charliedoggett.net
Both my gardens and ones I visit
One of, if not the most frequently seen butterflies this year for me (a down year for butterflies). See my collection of them in the gallery: Banded Peacock (linked). It is another of those butterflies found only in Central America and the lower edges of Mexico.
¡Pura Vida!
What seems like everyone’s favorite butterfly, the Monarch (my gallery link), will probably be in my garden as long as I have these Milkweed Flowers, the favorite of the butterfly which also eats other nectar, but it is the only plant leaves that Monarch Caterpillars will eat! This one might even have come from one of those caterpillars that ate all the leaves off of one of my Milkweeds back in August! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Not your every day bird! And I’ve seen more here in Atenas than anywhere. This one in my garden a week or so ago. See my other (better) photos in gallery: Barred Antshrike. And read more about them on eBird. It is found only in Central & South America.
¡Pura Vida!
The first seen in my garden since December 2025, plus I saw one earlier the same day on my morning walk up the hill, but it was in bad light and thus no good photos. See my earlier photos at Lesson’s Motmot from different Costa Rica locations. This is another purely Central American bird with the usual overlaps into Southern Mexico.
¡Pura Vida!
Click title to see post online.
An unusual and brilliant Skipper that only a few of us have reported on iNaturalist. See my other photos in the gallery: Zilpa Longtail.
See how others have reported this species on iNaturalist and on BAMONA.
¡Pura Vida!
Click title to see post online.
This Blue-vented Hummingbird (my gallery link) is right now in October more frequently seen than the usual dominant one, the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird.
¡Pura Vida!
Click title to see post online.
This Orange-barred Sulphur (my gallery link) is a colorful yellow butterfly found from Florida and South Texas south through Central America to Brazil, including every low altitude place in Costa Rica. Read more and see other people’s observations on BAMONA and for specifically Costa Rica on iNaturalistCR.
¡Pura Vida!
Click title to see post online.
One of my many “favorite” butterflies is this Malachite (my gallery link) which I recently shared one of from Hotel Colinas del Sol nearby and this one was one of the few in my garden this year, on a Lantana flower.
¡Pura Vida!
This is another one of those “international migrants” in Costa Rica that grows well here but is native in this case to Brazil, Surinam, & Venezuela. At first glance I though it was a Red Ginger, but on a closer look, there are several differences! It is just one more species I’ve added to my Under Construction CR Flowers by Species with only this photo in the Brazilian Red-cloak gallery now. You can read about and see where others have seen this flower in Costa Rica on iNaturalistCR by clicking “View All” under TOTAL OBSERVATIONS where there is a map showing where. Or read more about them on Wikipedia (en español) or shorter one in English.
¡Pura Vida!
This is one of those peculiar butterflies in the Pieridae Family (whites-yellows-sulphurs) that can sometime appear more yellow (as this one) or in my experiences is usually more white or “whitish.” 🙂 It is the Statira Sulphur (my gallery link) seen frequently in my garden though this one was at the nearby Hotel Colinas del Sol during my overnight there for a house fumigation. It is found mostly in Central America with other Costa Rica sightings seen on iNaturalist Costa Rica where I am the lead observer and for those seen in Florida and South Texas in the states, check out BAMONA where I keep CR represented. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Note that as of today, we are still having a normal October with rain every afternoon and all are hoping that it will be sufficient to bring the water table back up from our lack of normal rain May-September. The dry season starts in December and the amount of water in the rainy season is important for plants, water table, etc. Some fear a shortage of water during the dry season and possibly more grass fires if this rain doesn’t continue through November.