silverspot, Dione juno for more and better photos from Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!
. . . for me at least, and for BAMONA, as I had to ask for the additional species, though there are lots (160) of observations on iNaturalist CR. This was of course in my garden, on the “Once de abril” or Golden Dewdrop flowering shrub (Duranta erecta). The butterfly is the Anius Metalmark (Charis anius), one of the tiny (thumbnail sized) Metalmarks. In addition to the iNat observations above you can find a little bit of info on iNaturalista Costa Rica. It is found from Honduras south to Brazil. No other information seems to be online nor in my books. I got only two shots before he disappeared.
¡Pura Vida!
The Red Cracker, Hamadryas amphinome (my gallery link) has an almost solid red underside of his lower wing, which I am yet to get a photo of. The only other place that I’ve seen this butterfly was on two different occasions at Xandari Resort, on a hill overlooking Alajuela (city) and the San Jose Airport. This shot was made in my garden on the trunk of the Cecropia Tree. I’ve only seen Crackers (all species) on trunks of trees, so maybe there is something in bark they eat? 🙂 And I’ve also only seen the topside of most.
¡Pura Vida!
And if Cracker butterflies interest you, check out my galleries on these 6 different species . . .
¡Pura Vida!
¡Pura Vida!
A nice colorful heliconian that I was glad to see in my garden the other day, Mexican Silverspot, Dione moneta (my gallery link). It’s the colorful ones that are called “flying flowers.” 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
“The time to protect a species is while it is still common.”
― Rosalie Edge
This is only my second time to see one of these interesting butterflies, and the whole time he was in my garden, he stayed partially hidden behind leaves. The other time was just a half block outside the Roca Verde gate in Boquerón Barrio on 8th Avenue. You can see both sightings in my Ruddy Daggerwing Gallery. This one of several daggerwings is unique because he is orange on top like many other daggerwings, but his underside is “ruddy” (see my feature photo) or sometimes much like a dead leaf and the point of the upper wing is very falcate (hooked) like no other daggerwing. He is found from Brazil north through Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to southern Florida. Here’s 3 of my several photos . . .
When trying to photograph that tiny little butterfly on the left of that rock in my garden I discovered later that I instead got a silhoutte shadow of a hummingbird flying above the butterfly. 🙂 Not great, but an interesting surprise when going through the photos. 🙂
Just a little serendipity! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi
If nothing else, it has a cool name! 🙂 The Yojoa Scrub-Hairstreak – Strymon yojoa (my gallery link) is another of those many Central American butterflies. Here’s a couple of shots and go to the gallery for more.
