Category: Garden

Both my gardens and ones I visit

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Tropical Kingbird as a Tropical Painting

When I was selling photos under the name “Nature As Art” I would say that I paint with my camera and always tried to formulate in my mind through the camera lens an idea with simplicity, leading lines, contrasts, shapes and balance creating a type of “painting” with many of my photos. Yesterday’s “Melodious Morning” is a good example and in someway today’s photo of the Tropical Kingbird (eBird) sitting on a branch of the tropical Bougainvillea is another. I prefer the first image with the bird looking at us, making it more dynamic in that photo, but both images can be my tropical paintings for today! 🙂

Tropical Kingbird on Bougainvillea, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Costa Rica
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Angry Bird?

Though I’ve never seen that cartoon, my first sight of this bird made me think “Angry Bird” for some reason, maybe the slant of his eye or something, but he is a Common Tody-Flycatcher (eBird link) and my several shots in my Common Tody-Flycatcher Gallery are all from different places, so maybe that makes him “common.” 🙂 Not my favorite bird, but certainly interesting and another found only in Central and South America.

Common Tody-Flycatcher, Guayabo Lodge & Gardens, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Common Tody-Flycatcher, Guayabo Lodge & Gardens, Turrialba, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

More of this adventure in my “Trip Gallery” 2022 Guayabo Lodge.

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The Humble Sparrow

I photographed only 20 species of birds at the combination of Guayabo Lodge and CATIE Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center in Turrialba. I will not post all 20 species because frankly some of the photos just aren’t worth sharing and after my two-day’s-ago post of the toucan in my garden, nothing from the Guayabo trip compares! 🙂 But all birds are important to me and be sure to see my Guayabo BIRDS Gallery.

And I do like these four shots of my most commonly seen sparrow all over Costa Rica, the Rufous-collared Sparrow (eBird link) found only in Central and South America. Locals call it “Come Maíz” in Spanish (it eats corn). I have a pretty good collection of this bird in my Rufous-collared Sparrow Gallery including one from my first trip to CR in 2009 of a mother bird feeding her child a worm! 🙂

Also in my Costa Rica Birds Galleries I have photos of 5 other types of Sparrows here in Costa Rica: (1) Orange-billed Sparrow, (2) Olive Sparrow, (3) Black-striped Sparrow, (4) White-eared Ground-Sparrow, and (5) Stripe-headed Sparrow. They are each beautiful in their own ways and certainly a part of the great ecology of Costa Rica.

Rufous-collared Sparrow, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica
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Red Vein Indian Mallow

The Abutilon striatum (or Abutilon pictum) – Red Vein Indian Mallow flower was possibly my best “find” on last week’s trip, or at least it is my best “lifer” or first-time-seen item of nature at Guayabo Lodge. (Note that the Golden Scarab Beetle and Black Tarantula Spider were also firsts for me in Costa Rica, but this flower was to me the most beautiful and the biggest prize! 🙂

You can read about the Red Vein Indian Mallow on several websites: gardenia.net came up first in the search window and has an especially nice photo as does anniesannuals.com, and then for more scientific sites try Wikipedia.com or worldoffloweringplants.com.

It is native to southern Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The plant has become naturalized in Central America, and is used in horticulture. Common names include red vein abutilon, red vein Indian mallow, red vein flowering maple, Chinese-lantern and red vein Chinese lanterns.

Red Vein Indian Mallow, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica

And some more photos of this unique flower at Guayabo Lodge . . .

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A Colorful Visitor Today!

This afternoon I got up from the computer where I was working on my Guayabo bird photos (boring compared to this!), and as I walked across the living room there was a Keel-billed Toucan in my Cecropia Tree! I quickly got my camera and shot through two panes of glass (sliding door open) which was still better than shooting through the screen! 🙂 And the photos aren’t nearly as blurry as I expected! After some rapid shots, I slowly approached the screen as he hopped up the tree, but by the time I was quietly out, he flew away! Oh well, even quick experiences like this in my own house and garden are just a few of the many reasons I enjoy living “Retired in Costa Rica!” ¡Pura vida!

Keel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Keel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Mooning me? Keel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

See my GALLERY: Costa Rica Keel-billed Toucans

With other shots made in my garden! 🙂

Plus more from all over Costa Rica!

🙂

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A Dazzling Surprise

Ventral Side of Mexican Silverspot, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Costa Rica.

I spent more than an hour searching for the identification of this butterfly that I photographed from beneath or below in the Gardens of Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba last week. Then I suddenly realized that it is the same butterfly as yesterday’s, just the other side! 🙂 Dummy me! The closest similarity was the underside of the Dione Juno Heliconian Butterfly, but I am fairly certain that this one is Mexican! 🙂

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Gardens of Guayabo Lodge

I shot most of these photos on my arrival afternoon, Sunday. Please be aware that I’m in one of those places with a weak internet connection. Yesterday I uploaded the photos for the blog okay but when I tried to view them online I got only words with no photos showing up at all. If that is happening to you, you may see the photos I’ve chosen for the blog on the beginnings of my Gallery for 2022 April 3-8 Guayabo Lodge. Of course the gallery is incomplete until after the trip. For now it is an alternate way to see my blog photos if you are not seeing them as I could not yesterday, 🙂 And the problem may have been my blog host yesterday because I’m seeing them okay today! 🙂

Bird of Paradise Flower
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A Break in Blogging

Yep! I just went 6 days without blogging which is not my usual habit which is to write posts 3 or 4 days ahead then break from the routine while posts keep coming out. No health problems or catastrophes, “just tired of blogging.” But with another trip coming tomorrow, I’m in the mood and here’s a few nature photos made during this “down time.”

Two Bee or Not Two Bee

I’m still not getting many butterflies in my garden yet other than the fast-moving Yellows that never seem to land for a photo. But here’s two bees in my garden this morning:

Unidentified Bee on Triquitraque
Green Orchid Bee on Porter Weed
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Iguanas Gaining Popularity

That’s the restaurant now, not the large reptilian lizard! 🙂 But to me the food is still just “so-so” or mediocre. My second try was with nachos that I thought a young-adult oriented restaurant would do really good, but they had no chicken nachos that day and the beef was tough or hard to chew and stringy, catching in my teeth. They again asked me how was the food and I told them, so maybe they will improve? Plus, this time I walked all the way to the back of the long restaurant and out into their patio which is obviously the most popular section. It is beautiful with a cool outdoor Costa Rica mural and a statue of an iguana! Pleasing environment! 🙂 Fun, youthful restaurant! And tourists will like too!

Outdoor Patio area of Iguanas Restaurant, Atenas, Costa Rica.
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2nd Life of Triquitraque!

This Triquitraque or Flame Vine on my back wall usually blooms two months: January-February and that’s it! This January it did not have as many blooms, so I gave it a little plant food and started watering it more when wow! it started growing new vines and blooming much more than in January, so now I’m getting a “2nd Life” of it this year for hopefully all of March-April! 🙂 With more blooms! 🙂

Triquitraque or Flame Vine on my back wall, Atenas, Costa Rica.

And some other views . . .

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