Category: Rainforest

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Collared Aracari

This small toucan is found from Mexico south to Columbia and Venezuela. In Costa Rica it is found mostly on the Caribbean Slope with the only ones on the Pacific side being in the Northwest or the Nicoya Peninsula. While his first cousin, the Fiery-billed Aracari is found along the Central and Southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. That includes Atenas where I’ve had Fiery-billed in my garden. It looks like this one except for the red bill. See my other photos of this one in my gallery: Collared Aracari (linked).

Collared Aracari, Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, Manzanillo, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Beach Spider Lily

A graceful and simple flower along tropical beaches and in the Gardens of Hotel Banana Azul, the Beach Spider Lily, Hymenocallis littoralis.

Beach Spider Lily, Hymenocallis littoralis, Hotel Banana Azul, Play Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Read about this species on Wikipedia or on iNaturalist Costa Rica.

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Eroding Beaches, Diminishing Wildlife, and . . .

I am not through sharing photos from this year’s trip to Banana Azul and haven’t even started on the photos from a morning hike in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (source of my most wildlife sightings this year), but with all the praise I’ve given Banana Azul over the years and what was an annual trip every September (the month with usually less rain), I need a “DISCLAIMER” to previous recommendations for this hotel and area and to explain why I will not continue annual trips here and may not even return to Banana Azul.

At places on the beaches there is barely a space for walking out of the water and in others no dry space at all! Playa Negra, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica. From a beach to a trail!

Read on for my explanation or reasons and to see more photos . . .

Continue reading “Eroding Beaches, Diminishing Wildlife, and . . .”
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Ghost Anole

Another new species of lizard for me! The Ghost Anole, Anolis lemurinus (my gallery link with only these 2 photos now) or you can check out the parent gallery LIZARDS (22+ species) (linked) where you will find 8+ anole species in the Genus Anolis, plus a lot of other interesting tropical lizards. Just more of the adventure of living in Costa Rica! 🙂 And yes, this one was found at Hotel Banana Azul in the Caribe. And because I went to Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge on the last day there, all of those photos are yet to come. 🙂

Ghost Anole, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Blue Morning

I was out on the beach early yesterday morning with hopes of a brilliant sunrise. Instead, God gave me a rich blue sky, quickly followed by a nourishing rain in this tropical forest. This year’s more extreme weather promises some more extreme experiences! 🙂

Sunrise Caribe South, Banana Azul, Limon, Costa Rica

And as the light increased from the above first sight, see the changing blues added to other colors in the next three shots . . .

Continue reading “Blue Morning”
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Maquenque Trip Gallery Done!

Wow! Not easy and not quick! I always have a lot of photos to process from Maquenque Lodge and here are the ones that I chose to keep in the appropriate sub-galleries. Click the image of gallery below to go there or use this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2026-07-2-7-Maquenque-Lodge-Boca-Tapada

CLICK IMAGE OF GALLERY to go there.

¡Pura Vida!

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Roadside Hawk

This time at Maquenque I saw only one hawk and it is one of the more common in Costa Rica, the Roadside Hawk (my gallery link).

Roadside Hawk, Maquenque Lodge, Boca Tapada, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Roadside Hawk, Maquenque Lodge, Boca Tapada, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Nicaraguan Slider

These are my first turtles to be labeled Nicaraguan, but that is what iNaturalist’s AI said for every one of these photos (less the nose shot) and we’ll see if the experts agree after I post them there. It is very similar to the Central American Slider and thus could be either. But Maquenque is almost on the Nicaragua border, plus this species is supposedly all over Costa Rica.

Nicaraguan Slider, Maquenque Lodge, Boca Tapada, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Nicaraguan Slider”
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Yellow Tyrannulet

This pretty little bird was photographed from the back porch of my cabin and when I put three shots from this sighting in my gallery Yellow Tyrannulet (linked), I found that the only two shots already in that gallery were made in the same tree two years earlier from the back porch of that same cabin of a more mature bird. 🙂 So Maquenque is the only place I’ve ever seen it.

Yellow Tyrannulet, Maquenque Lodge, Boca Tapada, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

I finally processed all the bird photos from my 2026 Maquenque Trip linked at: BIRDS (43 species alphabetically) with one “Lifer” (1st time seen), the Yellow-olive Flatbill.