After the jeep ride up the mountain (yesterday’s post) going past the mirador (Spanish for a vista overlook platform), we stopped at the trailhead for multiple trails. Me and the 3-generation Tico family chose the shorter trail through the forest down to the Savegre Mirador. Just one experience here, so be sure to see the others in theHiking the Pioneers Trail Photo GALLERY.
An 800 Year Old Tree says “Hug Me!”A Mother & Child Hug the 800 year old Tree.
And for more pix on the trails at Savegre, click the linked blog post below titled “Trails and Trees” where Marino Chacón (a different son of the founder than this year) took me on a longer trails hike for the early morning bird hike back in January 2021, just the 2 of us.
Finally, I have the photo gallery for my November trip to Macaw Lodge completed, just 6 days before I begin my Christmas Trip to San Gerardo de Dota! I have been very busy since that last trip! 🙂 I will now blog those 6 days before Christmas trip on my garden and some more from Macaw Lodge. :-)
This was just my second time to go to Macaw Lodge which is at the closest national park to where I live. And though I’ve visited 4 other lodges/hotels near that park, Macaw is my favorite and I’m likely to be returning! :-) You can read about the lodge on their website linked here: Macaw Lodge, and it is a lot more than a yoga retreat which the site seems to emphasize! :-) And now for my unique (and I think good) collection of photos from just 3 nights at Macaw Lodge last month, click the gallery image below or go to this web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-November-21-24-Macaw-Lodge-Carara-NP
CLICK image to visit this gallery.
¡Pura Vida!
AND ABOUT MY OTHER BLOG POST TODAY: Back in January I read an article about fun or funny “Annual National Days” in the U.S. and quickly did a blog post on what I thought was the most interesting one for each of the 12 months and today is the last one on “Underdog Day!” I promise not to do anything like that again, though it was kind of fun when I put together all 12 posts! :-) Tomorrow I’m back to only one nature blog post each day! My real passion! :-)
Though I haven’t noticed them as much recently, I think they are always around, maybe a family, as one of these looks younger than the other.
Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Atenas, Costa Rica
The featured photo is of the older one on the roof, so email recipients have to go to the website by clicking the post title. 🙂 For more photos of this species, go to their gallery: Black Spiny-tailed Iguana.
I finally got through all my butterfly photos made on the property at Hotel Banana Azul in Costa Rica’s Caribe South and they total 34 species! Unfortunately I have 11 different Skippers labeled “Unidentified” and I really need some better sources to help with identification. I am including two photos here and one is an unidentified Yellow or Sulphur. You can see all of the 34 species in my Banana Azul 2023 Butterfly GALLERY. And this is in addition to all those already reported on from Gandoca-Manzanilloand Cahuita reserves making a total of 54 species! 🙂
Definitely one of the Spreadwing Skippers, but not specifically identified.One of the Yellows or Sulphurs but again not specifically identified.
And oh yeah, the feature photo at the top of post has been identified as a Pompeius Skipper, Pompeius pompeius.
¡Pura Vida!
¡Muy ocupado! — Very Busy!
Read on for why I am behind on my blog posts now and what is happening in my personal life, from my new “free” doctors to helping open a new art gallery in Atenas . . .
Today begins what has become almost an annual tradition of spending a week in the Southern Caribbean of Costa Rica, during September when this rainy rainforest has the least amount of rain. After trying a few other hotels, I’ve settled on Banana Azul as my favorite and it is right on the beach (one of the few!) in a favorite room with balcony overlooking the beach and hotel gardens. It is one of my most relaxing weeks of the year! This Puerto Viejo area is south, near the Panama Border and quite different from my other Caribe fave which is north of the port of Limón and in a great wetlands wildlife national park called Tortuguero.
I have just two morning bird hikes scheduled, one in the Cahuita National Park and the other in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge. Otherwise I just “hangout” at the hotel and beach, walking both the beach and a forested beach road where last year I found a bonanza of butterflies! 🙂
Sunrise at Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón.
Read on for some of my past creative endeavors from the South Caribbean of Costa Rica . . .
August 12 is World Elephant Day, a really very important day! Elephants will be disappointed if you don’t remember this one, because they always do. (“An elephant never forgets”!) Seriously, this day is for learning more about Asian and African elephants, smart creatures that are being threatened with extinction because of hunting and habitat loss. Learn how you can help at worldelephantday.org.
My photo of African Elephant in the Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya, 2005.
Also I experienced the total extinction of elephants during my 3 years of living in The Gambia, West Africa where both poachers and habitat destruction eliminated all of the elephants that used to live there. It is very sad. This is a serious World Day that needs lots of attention or there will be no elephants left world-wide. Consider joining one of the efforts to save elephants.
Finally I have all my photos for the 5 nights in April 2023 at Maquenque Eco Lodge and Reserve including the sub-galleries I’ve already shared. This was another great photo trip to one of my favorite places in Costa Rica with photos of 62 bird species (6 lifers!), 10 butterflies and more than 30 species of other animals! Plus my usual “Nature as Art” photos of everything from flowers to weird leaves and beautiful landscapes. Just this one trip gallery will show you why I am so excited about being “Retired in Costa Rica!”the name of my blog and website. Enjoy the photos! Just click this image:
CLICK this image of this first page of the gallery to go to it.
It is a collection of positive stories of what both individuals and organizations are doing to help reclaim the earth that we as humans are currently killing. It is mostly about actions in Vermont where the compiler lives, but all is applicable to anywhere else in the world. It reminded me of the many good things being done here in Costa Rica to plant trees, save forests and prepare for our grandchildren’s future. We can all at least plant a tree! 🙂
My 4th time at Maquenque Ecolodge, but first time to go on this particular float trip (their web description link) though I’ve canoed their lake and been on the bigger river, San Carlos, in a larger boat. The only reason I’ve missed this one is that they require a minimum of 2 paying customers and I travel solo! 🙂 This was the first time there were other guests interested in this same float trip to make up the minimum with me. They were a lovely couple from Europe, he Italian and she Swiss! We had a great time together and I got a lot of photos which is right now the only part of my Maquenque Trip Gallery that is completed. So you can see more photos at Rio Tres Amigos Safari GALLERY. 🙂
And note that the only wildlife (The cow doesn’t count!) that I show in this post is one bird, but it’s a rare photo of a female Sunbittern sitting on her nest! In earlier blog posts I’ve shown you 3 animals from this safari: Crested Caracara, Green Iguana and Mantled Howler Monkey, yet there are still many more in the above gallery including 12 species of birds! 🙂 And here are 6 shots to give you an idea of what just one morning at Maquenque can be like! 🙂 Still my favorite lodge!
A fresh fruit & water break along the Rio Tres Amigos, Costa Rica.
The only way we are going to save the earth for future generation is by “rewilding” or creating “new” old growth forests of about 50% of the globe by planting more trees. Yesterday I did one tiny part of that by planting an Almond Tree here at Maquenque, where they hope to reintroduce the endangered Green Macaws that eat mostly almonds! And soon they will add nesting boxes to replace the big old trees with nesting holes, one of several reasons they are endangered. It will be a few years before my little baby Almond Tree will feed Macaws, but we have to plan for the future! And that is symbolized by Vicky’s (lodge manager’s) children standing with me in the second photo.
Plus Maquenque does have a few grown Almond Trees here already, “los almendros.” But very few macaws on the ground now, mostly flying overhead as in the third photo below. Plus, since they are located north-central, close to the continental divide, they can have both Green Macaws (Caribbean Slope which they are on) and some Scarlet Macaws (from the Pacific Slope). The Scarlets evidently fly over the Continental Divide which is not high mountains here in the lowlands. Scarlet Macaws are not as endangered as the green but are near-endangered because of habitat loss.
Charlie Doggett with the baby Almond Tree he helped plant at Maquenque Ecolodge & Reserve, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, April 13, 2023.
