charliedoggett.net
Both my gardens and ones I visit
Another Central-America-only butterfly, the Hecale Longwing, Heliconius hecale (zuleika) (my gallery link) which I’ve seen all over Costa Rica, but like with most, there are more photos from my garden because I spend more time here! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
This tiny little guy is still the self-appointed king of my garden, doing his best to chase other birds away. But I still get the other two species of hummingbirds some, just mostly on the flowers and not the feeders.
My photo gallery for Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, the most often seen hummingbird by me, all over Costa Rica. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
This Leuce Yellow, Mariposa Amarilla Brasileña, Pyrisitia leuce (my gallery link) was a new species for me last year (2024) and now I am starting the 2025 butterfly season with that species! 🙂
One website calls this “Blurry-Striped Longtail,” but I think I prefer White-striped Longtail, Chioides catillus (my gallery link). Just this one shot here plus the feature photo at top. Go to that gallery for more shots in my garden the other day while still windy + more from last year.
¡Pura Vida!
And for you butterfly aficionados, yes, he is a lot like the Durantes Longtail, but without that white stripe! Plus he has a longer tail than any of the other Longtails, I think.
Mexican Heather – Cuphea hyssopifolia (Wikipedia link) is sometimes called “False Heather” because it is not a real heather or even in the Heather family, just another unique Central American flower. This one was a “hitchhiker” with another plant from a nursery (Vivero), I think it came with one of the Lantanas that I bought and planted. Anyway, I like it as something a little different and have it in a pot with some Lantana where it attracts only those tiny little butterflies like Blues and Hairstreaks.
“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.” – Gerard de Nerval
¡Pura Vida!
More different butterflies are beginning to show up like this Cassius Blue, Leptotes cassius (my gallery link) on my driveway the other day while watering the garden (why blacktop is wet). And it was still windy then, but I guess if the caterpillar turns to a butterfly, he has to eat! Windy or not! 🙂
And oh yeah, he is called a “Blue” because the top of his wings are solid blue, but you only see that when he is flying. He seems to never land with his wings open. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Another competitor for my little Rufous-tailed Hummingbird who thinks he owns my garden is this Blue-vented Hummingbird, Saucerottia hoffmanni (my gallery link) and I haven’t seen him try to stop this larger deep-blue tailed hummingbird who has also been around my gardens since my first year here. You can read about him on eBird. A tropical bird found only in Costa Rica & Nicaragua with maybe a few strays into Honduras & El Salvador. 🙂 Or see more than 400 observations in Costa Rica on iNaturalist CR.
Here’s two shots recently on my Porterweed flowers. And yes, it is still windy, but these hummers have to eat every few minutes, regardless of the weather! And we all hope for the rains to start any day now and maybe then the winds will disappear! 🙂
Only my second time to see this species with the other documented with just a cell phone on 8th Avenue in Boquerón Barrio, not far from my house. Thankfully, these photos, made with my Canon camera in my garden, will improve the quality of the photos in my GALLERY: Banded Orange Heliconian, Dryadula phaetusa. 🙂 This is mostly a Central American Butterfly with rare strays in Mexico & SW U.S. as shown on the few Butterflies & Moths postings, but more than 200 observations on iNaturalist CR. 🙂
Or it seems that I will do anything for one! 🙂 That is why I like going to the nature lodges where you can get closer to such colorful birds. Well, here are my step by step procedures for one of those many that come near my house (plus waiting for a blue sky!) 🙂 . . .
Continue reading “Anything for a Parrot Pix!”
He’s back! (And while the wind is still blowing!) As one of the most common tiny butterflies in my garden each year, maybe he is signaling the beginning of “butterfly season?” 🙂 The Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis (my gallery link) is only a little bigger than my thumbnail and yet is one of the most intricately-designed of all the butterflies. I even used a photo of one on my 2023 Christmas Card! 🙂
This one is the first of that species in my garden this year, but I expect there to be many more! 🙂 And a funny thing to me is that all my many photos of this species have come from my garden, not even one from another location in Costa Rica! But iNaturalist CR shows them all over, on both slopes, but with more in the hills and on the Pacific Slope for whatever reason.
¡Pura Vida!