Category: Nature

My profession is to always find God in nature.

– Henry David Thoreau

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Difficult to Identify

This is one of those that are almost impossible to identify with no matches in any of my sources of those spots and other characteristics. The AI called Google Lens is for the entire world and on difficult individuals like this one, they might call it a butterfly that lives only in Asia or Africa, so not as helpful on ones like this as they are on very unique and unusual insects they can find another photo of. So far, iNaturalista’s AI is the most helpful on butterflies, but not always. In the case of this one, as far as they will go in identification is to put it in the Hesperini Tribe which is pretty broad or general. As I write this, I haven’t yet posted these photos on iNaturalist yet. But when I do there is a real possibility that one of the experts who have devoted their lives to butterflies will have an identification, but not always. Here’s three photos of this Skipper Butterfly that I cannot ID:

Unidentified Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Difficult to Identify”
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Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

And the most common hummingbird in my garden is this Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Amazilia tzacatl (my gallery link). Fairly common from Mexico to northern South America at multiple altitudes.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Blue-black Grassquit

Looking over the meadow across from my house where he will feed, this male has a black band across his back which is the shadow of another powerline above him. 🙂 I’ve seen both male & female of these all over Costa Rica as shown in my gallery at: Blue-black Grassquit, Volatinia jacarina, including that first trip to Costa Rica while at Carate on the Osa Peninsula in 2009. Note that he is similar to the Blue-black Grosbeak I recently shared a photo of, but smaller. Both feed on the grasses (seeds).

Blue-black Grassquit male, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

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Telemiades Genus Skipper

I think it is most likely the Telemiades nicomedes, but not sure, so giving it the genus name. iNaturalist uses the genus name a lot as you can see on this Genus Telemiades page of iNaturalist Costa Rica.

Telemiades Genus of Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Unusual Flowers with Unusual Names

As my last post from the Tortuguero Adventure, I’m introducing just one of several unusual flowers at Tortuga Lodge & Gardens which help them live up to the “gardens” part of their name. The iNaturalist AI is “confident” that the flowers in both of these photos are in the Genus Columnea (linked to Wikipedia taxonomy article) or you can see other examples in Costa Rica that have been submitted with that genus, including some with specific species, on iNaturalistCR-Genus-Columnea. And as the first “suggestion” species on both these similar but different photos, they give the species name Columnea nicaraguensis. (linked to photos of that species on iNaturalist Costa Rica). And that is most likely the correct species of these two photos even though they seem a little different.

Columnea nicaraguensis, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica
Columnea nicaraguensis, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica

Be sure to check out the FLOWERS gallery in the Trip Gallery and notice other interesting flowers like the Peacock Flower, Night-scented Orchid and Pheasant’s Tail! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Tomorrow it is back to photos from my garden and for about a week, shots made in early September that I held for now. 🙂

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Tortuguero Trip Gallery

CLICK IMAGE to go to the gallery or . . .

Go to: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2025-09-08-12-Tortuga-Lodge-Gardens-Tortuguero

For the last two weeks I’ve shared photos made on my 4-night trip to “The Amazon of Costa Rica,” Tortuguero National Park. And that was only the “tip of the iceberg” of the many photos made. See them all in the above gallery! Having this kind of nature adventures is why I chose to live out my retirement in Costa Rica and it has already surpassed my hopes and dreams and though I have to slow down some, the adventures continue! Sometimes in my little backyard garden! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!