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Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby
One of, if not the most frequently seen butterflies this year for me (a down year for butterflies). See my collection of them in the gallery: Banded Peacock (linked). It is another of those butterflies found only in Central America and the lower edges of Mexico.
¡Pura Vida!
What seems like everyone’s favorite butterfly, the Monarch (my gallery link), will probably be in my garden as long as I have these Milkweed Flowers, the favorite of the butterfly which also eats other nectar, but it is the only plant leaves that Monarch Caterpillars will eat! This one might even have come from one of those caterpillars that ate all the leaves off of one of my Milkweeds back in August! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
An unusual and brilliant Skipper that only a few of us have reported on iNaturalist. See my other photos in the gallery: Zilpa Longtail.
See how others have reported this species on iNaturalist and on BAMONA.
¡Pura Vida!
Click title to see post online.
This Orange-barred Sulphur (my gallery link) is a colorful yellow butterfly found from Florida and South Texas south through Central America to Brazil, including every low altitude place in Costa Rica. Read more and see other people’s observations on BAMONA and for specifically Costa Rica on iNaturalistCR.
¡Pura Vida!
Click title to see post online.
One of my many “favorite” butterflies is this Malachite (my gallery link) which I recently shared one of from Hotel Colinas del Sol nearby and this one was one of the few in my garden this year, on a Lantana flower.
¡Pura Vida!
This is one of those peculiar butterflies in the Pieridae Family (whites-yellows-sulphurs) that can sometime appear more yellow (as this one) or in my experiences is usually more white or “whitish.” 🙂 It is the Statira Sulphur (my gallery link) seen frequently in my garden though this one was at the nearby Hotel Colinas del Sol during my overnight there for a house fumigation. It is found mostly in Central America with other Costa Rica sightings seen on iNaturalist Costa Rica where I am the lead observer and for those seen in Florida and South Texas in the states, check out BAMONA where I keep CR represented. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Note that as of today, we are still having a normal October with rain every afternoon and all are hoping that it will be sufficient to bring the water table back up from our lack of normal rain May-September. The dry season starts in December and the amount of water in the rainy season is important for plants, water table, etc. Some fear a shortage of water during the dry season and possibly more grass fires if this rain doesn’t continue through November.
The Laverna Metalmark, Calephelis laverna (my gallery link) is almost identical to the Carolina Metalmark in the States, while this one is found from Costa Rica to Brazil.
¡Pura Vida!
Another favorite butterfly was seen in the cow pasture in September, the White Peacock (my gallery link). They are so different from the Banded Peacock, I sometimes wonder why they are both called peacocks. 🙂 But, “A rose by any other name . . .” I definitely don’t see as many of these as his “Banded” cousin, but I have photos of them from all over the country, literally coast to coast.
¡Pura Vida!
This year’s visit to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica included a week at Hotel Banana Azul with a day hike in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge and my collection of photos are ready to see at https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2026-09-14-18-Banana-Azul-Gandoca-Manzanillo or you can click on the first page image below to get there. Two disclaimers as to why there are not as many photos this year: The bizarre weather with a Super-El-Niño, wind and rain every day (normally the driest month there), a muddy beach road with no butterflies at all (my main thing there now) and the global-warming and ocean rising has caused enormous erosion of the beaches there now, with almost no beach left. But it is still a beautiful nature place and I have a lot of photos from this year’s trip.
¡Pura Vida!
I’ve done blog posts of Caribe photos ahead through the end of September, but wanted to announce my trip gallery now. The first of October I will continue sharing nature photos from my garden and on walks in my hometown of Atenas. If I just look, there is some nature to experience every day! 🙂
. . . Peacock Butterflies that is, at Gandoca-Manzanillo Refuge: the feature photo above is of the White Peacock (my gallery link) and below is the common Banded Peacock (my gallery link) as the only two butterflies I was able to photograph during this year’s week in Caribe Sur, with a few others seen flying but never landing at both Manzanillo and Banana Azul.
¡Pura Vida!