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If I’ve identified this correctly, it will be a new species for me. It is similar to one I saw earlier confirmed by iNaturalist as Aroma, aroma, so I hope that the identifiers on iNaturalist will agree with me & the AI on this one too, Blue-glossed Skipper, Onophas columbaria. (Linked to my gallery.) The third photo of one with darker wings was made later on the same day as the other 2 shots of the same insect.
This most frequent swallowtail in my garden has showed up a little less this year, but is always a pleasure to see. Here’s the two basic views, top view and side view . . .
Sometimes I’m not sure which of the several Longtails photos like this are, but from the beginning I was pretty sure these were Tanna and when iNaturalist AI agreed, I became pretty confident! 🙂 See my gallery of Tanna Longtail or if you go to iNaturalist Costa Rica you will see that I am the lead observer there, with the most photos. Tanna Longtail just seems to like it here in Atenas, as do I! 🙂
Costa Rica is so diverse in all its species that after 10+ years here, it is still not unusual to find a new species as I have with butterflies about 4 or 5 times this year. I was processing my several photos of the Falcate Skipper shared the other day (Oct 27) and in only one of those photos, I found this other butterfly partly hiding it. I slowly and painstakingly removed the Skipper from this photo in Photoshop so I could share and post on iNaturalist & BAMONA without the confusion of another butterfly on the same flower. 🙂 This Emesis ocypore (scientific name) is not very common, found from Southern Mexico to Columbia and also in parts of Africa! Yes! On two continents! In the Americas he is most common in Costa Rica, though on iNaturalist CR there are only 19 observations reported. Mine will make #20 when I get to it! And on BAMONA only 3 now, mine will make 4! 🙂 Here is my one and only photo of this rarity from my own garden on October 17, 2025 . . .
I did start a gallery for this species, but with only this one photo! It is at this link: Dark Emesis, Emesis ocypore. Note that it is in the Metalmark Family, Riodinidae.
¡Pura Vida!
I saved what photos of flowers I made in my garden this month to share all at once on the last day of October. So below this introductory photo for the emailed version of the post is a gallery of 14 different flowers, just one shot of each species with 2 of those being wildflowers or “weed flowers” some will say. 🙂 That includes the intro photo below! Enjoy! As I have enjoyed the flowers and remember that I have a photo gallery of “My Home Gardens” (linked) that I keep adding photos to every month, thus it is always fresh or has new photos. 🙂
. . . on one of my few Golden Shrimp flowers blooming this year (not enough sun I think). This Red-tailed Stingless Bee has the scientific name of Trigona fulviventris and the Spanish common name of Abeja Culo de Vaca. I have 8+ species of bees in my Bee Gallery, with only two other shots of this species, also in my garden.
¡Pura Vida!
Not gorgeous, but another good pollinator! 🙂 This is my second time to see and photograph the Falcate Skipper, Spathilepia colonius (my gallery link), one of the many Skippers here, found from Argentina to Mexico. Here’s 2 shots, a top view and a side view, which is what I want of all butterflies! (You need both views for easy identification.) 🙂
This one with the bright blue tail is probably my second most common hummingbird this year after Rufous-tail, followed by Canivet’s Emerald which I photographed near the same time as this blue-vented, but the photos aren’t good enough to share. And you can see much better photos of this one in my gallery Blue-vented Hummingbird, Saucerottei hoffmanni OR Saucerrotia amazilia. Glad there are a few interesting birds as my butterflies are slacking off a little. Two so-so photos . . .
The Julia is turning out to be one of the most colorful butterflies in my garden this year with some other past butterflies not back. Here’s just two shots from my garden the other day and you can see more in my gallery: Julia Heliconian, Dryas julia with shots from literally every area of Costa Rica on both slopes, though, because I’m home more than anywhere, the most shots are from here in Atenas. 🙂 And the featured photo was chosen because it is an unusual view of one flying toward me and not because of the quality of the photo. Below is the most common view of this very orange butterfly . . .
My first inclination is Eurema westwoodii (my gallery link), but this one is almost as close to Eurema dina (my gallery link) and Eurema leuce (my gallery link), so my plan at this time when I make my submissions to iNaturalist (at the end of each month for that month’s observations), I will simply use the genus and hope one of the gung-ho butterfly specialists there will identify and give a reason. While with BAMONA I may just submit as “cannot identify” and see what one of the coordinators there says, since they don’t have genus buckets to submit to. And hopefully both sites will have someone to give me a reason for the correct identification. 🙂 Here’s just two shots, a side view and a top view.
