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And if you don’t read Spanish – no problem! It’s a photo book! With only the title and introduction in words! 🙂 Preview every page by clicking the cover image below or going to: https://www.blurb.com/b/11661183-el-encanto-de-las-hojas
¡Pura Vida!
Calle 2 Plaza is under construction and could open within the next month or so! One of the 5 shops will now be a new Atenas Art Gallery, the name of which can’t be published until it is registered. So keep reading this blog for more information and see photos of the under construction Calle 2 Plaza and its flower murals below these first two shots . . .
Another new species for me! Wind’s Skipper or Windia windi (scientific name). To be a year with much fewer butterflies in my garden, I continue to find new species which is kind of amazing to me! And this one has a kind of interesting pattern for a Skipper with pleasing blends of oranges, browns and whites. It is kind of small but bigger than those fingernail sized guys! 🙂 Here’s four shots from different angles. You will find more shots in my Wind’s Skipper gallery in the bigger family gallery of Skippers.
This is just my second time to photograph this species. The last time was in 2020, also in my garden. Like mosts Whites and Yellows, they do not land often or for long to aid in photographing! 🙂 See all my photos in the Common Melwhite GALLERY. Or you might find it interesting see my larger collection of WHITES, YELLOWS & SULPHURS with 23 plus several unidentified that I believe are in this family. Here’s two photos, the less-shown top view and then a side view that is distinctive of this species.
It is the same species or only species of Hummingbird I have in my yard now, the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and maybe the most common species in Costa Rica. They are territorial, meaning if he claims my garden, he chases off other species of hummingbirds. You can see the many I’ve photographed all over Costa Rica in my Rufous-tailed GALLERY or read more about them on eBird. I like these shots because of the contrast with the bright red El Baston de Emperador or Torch Ginger. Here’s four shots . . .
Another new species of butterfly! And that is pretty good with this being a year of overall fewer butterflies seen! 🙂 This one is in the Gossamer Wings Family and sub-family of Hairstreaks, scientific name Rubroserrata mathewi and common name of Matthew’s Groundstreak. And this is another one of those tiny, fingernail sized butterflies which seem to be handling the wind and lack of rain better this year. Here’s four photos of this new species, all shot in my garden:
Well, not many butterflies have such creative names! And that is not the name of this very brown (chocolate-looking) butterfly with the scientific name of Vacerra litana and the major butterfly websites using the common name of Litana Skipper while my best butterfly book calls it the Common Therra. It is found throughout Central America into the northern edges of South America as far a Guyana. There are so many brown and brownish Skippers! But this one that I photographed in my garden looks the most like chocolate to me, AND it is another NEW SPECIES FOR ME! Here’s 4 photos of the one in my garden:
The last time I tried to count my Maraca Flowers (Shampoo Ginger) I counted around 52 of them! These are the ones behind my house in a very full garden area compared to another Maraca plant out front more in the open which flowers earlier than these and they are more red while these are mostly yellow. Having tropical gardens is a fun past time! 🙂
See also My Garden GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
One of my favorite tiny butterfly designs is on this Rounded Metalmark, Caliphelis perditalis. And it is rare to see any butterfly on a Plumbago flower because they are sticky and could trap some small butterflies like this one. But notice the intricate design on his wings! Another “Nature as Art!” 🙂 See my Rounded Metalmark GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
This only my second time to see this species of butterfly, Red-studded Skipper, Noctuana stator (linked to my Gallery) with the other sighting being at Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica – that’s on the Caribbean side where I will be in September. 🙂 This time I saw it here in Atenas on one of my walks to town in that Zinnia Garden at 8th & 3rd where I’ve seen a lot of butterflies.