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Still one of my most-seen butterflies that also continues to appeal to me, the Banded Peacock Butterfly (my gallery link), found all over Costa Rica as well as the rest of Central America, Mexico and the southern edges of Texas.
¡Pura Vida!
The Ruby-spotted Swallowtail (my gallery link) is found from Southern Texas south to Argentina and yes, it reminds me of several Cattlehearts, especially the Pink-spotted, but this is in a different subfamily from Cattlehearts. This is my second observation to not have white spots on the top of the forward wings, which is normal even if in a minority as you can see in my gallery or other online butterfly sites. But, you will see from the only partial side view this one ever gave me that he does have white spots on the underneath side of all wings. 🙂 Another exception in nature and I think that the all black top makes for a handsome butterfly!
¡Pura Vida!
Have you noticed how many of my butterfly shots are on the Milkweeds now? 🙂 It is second only to Porterweed attracting the larger butterflies like this and the only flower Monarchs will come to. Tiny butterflies prefer tiny flowers. 🙂 I can’t believe that this is my first year to plant Milkweed! A great butterfly attractor! I recommend it!
JetPack just informed me that during August 2026 my blog & website had Nine Thousand Views! 9,000! I don’t know who all of you are, but thank you for reading and enjoying Costa Rica’s nature with me! ~Charlie
In addition to caterpillars, I’ve now had two Caribbean Milkweed Bugs (my gallery link) on my Milkweed flowers. There are several versions of this insect including a different subspecies in North America (Oncopeltus fasciatus) while the one here is Oncopeltus cingulifer. They do not harm the plant nor the caterpillars or butterflies if around. 🙂
GoogleAI says: “They use straw-like mouthparts to feed primarily on milkweed seeds and sap. By consuming milkweed, they store cardiac glycosides in their bodies, making them poisonous or unpalatable to predators like birds. They are mostly harmless to the plant and do not attack monarch butterfly eggs or caterpillars, meaning chemical control is rarely needed.”
One of my plants is seeding profusely, so maybe they were after the tiny seeds! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Now I have Monarch Caterpillars on one group of Milkweeds and I expect them to eat most of the leaves like the Queen Caterpillars did a month ago and that milkweed grew right back. So whoopee! More Monarchs! 🙂 And I post my caterpillar shots in the same gallery with their butterfly, so see these and one more caterpillar from San Gerardo de Dota in my gallery Monarch!
¡Pura Vida!
A pretty little Yellow with distinctive brown trim. See more in my gallery, Westwood’s Yellow (linked).
¡Pura Vida!
So many of the butterflies have colors included in their names and this one is not the only one that doesn’t stick to its colors. 🙂 I’ve seen the Large Orange Sulphur (my gallery link) two or three other times, including one last month that was orange or really an orange-yellow. 🙂 But you have to admit that the name sounds better than calling it a “Large Dirty White Sulphur!” 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
The Milkweeds I planted finally attracted a Monarch, but only this one on one day, while the Milkweeds are being dominated by a “flight” or “kaleidoscope” of Banded Peacocks. 🙂 I made a lot of photos with 9 shown in the gallery, Monarch (linked), along with many other Monarchs from other locations in Costa Rica with I think the best being the ones made at Maquenque Lodge this past July. Just two shots from my garden in this blog post.
¡Pura Vida!
I almost had this one labeled as a Garden Emerald that can be found only in a few limited areas of Costa Rica and Panama, because the iNat AI said it was a Garden Emerald (very similar to Canivet’s), but the same day I posted it on iNaturalistCR, two serious birders corrected me because of both location and the length and shape of the tail. 🙂 So I corrected it there and in my gallery, not getting the “Lifer” that I thought I had! 🙂 Note that this is a male, all green, while the female has a white front and white eyebrow. You can see both in my gallery, Canivet’s Emerald.
¡Pura Vida!
This is another new species for me, a Spreadwing Skipper named Common Anastrus or Common Bluevent (my gallery linked) with more images in that gallery. Not as colorful or flashy as some I’ve seen here recently, but another important member of the Butterfly Family, photographed here on Lantana Flowers. It lives in Central America and tropical South America with Costa Rica it’s “type locality” or where it is happier (like me)! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Costa Rica is the only place in the world where whales come from two hemispheres to give birth to their babies. Currently the whales from Antarctica are here and by December those arctic whales from off the coast of Alaska will be here for the same reason. The 46 minute video was made by a large conglomeration of volunteer scientists, underwater photographers, and nature organizations in cooperation with Costa Rica TV Channel 7 that just premiered it on TV. They now share it with the world for free from their YouTube channel, linked from the title above and embedded below . . . IT IS IN SPANISH ONLY . . .
You will enjoy the photography, even if you can’t understand Spanish! 🙂
One of the weirdest moths I’ve seen is the Titan Sphinx Moth – Aellopos titan (my gallery link) which has always been in my garden before, but this one earlier this month I saw on a Porterweed plant at the front gate of Residential Roca Verde. Some people have called them “hummingbird moths” because they hover over a flower like a hummingbird. I think they look more like a flying Shrimp! Ha, ha! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!