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Or “Tiger-striped Longwing” as the 2 general common names with 6 different sub-species listed on iNaturalist. For this one from my garden I have not identified the sub-species yet, though in my gallery I have photos of the ssp. Clarescens which is endemic to Southwestern Costa Rica (Pacific Coast). See more images in my gallery Ismenius Tiger. Found only in Central American.
¡Pura Vida!
I’m seeing more of these this year, maybe more than the Great Kiskadee, which has always been the dominant flycatcher around my house.
The differences in those two, to help your IDs, is that (1) the Kiskadee is much larger than the Social, which of course would be easier to tell if they were side by side! 🙂 (2) The bill or beak is much larger and longer on the Kiskadee and after seeing a lot of both, that helps with ID and (3) though both have a white ring around their heads with a black center, the Kiskadee also has a bright yellow spot in the center of the black circle which the other flycatchers don’t have. And lastly, (4) though both have a bright yellow belly, this Social’s back is a duller brown while the Kiskadee’s is a brighter red-brown or what birders call “rufous.”
Then this Social Flycatcher can also be confused with the Boat-billed Flycatcher of about the same size (a tad larger maybe), but the big difference there is the larger, boat-shaped bill. But they too have the dull brown back, bright yellow breast and B&W head. Confusing? 🙂
If you would like to compare these three similar flycatcher type birds, you can of course go to eBird or compare my photos of each in my galleries . . .
In my nearly 11 years here I’ve seen the Great Kiskadee the most, all over, with Social Flycatcher the second most seen and the Boat-billed the least seen. But that is not a scientific analysis of the populations! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
. . . is the most common hummingbird in gardens from southern Mexico to northwestern South America, says one website, meaning they are throughout Central America and I see at almost every lodge I visit. Plus, hands down he’s the most common bird in my garden! 🙂 In June I was photographing them a lot and chose my 12 favorite shots from June for a gallery in the online version of this post (below this one photo for the email version). The software for my chosen blog template doesn’t support galleries in the emailed version. Plus, if you’d like to see more photos of this active and colorful bird, I’ve added these 12 shots to the 130 already in my GALLERY: Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Amazilia tzacatl (linked to the gallery). There you can see my favorite shots of one feeding on a Bird of Paradise Flower at Arenal Observatory Lodge and several shots over the years of one feeding on my Torch Ginger flowers, as the most colorful meal here! 🙂 While the most common flower everywhere for them is the “Porterweed” in these photos. 🙂
I’m getting my best help with identification through iNaturalist or through multiple channels with them. And I finally determined that this new Yellow for me is Westwood’s Yellow, Eurema westwoodii, linked to iNaturalist, but not much info there or anywhere else online about this species and it is not even included in BAMONA. I have a gallery for Westwood’s Yellow with just two observations, June 2 & 7 this year. The 2 photos here are from my June 7 observation.
This is a Blue-eyed Setwing, Dythemis nigra (linked to my Gallery) which is not a new species for me and these photo IDs have been confirmed by iNaturalist. I have both dragonflies and damselflies visiting my garden somewhat regularly, though they tend to stay closer to the water of a stream across the cow pasture from me. Two shots from different angles . . .
¡Pura Vida!
See my GALLERIES: Dragonflies & Damselflies Costa Rica
You can see more in my GALLERY: Leaves and Nature Things.
¡Pura Vida!
is one of my daily garden visitors whom I may not photograph enough. He’s colorful, active, and always on the move . . .
¡Pura Vida!
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!
In the past I’ve had a problem with the Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds chasing off any other hummingbirds, but so far the Canivet’s Emerald, Cynanthus canivetii (my gallery link) have made themselves at home and I see them on my Porter Weeds almost as much as the Rufous-tailed. But the Blue-vented seem to have gone somewhere else again. Maybe I will refill the feeders more often! 🙂 Here’s three shots of the female in addition to the feature photo above. The male doesn’t have the white eyebrow and chest and thus I probably call some of them Rufous-tail or Blue-vented, which are all three similar males.
