Banded Tigerwing

One of the lesser-seen butterflies is this Banded Tigerwing, Aeria eurimedia (my gallery link) found only in Central America and Northern South America. I think it is a handsome butterfly and I almost used one of my photos of it on my ’23 Christmas Card! 🙂

Banded Tigerwing, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica
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Common Mylon

This is another new species for me! And I keep finding them in my own garden! The Common Mylon – Mylon maimon (linked to Wikipedia) is found from Mexico to Argentina. One of the many Skippers. And on iNaturalist Costa Rica my observation is only the 13th in Costa Rica and I’m only the 10th person to report seeing one. But one of those others has the best photos I’ve seen and on his own website: Dr. Heiner Ziegler, MD (Switzerland). Costa Rica attracts nature lovers from all around the world!

Common Mylon, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Simple Patch Butterfly

This is my first one seen this year, but you can see photos of others photographed in the past plus a few more from this sighting in my garden in my gallery: Simple Patch, Chlosyne hippodrome.

Simple Patch, Chlorosyne hippodrome, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Simple Patch, Chlorosyne hippodrome, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Transitioning from My Garden to the Jungle Tomorrow!

Tomorrow morning I will post the last of the August nature sightings from my garden, though not all that I saw in a very productive August for nature photos! 🙂 Then tomorrow night I will do my first nighty post from Tortuguero National Park, “The Amazon of Costa Rica,” where I will be for 4 nights, posting a lot of things I can’t from home, including monkeys, maybe a sloth and of course lots of waterbirds, lizards, crocs & caiman, plus hopefully much more! 🙂 There are always surprises!

¡Pura Vida!

Hidden-ray Skipper

Is another new species for me this month, right here in my own garden! And I’ve had two sightings of this “another brown Skipper!” 🙂

Hidden-ray Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

It is said to be found from the southwestern U.S. to Argentina, but only two of us have posted photos on iNaturalist CR and only two on BAMONA. So it must be a little rare! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Broken Silverdrop

Another nice Skipper Butterfly is this Broken Silverdrop,  Epargyreus exadeus or Epargyreus cruza (my gallery link) a unique butterfly found in both Central and South America. Here’s two shots made recently in my garden . . .

Broken Silverdrop, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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White Satyr

I’ve not seen as many Satyrs this year as in the past, but maybe they are starting to appear now. In my BRUSHFOOTS Galleries you can see that I have photographed 22 different species of Satyrs (at the end of that folder) and this White Satyr, Pareuptychia ocirrhoe (my gallery link) is one of the more frequently seen species for me. Just this one photo from my garden last Saturday . . .

White Satyr, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Great Southern White

The “Southern” in the name doesn’t refer to just the deep south of the U.S. but also to further south as in Tropical America (Central & South + Caribbean Islands) where you can also find this butterfly. See some more of my photos made here in Costa Rica in the GALLERY: Great Southern White – Ascia monuste. Here’s two shots of the same butterfly in my garden with different light, making it look like two different insects!

Great Southern White, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
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Gray Cracker

This Gray Cracker,  Hamadryas februa (my gallery link) is one of 5 different species of Crackers I have photographed in Costa Rica, every single one on a tree trunk, and they can all be seen in my Brushfoot Galleries. This one landed on my Cecropia Tree the other day for just a few seconds before flying off, with me getting only two shots at an angle. And yes, I know that he is not literally “gray,” but the previous one photographed that was even more of a tan color. He is identified by specific spots and not the overall color. Just one shot . . .

Gray Cracker, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Laverna Metalmark

What I (and others) have been calling “Rounded Metalmark,” I now believe are Calephelis laverna (scientific name), Laverna Metalmark, Calephelis laverna (my gallery link). A Google AI summary of searches on the differences in Rounded and Laverna Metalmarks show the wing patterns to be almost identical with possibly “minor differences in genitalia and primary difference being the geographic distribution.” With Rounded Metalmarks found in Texas and Mexico and Laverna Metalmark (some sites use just “Calephelis laverna”) residing in Central America and parts of South America, especially noted in Costa Rica by the AI. Thus I am moving all of my Rounded Metalmarks to Laverna. Here are two photos of the one seen in my Garden Wednesday (side view & top view) . . .

Laverna Metalmark (Calephelis laverna), Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Malachite

This Malachite, Siproeta stelenes (my gallery link) was seen the other night inside my house on the window screen along with that Rusty-tipped Page shared in yesterday’s blog post. Both are in the Genus Siproeta or generally called “Pages.” Thus yesterday I called them “cousins” traveling together. 🙂 Here are two shots in different night lights, one on my camera and one my cellphone.

Cellphone: Malachite butterfly, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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