charliedoggett.net
Check out the now finished gallery of photos from my latest Costa Rica Adventure and second visit to Esquinas Rainforest Lodge by clicking the first page image below or go to this link: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-July-1-6-Esquinas-Rainforest-Lodge
“Nothing has ever been said about God that hasn’t already been said better by the wind in the trees.”
~Thomas Merton
It was in October of 2018, the peak of the rainy season, that I first visited Esquinas Rainforest Lodge at La Gamba Research Station, Piedras Blancas National Park, north of Golfito, Puntarenas. It rained pretty hard every afternoon with the mornings and short spaces between rain full of wonderful birds to photograph! And the planned boat trip to Rio Coto Mangroves turned impossible with high winds and heavy rain on Golfo Dulce, but the ingenious boat captain took me back into the smaller Gulf of Golfito (shielded from heavy wind by trees) for some of my better bird shots in between downpours – an unplanned but excellent substitute for an always good mangrove tour! Making Lemonade from Lemons! 🙂 And how could you not in this incredible rainforest? See more photos from my first trip there & a video link below . . .
Continue reading ““The Wind in the Trees””
Even if you aren’t into art or my nature photos, maybe you will enjoy a walk through my garden tomorrow morning to see my 50+ blooms on the Maraca or Shampoo Ginger plants plus the other flowers blooming right now and shown below these Maracas in a slide show. Enjoy!
There seems to be more than one juvenile iguana, at different stages of development, living in or near my garden. I think that the main reason they climb my Cecropia/Guarumo Tree is to soak up the sunshine, which all reptiles need as cold-blooded creatures, but as a herbivore, he may also be eating from the leaves and flowers of this tree. The flowers of this tree are also popular with toucans which I’ve photographed in this same tree. Plus the toucans also eat young iguanas! 🙂
See my two Iguana Galleries:
I think these photos are of a Spiny-tailed, but juveniles of both species are similar, so I’m not certain.
¡Pura Vida!
And don’t forget!
Art Show at 105 Roca Verde #2
This SATURDAY, 24 June, 9-12 am
Cash, PayPal or Bank Transfers only.
And this would be my favorite “holiday” though I see every day as a “Get Outdoors Day!” 🙂 Again from the Washington Post article on strange and silly holidays that in this case I don’t see as either strange or silly! 🙂 June 10 – National Get Outdoors Day!
This day is part of a month-long U.S. celebration of the outdoors and the benefit of spending more time there. Picnic with your family at a local park. Go kayaking or paddle boarding. Ride on a bike trail you have never explored. Whatever you do, do it outdoors.
¡Pura Vida!
¡Pura Vida!
Three shots and three different impressions of what a Polydamas Swallowtail, Battus polydamas “looks like” in three photos from my garden below, plus you can see more in my Polydamas Swallowtail Gallery.
This has always been one of my favorite butterflies, even in the states with a slightly different version, seen a lot when in Florida. Here’s two shots of one in my garden the other day . . .
See my Tropical Buckeye Gallery for more photos of this colorful guy! And note that in earlier years here I called it the “West Indian Buckeye” and I was wrong then. All I have seen here are the “Tropical” and theoretically we may have some “Mangrove Buckeye” here, though I’ve not seen one yet. Probably down along the coasts in the mangroves! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
My 4th time at Maquenque Ecolodge, but first time to go on this particular float trip (their web description link) though I’ve canoed their lake and been on the bigger river, San Carlos, in a larger boat. The only reason I’ve missed this one is that they require a minimum of 2 paying customers and I travel solo! 🙂 This was the first time there were other guests interested in this same float trip to make up the minimum with me. They were a lovely couple from Europe, he Italian and she Swiss! We had a great time together and I got a lot of photos which is right now the only part of my Maquenque Trip Gallery that is completed. So you can see more photos at Rio Tres Amigos Safari GALLERY. 🙂
And note that the only wildlife (The cow doesn’t count!) that I show in this post is one bird, but it’s a rare photo of a female Sunbittern sitting on her nest! In earlier blog posts I’ve shown you 3 animals from this safari: Crested Caracara, Green Iguana and Mantled Howler Monkey, yet there are still many more in the above gallery including 12 species of birds! 🙂 And here are 6 shots to give you an idea of what just one morning at Maquenque can be like! 🙂 Still my favorite lodge!
He has risen!
He has risen indeed!
¡Pura Vida!
For a few shots of old Traditional Easter Pageantry, see the trip gallery of my 2016 Visit to Granada, Nicaragua Easter Week, called “Semana Santa” en español.
PERSONAL NOTE: Tonight I will be at one of my favorite nature lodges, Maquenque Ecolodge in Boca Tapada on the Nicaragua border from which you can expect weeks of nature photos and maybe one tonight! 🙂