Category: Nature

My profession is to always find God in nature.

– Henry David Thoreau

Posted on

House Wren?

Well, actually it is a Rufous-naped Wren who happened to come inside my house!

Rufous-naped Wren, Atenas, Costa Rica
(On the back of the couch in my living room! Looking out the screen window.)
Rufous-naped Wren, Atenas, Costa Rica
Making himself at home on a drink coaster. This is what happens with doors left open.

Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.

~Psalm 104:12 ESV 

Rufous-naped Wren, Atenas, Costa Rica
Singing outside my window in the Strangler Fig Tree

See also my Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery.
Posted on

Dione Juno Silverspot

Dione Juno Silverspot butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica

 

Its top side looks much like a Julia, but underside (folded wings) different.
Sorry – not a good image, but only one made of top side.
Dione Juno Silverspot butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica

 

Dione Juno Silverspot butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica

 

Dione Juno Silverspot butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica

My garden is getting to be about as good as one of these butterfly houses or farms! It has been like a new species every few days! But the book says June and July are the two best months for butterflies in Costa Rica, so this show may start tapering off soon! I’m enjoying it while I can and don’t miss my Costa Rica Butterflies Photo Gallery!

The average butterfly life is between 5 and 14 days. And I think I don’t have enough time?

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
~Rabindranath Tagore

Enjoying the moments in Costa Rica!  -Charlie

Posted on

Colobura Dirce Serendipity

I reach for a paper towel in my kitchen and there is something alive on it!

Colobura Dirce butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica
I read that they like Cecropia leaves and I have a new Cecropia Tree!
But not inside my house!
I don’t even have to go outside to
photograph butterflies!  🙂
But he startled me at first.
The only other place I’ve seen one of these was at a butterfly farm a few years ago. My Guarumo Tree is a type of Cecropia and that may be why he is at my house. This is what happens when your doors are open without screens during the day. The book says this butterfly does not eat the nectar of flowers like most but the above leaves and rotting fruit and for some reason likes to get on wet clothes drying on the clothes line. The top of his wings are dark brown with a yellow stripe. He hadn’t moved when I went to bed, but saw him by the sliding glass door the next morning and observed the top of his wings, but couldn’t get a photo.
ser·en·dip·i·ty
ˌserənˈdipədē/
noun
  1. the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
    “a fortunate stroke of serendipity”
    synonyms: (happy) chance, (happy) accident, fluke

     

And all my butterflies at Costa Rica Butterflies  by Charlie Doggett photo gallery

Posted on

2 Garden Additions Today

A stone-looking concrete bench (banca) by my garden door facing the garden.
I hide garden shoes under it, can sit and watch the butterflies (mariposas),
humming birds (colibríes), and toads (sapos). Sorry! Working on my vocabulario.
🙂

Also got a pot to match two others I have and planted a cluster of little palms
that will grow twice that high with nice looking palm fronds.

Night photos because I just thought to make them!  🙂  On cell phone of course!  You are welcome to come sit on my garden bench or balcony rocking chairs (sillas mecedora) any time!   Pura Vida!

Posted on

Sidewalk Flowers in Atenas

This Bougainvillea is in Roca Verde where I begin my walks. Most other photos are in Atenas Central.
Except for church yard, all flowers are in front yards of local homes, small and large. All homes have flowers!
And this is just a small sample of what I see every day!

Atenas, Costa Rica

Atenas, Costa Rica

Atenas, Costa Rica
Atenas, Costa Rica

Atenas, Costa Rica
Atenas, Costa Rica
Atenas, Costa Rica
Atenas, Costa Rica

Atenas, Costa Rica
Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out-values all the utilities of the world.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posted on

Another New Butterfly!

And it is not in any of my books nor can I find it online for identification. Shot in living room.

How can anything this distinctive not be in any of the books?
For now, it remains an Unknown beauty!
On my Living Room window screen.
Atenas, Costa Rica
Whether butterfly or moth, this dude is cool looking!
I’m having this image printed to hang in my house here in Atenas, Costa Rica.

My new gallery now has 20 species in it: Costa Rica Butterflies by Charlie Doggett

And by the way, my “Birthday Breakfast” with Anthony at Kay’s Gringo Postres was great with a yummy omelet, biscuits and gravy, and a fabulous piece of Karo Pecan Pie just like Mother made! It is a place to get American food by a Texas couple. And the only place I know with real bacon!

Posted on

Blomfild’s Beauty

Blomfild’s Beauty,  Atenas, Costa Rica

A few days ago I displayed 3 new butterflies for me. One was on a window screen and I used the text book name Smyrna Blomfildia. Well, two days later he (or one like him) showed up in my bathroom near the ceiling above a high window. Poor light, but two better shots than the one on the screen. This beautiful butterfly is found only in Central America and Mexico, very rarely in South Texas. It is know for the very intricate bottom or closed wing pattern. This time I got a partial shot of the top wings. Neat butterfly!

 

Blomfild’s Beauty, Atenas, Costa Rica
This shot shows the bottom wing pattern a little better than above.
But I will add the screen shot that might show it even better.

 
Blomfild’s Beauty, Atenas, Costa Rica
Notice the intricate design and the multiple colors!

 

 
Nature is the art of God.
Dante Alighieri

See my complete collection at Costa Rica Butterflies by Charlie Doggett photo gallery

—–

And sorry about two posts in one day! I meant to hit the “Save” button, but the “Post” button is bigger and I’m used to hitting it! So consider this tomorrow’s post! You won’t get another one then!

 

Posted on

Finally! A U.S. Ambassador to Cost Rica!

They’ll be here in time for the
Embassy 4th of July Picnic!

See this article with video clip in the TICO TIMES:  http://www.ticotimes.net/2015/06/25/senate-confirms-s-fitzgerald-haney-us-ambassador-costa-rica

We have been without an ambassador since 2013 thanks to the shameless, mean, Anti-Obama political stalling by Republicans in the Senate. It had nothing to do with Ambassador Haney or his qualifications, just silly hatred of President Obama that is now backfiring. Yesterday I read in the Washington Post that this kind of Republicanism is finally dying out in the states.

Be sure to read his stellar qualifications for this position in the above article. He should have been approved the day he was appointed! Hopefully he will help the U.S. image here during the one year he has left for sure and maybe he will get to stay longer if the next U.S. President is a Democrat.

I am trying to avoid politics in this blog, but this is about Costa Rica and affects us here and indirectly you there in the states. Plus I wanted to share what a great new ambassador we now have here. Some things are slowly getting better!  🙂

Some of the surrounding forest and farm land as seen from my bedroom window (above the ugly power lines)

Have you seen the Chamber of Commerce video promoting Costa Rica?  essential COSTA RICA
 Pure marketing, but it does show some of the diversity and strengths of my new home country. (2 min.)  But the shorter tourism promotion clip with singing animals is more fun! Called:  Save the Americans  made especially for those of you who are overworked!  🙂

Posted on

¡El Sapo!

El Sapo is literally “the toad” in Spanish but in Costa Rica it is the name given all toads and frogs. I’ve seen a smaller frog/toad in my yard but today before Spanish Class at my house this morning around 9:00 AM, our teacher, David Salas Castillo, found this big one in my jardin or garden.

Giant Toad or Black-backed Frog, Leptodactylus melanonotus
Not a positive identification – Atenas, Costa Rica

Dark color with light spots, guess 5 or 6 inches without
being stretched out, largest I’ve seen yet

Giant Toad or Black-backed Frog
Atenas, Costa Rica

And a late-breaking photo at about 5:30 while watering the garden:

Giant Toad or Black-backed Frog, Atenas, Costa Rica
The plant is 7 inches tall, so he is between 7 & 8 inches, a big toad!
And with more light than in above photos, he is not as dark in color.
Cool! But do you think he’ll eat my butterflies?

Costa Rica Named the #1 Happiest Country on Earth . . . AGAIN!   By The Travel Channel

Quote seen today:

“Not all those who wander are lost.” 

– J. R. R. Tolkien

Posted on

Three New Butterflies!

Southern Broken Dash Skipper
In my garden at Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Smyrna Blomfildia butterfly inside my house on window screen.
Atenas, Costa Rica
Turquoise Emperor butterfly
In a neighbor’s yard, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

I’m getting more photos at home than I do at some of these butterfly farms! And I never tire of this! Also so glad I went to the trouble and expense of starting a flower garden two weeks after moving in! It has really paid off! In just two months! I’ve lost count of the butterflies I’ve photographed here, and that is in addition to 5 species of Hummingbirds photographed! My Costa Rica Butterflies Gallery  is up to 19 species now, but not all from my yard!

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond. 
~Irish Blessing