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There’s always more that butterflies to photograph in my garden, so take a walk with me through my Costa Rica Garden on an October day during the “Rainy Season” with one shot here for the email announcement and then a slide show of 14 different flowers photographed yesterday on my walk through . . .
This Two-barred Flasher, Astraptes fulgerator, yesterday provided the only bit of color among dozens of brown butterflies in my garden, mostly different types of Skippers and the ever-present Carolina Satyrs here right now. I guess I could do a study in browns with so many different shades, shapes and sizes of brown butterflies, but it is easier to focus on the brighter colors like this guy’s brilliant blue! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
And more in my Two-barred Flasher GALLERY.
I photographed this tiny little fellow the day before yesterday, thinking it was probably another Satyr that I have a lot of in my yard now, this same size, but instead discovered another new butterfly for me, the Lucianus Metalmark, Calospila lucianus, formerly known in some places as a Carmine Grayler. (I’m fairly confident of this ID.) My photo will create another new species for the butterfly website I’m working for now. 🙂
Read on to see the original photo that I cropped in on for the above image.
Continue reading “Lucianus Metalmark”
I have been using a cheap Canon Rebel and Tamron 150-600 lens (lowest price lens this long) literally every day for 4 or 5 years and they were simply worn out with dust inside the lens (not cleanable) and parts of the camera not working including auto-focus. So day before yesterday my driver took me to San Jose and to the only authorized Canon dealer in Costa Rica where I duplicated my equipment with a newer version of each.
Then yesterday, along with other needed chores, I tried out the new combination camera/lens in my garden. Here’s one shot followed by a gallery of 8. And yes! I’m very pleased with my upgrade to newer versions of the same two instruments. 🙂 They’re easy to use and good enough quality for this old-man hobbyist without spending a fortune. 🙂 Here’s samples from my first 200 shots on the new equipment . . .
I’m mesmerized by flowers everywhere I go in Costa Rica and the Caribe is no exception, though the hotels on the east coast aren’t as ambitious with their gardens as some other places I’ve visited that work hard to have a large variety of sometimes rare and even exotic (non-native) flowers. All of these are native to the best of my knowledge and at least half were growing “wild” along the beach or beach road. And I’ve decided this time to not try and identify them, since maybe half I can’t without research! 🙂 One photo for the email announcement and then a gallery of 14 flowers . . .
Yesterday morning I did the sunrise shoot, showered, ate breakfast, packed and had maybe an hour before my transportation to the little Limón Aeropuerto, hoping I might find another new butterfly species. And I DID! Two in fact! Two totally new species of butterflies for my rapidly growing collection. Not spectacular or particularly beautiful, but exciting to me because they are new! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
More of my growing Costa Rica butterfly collection in my photo galleries:
I photographed many butterflies today and still haven’t processed all the photos, so I decided to feature just this one colorful and ragged fellow. You can read about them on Butterflies and Moths and see a map there of where they have been seen or look at my collection in the gallery: Tropical Buckeye. Here’s three photos from today’s walk.
I arrived later that usual, in the afternoon, and was personally greeted by the manager at my taxi and he carried my luggage in himself! 🙂 I gave him his gift photo book for this year and he treated me to a steak dinner tonight. Wow! Being nice pays off in more ways than one! 🙂
Caribe Fun Tours got their photo book gift also and have arranged a driver to the new Butterfly Garden in Cahuita (their first request) where I will be their first to report back on it, plus I will also take a walk in Cahuita National Park after the butterfly house, which is nearby. They are also finding me a guide for Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge which is wilder and less visited than Cahuita with more wildlife. The only other place I may visit is a nearby organic farm and botanical gardens for the butterflies I remember seeing last time I was there. Otherwise I stay around this friendly hotel and their rainforest beach road looking for things to photograph! I’ve already seen more birds than I’ve been having at home and I’m very relaxed, having gotten the best relaxation massage in Costa Rica! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Most years in September I make a week relaxation adventure in the “Caribe South” which refers to the southern half of the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica around Puerto Viejo de Talamanca and the smaller town of Manzanillo where I explore two national parks/refuges (Cahuita & Gandoca-Manzanillo) for birds, butterflies, monkeys, sloths and other nature, visit some of the Bribri indigenous villages, botanical gardens, and maybe this year a new butterfly garden (if my tour people say it is okay). 🙂
And not to ignore the northern Caribbean side of Costa Rica or Limón Province; that’s where the provincial capital and port city of Limón is located and then above that a favorite national park, Tortuguero, which I hope to return to in 2023! It’s “The Amazon of Costa Rica” or a river and beach based jungle rainforest full of incredible wildlife and other nature! I can’t wait to get back there! 🙂 So much to see and do here!
But this trip is mostly relaxing in the beachside Hotel Banana Azul, walking a forested beachside road (for sloths, birds, butterflies) and walks or just relaxation on the beach (I don’t swim or surf in the ocean anymore) and this is the only place I’ve found that gives a “Relaxation Massage” that is actually relaxing. 🙂 So it is my only get-a-way that is not totally inside a dense rain or cloud forest (though Cahuita & Gandoca-Manzanillo are dense rainforests), yet still nature-centered and very relaxing. I missed it in 2020 due to Covid and no flights there, but here’s a couple of photos from last year’s post-cancer retreat in the “Howler Suite” or Room #1. 🙂
And just one more of the many things I look forward to each year that I’m “Retired in Costa Rica,” from rainforest and cloud forest photo trips to cultural activities and enjoying my little flower garden in Atenas! I have achieved my idea of pure life in paradise! And this December I will celebrate 8 years of living here! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
And that linked title takes you to this week’s Tico Times article about a community-wide band and dance team from Zarcero which will represent Costa Rica a second time in the Rose Parade, Pasadena, California.
Zarcero is a town (called pueblo here) that is a little smaller than Atenas and north of us. It is known for topiaries in their Central Park, cheese-making and this large and professional community band of all ages. If you are one of those Americans who always watch the Rose Parade on TV, be sure to watch for the Costa Rica band! 🙂
More photo views of “My Costa Rica” in
🙂
This was one of the butterflies in my garden this morning that I haven’t seen here for awhile. He is similar to te Broad-banded Swallowtail and a little bit like the Thoas & the Ornythion Swallowtails, so you have to examine the details in the photos for a good ID. 🙂
You can read about the Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes on either of these websites: butterfliesandmoths.org or the butterfliesofamerica.com, the first of which is where I will eventually post one or more of these photos, when I get caught up, and the second sight is another one I use for identification along with my favorite butterfly book, A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America. The gallery below includes 2 top views, 2 bottom wing views and 2 side views or folded wings views of this beautiful big butterfly.
Continue reading “Giant Swallowtail”