Category: Garden

Both my gardens and ones I visit

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Tigers in a Meadow of Flowers

Not only is Maquenque up to 70 Treehouse Cabins (THE TREEHOUSE LODGE IN COSTA RICA!), but they continue adding wildness and nature to various corners of their deep forest. One of the additions I discovered this time is a corner of their farm alongside one of the smaller lagoons has been turned into a meadow of flowers! Not only the natural wild flowers, but they have planted more, like Zinnias, Daisies, Cuban Buttercups, Heliconia’s, and more that I haven’t identified. 🙂 And within it I photographed 15+ species of butterflies with the dominant ones being an assortment of “Tigers” or about 4 species of Genus Mechanitis (Tigerwings) and maybe a Tiger Mimic-Queen. I’m having trouble separating and identifying all the tigers! 🙂 Here’s two shots (side view & top view) of what may or may not be the same species in the “Flower Meadow,” followed by a gallery of 4 shots of the flowers in the meadow . . .

Tigerwing Butterfly, Genus Mechanitis, Maquenque Lodge, Costa Rica
Tigerwing Butterfly, Genus Mechanitis, Maquenque Lodge, Costa Rica
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Immature White-collared Manakin

At first I wondered what these pudgy little brown birds were in a tree behind my cabin. Then on eBird’s Merlin I discovered that they are little White-collared Manakins with no white collar yet if male and if female that brown will turn green with a yellowish breast and the females don’t have white collars like the males. See more photos of these juveniles and my photos of mature males in the gallery White-collared Manakin (linked). I’ve seen them twice now at Maquenque and once at Selva Verde Lodge (across the river in their private forest reserve).

Immature White-collared Manakin, Maquenque Lodge, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Yellow-throated Toucan

With several tourists here from around the world, it seems that one of the first things they want to see is a toucan, and the boldest one here is this Yellow-throated Toucan (my gallery link). Here’s two slightly different views with neither showing his patch of red, but still a handsome bird! We are on the Caribbean Slope here, where this Yellow-throated is more common than the Keel-billed which is more common on the Pacific Slope. Tomorrow I will share another variety of toucans which also has a different “cousin” on the Pacific Slope.

Yellow Throated Toucan, Maquenque Lodge, Costa Rica
Yellow Throated Toucan, Maquenque Lodge, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Mexican Fritillary

There are so many orange with black trim butterflies and most of them are distinctly different, as is this Mexican Fritillary, Euptoieta hegesia (my gallery link).

Mexican Fritillary, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Pale-banded Crescent

In my gallery I have 9 different species of Crescents and this one has been mostly seen here in Atenas. See my GALLERY: Pale-banded Crescent, Anthanassa tulcis (linked). Here’s three different views in my garden this June and the damaged wings you may have noticed on other butterfly photos I’ve shared this year. It is the wind! Though not all the time like January, it is blowing just as hard here in June, which is not normal! I believe it is a part of the human-caused climate change. Also note that this one is on one of my few Milkweed Flowers, which is also attracting other species, so I want to find another sunny spot for more.

Pale banded Crescent, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

And two more different view photos . . .

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Mimosa Yellow

Mimosa Yellow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Above is a crisper, traditional shot while below is another “soft look” shot as with the feature photo . . .

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Juno Silverspot

Earlier this month I was seeing a lot of different butterflies but it has turned windy again and not many can handle that. This is one of my favorites . . . Juno Silverspot (my gallery link).

Juno Silverspot, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Juno Silverspot, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Pale-vented Thrush – A Lifer!

“A Lifer” means “first time seen species” and this is my first new bird in quite a while! (# 189 in my CR bird gallery) 🙂 He was on the ground in my garden (or front yard) and I first thought it was a young Yigüirro – Clay-colored Thrush (and it is possible that he actually is), but it is instead the iNat AI says it is a juvenile or immature Pale-vented Thrush, and I’m going with that. As they get older they lose those two rows of little orange spots and the belly turns whitish. In Costa Rica they are seen only in the low foothills of the Central Valley (like where I live), so not your every day bird all over Costa Rica! 🙂 And I got only one useable photo the first sighting (read on for the better 2nd sighting) . . .

Pale-vented Thrush Juvenile, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Then, the next day, I saw this same juvenile in a tree waiting for Mom to come feed him as you can see that she did in these two shots the day after the above photo . . .

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Barred Yellow

June has become the usual big butterfly month in my gardens and here is another nice one, the Barred Yellow (my gallery link) . . .

Barred Yellow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Barred Yellow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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South American Cloudless Sulphur

I’m the #1 observer of this species in Costa Rica’s iNaturalist and earlier I had it lumped with the North American Cloudless Sulphur, but someone decided that we are a different subspecies down here and added the “South American” identifier to the common name in both English & Spanish. Today I had 51 photos in my South American Cloudless Sulphur Gallery. (linked) Phoebis sennae.

South American Cloudless Sulphur, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!