Category: Insects

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Grasshopper in My Shower

He was on the shower curtain which I whisked a bit and he fell to the bathroom floor, not moving during my shower. So I photographed him and turned out the light. The next day he was on the shower curtain again and I carried him out to the garden this time. I have a big stack of insects books but little in any of them to help identify grasshoppers other than the “Giant Grasshopper” which tourists love. So I’ve just added this one more “Unidentified Grasshopper” to the 15+ in my Grasshopper Gallery.  🙂

One website says that there are 11,000 species of grasshoppers in Costa Rica plus over 6,000 species of Katydids which are often confused with grasshoppers, so I guess a field guide would be difficult to develop and pretty thick!   🙂

Unidentified Grasshopper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Tico Times Article: Costa Rica Wildlife: The Spotted Skunk

 

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Other Insects at Tortuguero

Here’s 3 more interesting “bugs” I got useable photos of . . .

Golden Orb-weaver Spider, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica
Longhorn Beetle, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica
Termite Nest, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

 

 

See earlier blog posts for other insect photos of . . .

For more “other insects” in Costa Rica like the above 3, see my gallery:  More Insects CR (82+ Species alphabetically)  or specific galleries on this post’s three insects:

All photos this trip in: Tortuguero 2023 Trip Gallery

¡Pura Vida!

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This Tortuguero insects post was prepared 10 days ago while yesterday I decided to add below a totally unrelated link to an article I liked when read yesterday:

Bonus Link from E.J. Dionne, Jr.

Why we should all be liberal: The power of an adjective

Column by E.J. Dionne, Jr. in yesterday’s Washington Post, March 12, 2023. It helps describe who I am and why I think most “liberals” (as either an adjective or a noun) are more like Jesus than most “conservatives” (as either an adjective or a noun). What I believe spiritually and politically is based on me being a “follower of Jesus” first and foremost and why I can no longer identify as a Southern Baptist or Evangelical (my former life) and even more certainly not as a Republican in the states.

And note that Dionne quotes extensively from what he calls “one of this year’s most important political books,” Michael Walzer’s “The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On ‘Liberal’ as an Adjective,” published last month.

“Choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”

–Aristotle

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Tortuguero Photo Book published

It’s the same photos I’ve reported with on this blog and are in my trip gallery, but it is another creative opportunity for me that I find fun and will enjoy having a copy of the book and sharing a couple of copies with the lodge which they will share with other guests, so a nice creative use of my photography from a trip like this and the first trip book I’ve done in a year or two.

You can click the book cover below and see an electronic preview of the whole book for free without having to buy it!  🙂 Or you can go directly to this web address to see it:    https://www.blurb.com/b/11499801-wowlife-tortuguero

CLICK this cover image to go to book in bookstore.

¡Pura Vida!

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Tortuguero 2023 GALLERY

I have finally cleaned up my many photos and organized them into a “trip gallery” for this year’s trip to Tortuguero (my 4th) to a new lodge that I will evaluate in another blog post later. To see the gallery, click the linked image of the first page below or use this linked web address:  https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-February-12-16-Tortuga-Lodge-Tortuguero-NP

First page of Tortuguero 2023 Trip Gallery by Charlie — CLICK image to go there!

¡Pura Vida!

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Tortuguero Butterflies

The only place I saw and photographed butterflies this trip was in the lodge gardens, totally on their Porter Weed flowers. I managed to capture 9 different species I think, but have only identified the 6 that are included in this post. See them in their own gallery below this anchor shot . . .

Julia Heliconian, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica

Continue reading “Tortuguero Butterflies”

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Tortuguero Dragonflies

I managed to get usable photos of 5 dragonflies while in the Tortuguero wetlands but cannot guarantee the identification of the four I’ve labeled. The fifth one never landed and thus my photos of him flying are next to impossible to identify, so I just labeled him “unidentified,”  and one or more of the others could be also.  🙂

Red-mantled Dragonlet, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

Continue reading “Tortuguero Dragonflies”

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My Garden Peacock & Health Update

And of course you do know that I mean Peacock BUTTERFLY!  🙂

There are two species that I see here, the more common is the Banded Peacock that I see all over Costa Rica and shared one from last week’s visit to Xandari, but maybe my preferred is the simpler but elegant  White Peacock Butterfly, Anartia jatrophae. Click that link for my gallery photos of them. They are also found all over Costa Rica, though not in the abundance of the Banded Peacock. These are the only 2 “Peacock” butterflies in Costa Rica, while Panama and south into South America there is also a Red Peacock Butterfly which is similar to the Banded but with thicker bands of red where the Banded has thinner white bands.

White Peacock Butterfly, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Continue reading “My Garden Peacock & Health Update”

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Two Damselflies at Xandari

I was not aware of any Dragonflies but saw many Damselflies including these two with fairly certain identifications 🙂  . . . 

Female Azure Dancer

Female Azure Dancer at Xandari Costa Rica

Forest Rubyspot

Forest Rubyspot at Xandari Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

See my gallery of many of the Dragon & Damselflies in Costa Rica.

And the 2023 Xandari Trip Gallery is now ready for you to see all this year’s photos from this colorful nature resort. 

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Last Butterfly – A Clouded Sulphur

This is a very common butterfly here and one of many in the family Pieridae – WHITES, YELLOWS & SULPHURS, though this was the only one from this visit to Xandari. In that linked gallery there are photos of 23 species and many came from Xandari on earlier visits.

Cloudless Sulphur – Phoebis sennae

Cloudless Sulphur – Phoebis sennae at Xandari Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

And the 2023 Xandari Trip Gallery is now ready for you to see all my photos from this colorful nature resort.

Yesterday’s Freshness . . .

. . . was felt when I went to and from Central Atenas on the first day of school. Everywhere were happy, smiling, chatting school kids of all ages, kindergarten to 12th grade wearing brand new uniforms and marking the real beginning of 2023 for them! School year here is February to December. It made me feel good about living en el pueblo de Atenas!

¡Pura Vida!

 

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3 Brushfoots from Xandari

The largest family of butterflies is Nymphalidae – BRUSHFOOTS and you can click that link for my galleries in that family where I now have photos of 93 species. I did get one more photo from this family that I cannot yet identify, so not included here.

Banded Peacock – Anartia fatima

Erato Heliconian – Heliconius erato

Erato Heliconian – Heliconius erato at Xandari Costa Rica (also called “Postman”)

Carolina Satyr – Hermeuptychia sosybius

Carolina Satyr – Hermeuptychia sosybius at Xandari Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

And the 2023 Xandari Trip Gallery is now ready for you to see all my photos from this colorful nature resort.