That is my best effort identification and the closest match in my book, Dragonflies and Damselflies of Costa Rica, A Field Guide by Dennis Paulson and William Haber. But for those who care about ID, note that this one is very similar to Calvert’s Dancer female and the wings just like the Cerulean Dancer female, though mine here has a darker body and tail. I’m finding Dragon and Damselfly ID pretty difficult as I haven’t learned the subtle differences in body parts yet. 🙂 This one was in my garden the other day.
Black-fronted Dancer Damselfly female, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
My walks to town or “Central Atenas,” as they call it here, always includes passing the house of a family that plants many flowers, including a zinnia garden at least twice a year. As I walk by I often pull out my cell phone and snap a butterfly or flower. To show my appreciation of these who take the time to plant flowers, I made a little 20-page photo book of the butterflies I photographed over the last year in their garden and will take 3 copies to them as a Christmas gift once the books arrive. You can preview every page of the book for free by clicking the front cover image below or go to this address and click the word “Preview” then each page to see the next: https://www.blurb.com/b/11328129-jard-n-de-mariposas
Of course it’s in Spanish. That’s the language of Costa Rica! 🙂
One day they were digging a hole where the playground equipment will go and then another adding big rocks. I thought to myself that the rocks were to help with water drainage underneath dirt they will put on top of them. Then another surprise! They put gravel over the rocks which will help even more with the water drainage, but children playing on gravel? Well, it seems to be a very fine gravel which will not hurt the child who falls on it and of course grass could never grow on an active playground! So it is looking good and hopefully my next update will be photos of the playground equipment. I’m expecting something contemporary and hopefully it will not be concrete like everything else built so far! 🙂 Here’s three progressive photos for this report . . .
Walking back from town yesterday I saw a guy trying to catch a big snake with a broomstick out by the small apartment complex’s garbage basket (Canasta de Basura). He was obviously experienced and quickly caught the large snake and conveniently stopped for me when I pulled out my cell phone for a photo. I’m guessing that it is his pet Boa that had escaped and could have soon found a home in one of our gardens nearby. 🙂 But no worry! They are non-poisonous and live on small mammals, birds and even other reptiles which they squeeze to death and swallow whole. Hmmm.
There are several varieties of Boas and after researching online I think it is this one described by Wikipedia as: “Boa imperator or Boa constrictor imperator (in common usage) is a large, heavy-bodied, non venomous species of snake, of the boa genus, that is commonly kept in captivity.”
I have photos of several types of Boas from 6 different locations in Costa Rica, both wild and captive in myBoa Constrictor GALLERY. One shot here for the emailed blog announcement followed by 3 others from yesterday’s serendipity snake experience . . .
Yesterday morning I spent about an hour or so walking down an old favorite, “Shady Lane,” that I haven’t walked in quite awhile. It is the extension of 8th Avenue past the Roca Verde entrance in what is still a semi-rural area. Since I’m focusing on butterflies now, I waited until after 8am because they require plenty of sunshine and most of my butterfly photos are made between 8 & 2. 🙂
A juvenile Ctensaurus or Black Iguana, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
Below is a gallery of 16 different species of wildlife seen along this urban street and 4 of them aren’t butterflies! 🙂 Plus a slide show of some flowers and trees also seen on this tropical neighborhood safari!
. . . I’m pretty sure, though on my only photo of the top of wings the usual orange bars or patches are not obvious which I blame on a weak or out-of-focus photo with sun-glare! 🙂 The only other one I know of with those dual spots on both wings like these is the Cloudless Sulphur and I’ve never seen one this orange – so I’m sticking with Orange-barred Sulphur, Phoebis philea. See my Orange-barred Gallery. And below are 4 shots of today’s sighting . . .
Yesterday morning I photographed a tiny little butterfly that I knew was new for me but when I got it identified I find very few photos online and mine will become the first to appear on butterfliesandmoths.org. 🙂
The scientific name is Dynamine agacles core and the common names are either Pale Sailor, Tiny Sailor or Dainty White Sailor , depending on the source! 🙂 It was very small, like when wings folded about the size of my thumbnail or double that with wings open. Here’s five of many photos I made . . .
The Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl or Mochuelo Comúnen español, is one of the smaller of the many owls found in Costa Rica and for the first time I saw one this morning in my yard uphill from me with four photos to follow (though I was shooting into the sun). I’ve seen this species 3 other places in Costa Rica and you can see those photos in myFerruginous Pygmy-Owl GALLERY. And one of the more interesting sightings was outside Costa Rica of a family of this owl in Guatemala which they locally called “Guatemalan Pygmy-Owl” but I’m pretty sure it is the same species. 🙂
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 . . .
There are many different species of the Satyr Butterflies here in Costa Rica with the most common in my yard (on grasses, not flowers) is the Carolina Satyr. With wings folded he’s the size of my thumbnail, sitting on a blade of grass here! You can see this particular Satyr’s pattern of spots and stripes in this feature photo, while there are more than 50+ other combinations of patterns and colors in Satyrs. The second photo below that shows this same butterfly with his wings partially open and part of his plain brown top, then the third with them mostly open. Since I never got a shot of his total topside, I have a fourth photo of a different Carolina Satyr with his wings all the way open to show the simplicity of his topside compared to folded wings! 🙂
