I’m still working on my hundreds of photos of birds photographed on Rio Tarcoles Monday, so I will start with one of the last things we saw, a Troop of White-faced Capuchin Monkeys among the trees along Mantas Beach (Playa Mantas), which I first visited while staying at Hotel Punta Leona in March of 2019. The beach photo below was made then. 🙂 The hotel and resort development owns most of the land but the government says beaches cannot be private, so Walter took us to a little trail at the end of one street in the village of Punta Leona to get here, mainly for the monkeys and sloths. I did not get a sloth photo this time, but some of my Canadian friends did. To see more of these monkey photos, go to what will become a sub-gallery of this Trip Gallery: Playa Mantas Monkeys 2025 or if you want more, see my capuchins from all over CR in gallery: White-faced Capuchin Monkeys.
White-faced Capuchin Monkey, Playa Mantas, Punta Leona, Costa Rica
Yesterday’s blog post was my 12 favorite photos of 2024, allowing myself only 2 pix for each of 6 categories. The Birds Category was the most difficult to narrow down, choosing a Toucan and a pair of Green Ibis. Here are the other 9 bird photos that made my next-to-last cut, presented in a static gallery below this one photo for the email notice of the post . . .
As every year on New Year’s Eve, I am trying my best to narrow down my favorite photos to just 12 – pretty much impossible! 🙂 But I always do it anyway and never by the months. This year I created 6 categories of photos and chose 2 pix in each. As usual, the birds category was the most difficult to narrow down, so tomorrow I am publishing another post with the 9 runner ups in the bird category. 🙂
The Categories this year are: 1) Birds, 2) Butterflies, 3) Other Insects, 4) Other Wildlife, 5) Flowers, 6) Landscapes. And the ones labeled from “Atenas” are all from my garden except the vista from Casita del Café.
My twelve choices for 2024 will be below this one photo for the email version. They are a slideshow in the online version, so email recipients please click “Read More” below for 12 great photos! 🙂
According to Goodreads, where I track my book reading and follow the reading of friends who are also on Goodreads, I read 15 books in 2024. Most of my books this year were the adventure/mystery/detective series of Special Agent Pendergast of the FBI who is an eccentric modern Sherlock Holmes from New Orleans with a southern accent that is commented on in the stories like mine is here, so I partly identify! 🙂 This series is co-authored by two writers, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
I got started reading these guys’ excellent story-telling when I googled something like “adventure stories taking place in Central America” and came up with The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston which is a well-told true story of an archaeological mystery in one of the rainforests of nearby Honduras. Preston is also a real archaeologist. So you know, his stories have a little bit of Indiana Jones here! 🙂 Then I read a short series of his books about a young woman archaeologist in Santa Fe, New Mexico with some exciting adventures all over the west including one at Glorieta Pass, NM, close to the conference center I spent a lot time at over the years. So he kept me involved in his writing and when he joined Lincoln Child to write the Agent Pendergast series he even brought that Santa Fe archaeologist into one or two of those stories and by then I was hooked on reading this mystery series. I’m now on book 18 of the 22 currently in the series, but there may be more as it is a popular adventure/mystery series. 🙂 They are the Kindle books I read on bus trips and at dinner when eating alone. While at breakfast I read a passage from the Bible and then selected stories in the Washington Post plus the WP Comics of course! 🙂
My 2024 Books read.
“If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
CLICK this image of first page to go to the gallery.
Yes, Xandari is expensive, but it is worth it for me as I think the photos tell. Enjoy my “Nature as Art” photos that are different each time I visit there.
It takes me a while to process the many photos I usually take and then label and get into galleries – but it is done! for the November 10 & 17-22 Visit by the Gary Eaton’s. Linked to the gallery or click on the image of first page below . . .
CLICK ABOVE IMAGE to go to the gallery.
I placed it in my “CR TRIP GALLERIES” because it was their trip and much like a trip for me with a variety of photos, many of which are okay even if not my best! 🙂 After all, I had cancer surgery on my nose in the middle that week and was dealing with feet & leg inflammation from the new blood pressure medicine, but in spite of all that, I had great time Gary & Kenna! And I hope you are able to return to Costa Rica in the future to see other areas and different National Parks! I love it all! 🙂
Another purely Central American bird is the Lesson’s Motmot, Momotus lessonii(my gallery link) is found from Southern Mexico down through Panama. There are different species of Motmots in South America and we also have another one called the Turquoise-browed Motmot (my gallery link to it). They are mostly seen in the shadows of a tree and thus difficult for good photos. Here’s a shot of the one in my next-door neighbor’s Cecropia Tree last Wednesday morning and there are many more in the above-linked gallery. Read more about them on eBird.
. . . are a part of the often unseen beauty in nature and have become a regular category of photos for me when I trek in the forest. Here’s 2 photos plus the feature at top, but you can see several more in my Lichens, Leaves & Nature Things GALLERY from the Caribe Sur this month.
Withered Cecropia Leaf One of many lichens on rainforest trees.
¡Pura Vida!
And beyond this recent trip to Hotel Banana Azul, I have a bigger gallery of collected Leaves & Nature Things pulled from many trips and my garden that just might interest you and another of Just Fungi (lichens, mushrooms, etc.). Both are from all over Costa Rica. 🙂
Since I first wrote this I have completed the entire Trip Gallery for Hotel Banana Azul, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón Province! 🙂
And though I could continue sharing photos from Banana Azul, I think I will stop for now and come back to photo shares from my garden in Atenas, Alajuela Province, starting tomorrow. But you can see more in the above-linked Trip Gallery. ¡Pura Vida!
Becoming world famous for hikers is the coast to coast (Atlantic to Pacific) hiking trail titled El Camino de Costa Rica (WEBSITE link), a 280 kilometer hike through forests, mountains, farms and small villages with many suggested overnight stays in homes, camping or even a few luxury hotels nearby. 🙂
Two of the four basilisks in Costa Rica are easy to identify, the Green or Emerald Basilisk is rather obvious! As is the Helmeted Basilisk! 🙂 But the two I have never been able to easily identify are the Basiliscus basiliscus, Common Basilisk and the Basiliscus vittatus, Striped or Brown Basilisk which is further complicated by many calling both Common Basilisk, all in Spanish of course! 🙂 Then colors and patterns vary according to local and age of the lizard, from baby to juvenile to immature adult to adult and of course some slight differences in the sexes. So, for years my gallery has had just one basket for all of “Common, Brown and Striped Basilisks,” even though the scientific names are two.
Brown or Striped Basilisk, Hotel Banana Azul, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
I now found a simple way to separate the two species and now have two separate galleries for the two scientific names. Thanks to iNaturalist Costa Rica, I suddenly realized that the easiest to identify difference is where they live! 🙂 One on the Caribbean Slope and one on the Pacific Slope.
The one in this photo made on the Caribbean Coast is a Brown or Striped Basilisk, Basiliscus vittatus (my gallery link). Note that even though most locals say one or the other (Brown or Striped), most books and websites use both for the common name of this one species, Basiliscus vittatus. And similarly, the Spanish common names are two, Basilisco Café or Basilisco Rayado, and the people on the Caribbean Slope often use a shortened name of “Common Basilisk” (“Basilisco Común“), even though that is the official common name of the one on the other coast! See my confusion about what to call these little lizards? 🙂
The one that is officially called Common Basilisk is Basiliscus basiliscus (my gallery link) and is found only on the Pacific Slope! The Spanish name for it is Lagarto Jesucristo Común, and thus the only one to legitimately use the name “Common Basilisk” (“Basilisco Común“). And by the way, even though only in the official Spanish common name of this one, both of these, plus the Green Basilisk, are regularly called “Jesus Christ Lizards,” because all three walk on water! 🙂
And if you are confused, welcome to the club! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
I do have this photo in an “Other Wildlife” sub gallery of my trip gallery, though the bee I shared earlier is the only other good photo, with a so so one of Leafcutter Ants. Since I first wrote this I have completed the entire Trip Gallery! 🙂
