Category: Nature

My profession is to always find God in nature.

– Henry David Thoreau

Posted on

Virtual Rainforest Hike with Iván Castillo

Earlier I shared two videos of virtual night & day rainforest hikes with one of the young female guides at Selva Verde Lodge, Melany Ocón. The kind I experience on my trips, though we see more on our live hikes than these short videos . . .

Today is a hike with one of the young male guides whom I have been hiking with before when there (an expert on frogs). We saw a lot more than they see on this video, but it gives you an idea of what it is like to hike at Selva Verde Lodge & Reserve, one of my many favorite places in Costa Rica. You will see a couple of frogs, a helmeted lizard, a pit viper and an anteater, so worth your effort to watch for 20 minutes and see just a little of why I love to explore the forests of Costa Rica with guides like Iván and Melany. June 30 I head north of Sarapiqui (location of these videos) for a week at Maquenque Lodge with other guides but similar experiences. And remember that English is not their first language! They do much better with English than I do with Spanish!   🙂

 

“If man doesn’t learn to treat the oceans and the rainforest with respect, man will become extinct.” 
~Peter Benchley

And for my photos of two visits to Selva Verde Lodge, Sarapiqui:

2019-May 9-15 — Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiqui

2016 December 23-27 – Selva Verde Lodge, Sarapiqui

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Morning Walk in Nature

Walking around my little house is one morning joy I can have any day! As good as up the hill or in a faraway place.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There I feel that nothing can befall me.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

My Flora & Forest Gallery

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Design by Nature

Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.

~Rabindranath Tagore

 

IMG_6813-B-WEB
Guarumo or Cecropia Tree from my terrace – always facing heaven.

 

You have glimpsed the divine.”
~Vera Nazarian

 

See my Flora & Forest Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Color Walk

On the same walk to town with yesterday’s beetle I snapped these 3 flowers that caught my attention. The red & yellow hibiscus is rare or at least for my eyes!   🙂   One of the red flowers (feature photo) appears to be in the poinsettia family but not the traditional one while the other red flower is more common here, but eye-catching none-the-less!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

“Life is like a box of crayons.”

~John Mayer

My Flora & Forest GALLERY

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Unidentified BEETLE

I spent nearly an hour searching my books and all over the internet for an ID on this interesting fellow I saw while walking to town the other day. He is possibly in the large Scarab Beetle family or Stag Beetle family or seems related to our Rhinoceros Beetle and Hercules Beetle, but even with those I can’t find photos of one with these large, wide “horns” or divided head. New surprises every day!   🙂

20200611_102809_001-A-WEB
Unidentified Beetle, 2 to 3 inches long

“Any foolish boy can stamp on a beetle, but all the professors in the world cannot make a beetle.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer

See my “Other Insects of Costa Rica” photo gallery for more insect oddities.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Giant Swallowtail

A different butterfly in my garden today along with repeats of most seen yesterday.  🙂

The “Giant” Swallowtail is not really bigger than most other Swallowtails but identified by his patterns. See more in my Giant Swallowtail Gallery or go for all in the big Butterfly Gallery.

IMG_6679-A-WEB
Giant Swallowtail
IMG_6776-A-WEB
Giant Swallowtail

 

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Flowers = Butterflies

And 4 species today!   🙂   I went out and photographed the above flowers for a one-shot post when I realized there was a dozen or so butterflies beyond them on my Porterweed flowers of these 4 species (one I incorrectly named the other day}:

IMG_6566-A-WEB
Cloudless Sulphur
IMG_6524-A-WEB
Statira Sulphur
IMG_6474-A-WEB
Polydamas Swallowtail, I mistakenly called a Red-sided Swallowtail recently. Sorry!

 

Cloudywing Butterfly (not sure which one of several Cloudywings)

 

See more of these 4 and 100 others in my Costa Rica Butterflies Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Red-sided Swallowtail

Yesterday I saw a new butterfly for me and my best efforts at identification using my book and online sites is “Red-sided Swallowtail.” He matches all the photos of that species except for his tail, but that could be one of those “exceptions” every species seems to have. His tail is more like the “Dual-spotted Swallowtail” but the wings are just too different. And his wings are a little bit like “White Crescent Swallowtail” but not totally and those don’t live further south than Honduras, so I’m sticking with this ID for now!  🙂

Just thankful that I have one more new butterfly whatever he is!   🙂

IMG_6406-A-WEB

 

Butterflies are nature’s angels.
They remind us what a gift it is to be alive.
-Robyn Nola

¡Pura Vida!

 

See my Butterfly Gallery.

Posted on

Blue-eyed Darner Dragonfly

One of the neat things about living in Costa Rica is that you do not always have to go look for wildlife, since it often comes to you. This has been particularly true with insects at my house!   🙂

After breakfast yesterday I soaked my oatmeal bowl in the sink with warm soapy water and finished my coffee while reading the paper. When I returned to the sink, this dragonfly had flown or dropped right into the soapy water and was dead. I gently pulled him out and lightly dabbed with a paper towel – no life. And here is my quick cellphone photo. After an internet search I declared him a Blue-eyed Darner male. I’m seldom 100% certain of insect identifications, but this is my best match on the web!

See my Dragonfly Gallery.

“I love to see the sunshine on the wings of the Dragonflies… there is magic in it.”
― Ama H.Vanniarachchy

 

¡Pura Vida!