Category: Trees

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Enamored by Trees

Towering above me, ever-present, at Arenal Observatory Lodge – TREES! – – – Just one of so many reasons I love the Observatory! I still haven’t mastered how to photograph the beauty and grandeur of trees, but will keep trying. Here’s a few of my shots and you might be interested also in their own website/blog article The Rainbow Trees of Arenal by my friend & fellow Atenas resident, Shannon Farley. Rainbow Eucalyptus trees (Eucalyptus deglupta) were a part of the award-winning sustainable hotel’s reforestation program along with many more native trees in this natural rainforest area.

Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees at Arenal

Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees at Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica
  • Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree
  • Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree
  • Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree
  • Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree

Evergreen Forest Surrounding one Villa

  • Evergreen Forest
  • Evergreen Forest
  • Evergreen Forest
  • Evergreen Forest
  • Evergreen Forest

And so Many More . . .

  • From a Conservatory Cabin
  • Fern Tree
  • Plants Growing on Trees!
  • Thick Forest at Lodge
  • Silk Cotton Tree at Butterfly Conservatory
  • At Caño Negro
  • Arenal Conservatory
  • Arenal Conservatory
  • At Caño Negro

“A tree is our most intimate contact with nature.”

― George Nakashima

¡Pura Vida!

And maybe My CR Trees Gallery for many more!

Part of my bigger Flora & Forest Gallery

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Volcano Views

I thought I had more different views than this but it is no longer new to me, so didn’t take as many photos and the one I took from the butterfly garden didn’t take so here’s 2 from my room, one from a hotel garden and one from the road in front of the Butterfly Conservatory.

  • From My Room
  • From a Lodge Garden
  • Road in front of Butterfly Conservatory
  • View from My Room

¡Pura Vida!

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Other Wildlife at Arenal

Wednesday I shared my photos of “Other Wildlife at Caño Negro” which was a different wetland world on a day trip away from Arenal and the 3 Monkey species seen there were shown in two separate posts. Now sometimes there are more monkeys and other animals in Arenal Observatory, but this trip I photographed 10 species and I’m sharing just 8 of the “other animals” (not birds or butterflies). All were seen on the grounds of Arenal Observatory Lodge, one of my favorite places. Later I will have my trip galleries completed and will summarize here all the amazing wildlife and other nature seen and photographed on this Christmas week trip. CLICK an image below to see it larger:

  • Red-eyed Tree Frog Sleeping in daytime camouflages.
  • White-nosed Coati
  • Agouti
  • Leafwing Butterfly
  • Water Cockroach
  • Brilliant Forest Frog
  • Eyelash Viper
  • Mantled Howler Monkey

“Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.” 

– Charles Lindbergh

See my photo galleries OTHER WILDLIFE.

¡Pura Vida!

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January Yellow – Far and Wide!

Around the first of January every year in Costa Rica the skylines, forest tops and trees in every direction seem to be ablaze in yellow. In my yard it is what we call “Yellow Bells” in English, while many others here and throughout the country are the Yellow Cortez Tree and in other places the Brazilian Fire Tree. These shots are from recent short morning walks through my neighborhood. CLICK image to see larger . . .

  • Yellow – Far & Wide
  • My Yellow Bell Tree
  • Yellow – Far & Wide
  • Yellow – Far & Wide
  • Yellow – Far & Wide
  • My Street
  • Yellow – Far & Wide
  • Up Hill Above My House
  • Another Above My House

“How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.”

– Vincent Van Gogh

¡Pura Vida!

My related Photo Galleries: Flora & Forest

And more photos from Arenal & Caño Negro are coming! I’m still organizing photos! 🙂

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Orange Howler Monkey?

I have a lot to share from today’s (Saturday’s) excursion to Caño Negro Wetlands Reserve, but the most unusual (and all I have time to present tonight) is the totally orange Howler Monkey. And of course the first question is why?

  1. Albino? That is what the CostaRica.com website says and what I believe is the reason.
  2. Pesticides? That is what this article in Costa Rica Star says, a mutant caused by the sulphur-laden pesticides sprayed on the nearby pineapple plantations. I guess possible.
  3. Our guide today said it was caused by incest which might relate to or be the cause of #1.

Regular Mantled Howler Monkeys are black with an orange spot or streak on their backs (mantled). But this rare mutant fellow is all orange and the first I’ve seen like this.

Today’s (Saturday’s) trip was an all-day affair, not returning until 4 PM, so I am tired and can’t process all the many other photos from today now, but will share later.

Tomorrow morning I return home and will then finish processing many more photos from this great Christmas Week at Arenal Observatory Lodge inside Arenal Volcano National Park. Yes, we had some rain this week but that didn’t dampen my spirits! 🙂 And it was sunny the whole time at Caño Negro today!

¡Pura Vida!

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Monkeying Around Christmas Eve

December 24 was a beautiful, sunshiny day! And my 6 year anniversary of living Retired in Costa Rica! I arrived on Christmas Eve 2014 and haven’t stopped exploring this tropical paradise a single day and I’m still blogging about it! Except for the first two Christmases getting “settled in” as a Costa Rica Resident, I have traveled every Christmas week since, to a National Park or other nature preserve.

The 23rd (day before yesterday) was when I scheduled Néstor, my birding guide here, and it was totally cloudy and raining all day. With nothing planned the 24th, it was a bright blue sky, sunny day! So I went hiking on my own, figuring maybe I could see some of the same birds in better light for better photos. Nada! Nothing! Almost no birds! Maybe they were in the tree tops “sunning?” 🙂 But . . .

On the other hand, on the first three rainy days I saw no monkeys and yesterday on the trail looking for birds I saw this troop or family of Mantled Howler Monkeys (my gallery link). They were way high in the Cecropia trees eating leaves, but I managed to get a few distant shots of these common monkeys here:

“We’ve just barely stopped being monkeys.”

~Duncan Trussell

🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Christmas Day’s main event was a visit to the nearby Butterfly Conservatory this morning, but it may be a few days before I get to those photos! 🙂 A Merry Weekend to you! And tomorrow, Saturday, I go to Caño Negro Reserve for birding – always a good place for birds.

Arenal Observatory Lodge, Arenal Volcano National Park

¡Pura Vida!

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1st 24 Hours of Birds

My birding hikes are not until tomorrow, so these 20 species I got on my own and wanted to get them out before what I hope will be some new or different birds with Guide Nestor whom I’ve had on both of my previous trips here. He is good! They always ask if you have any target birds for the hike and I will tell him the same thing I did last year, “Yes, the Umbrella Bird and the Yellow-eared Toucanet.” These are both fairly rare birds and difficult to find in the thick forest and I want to add them to my collection. 🙂 But I won’t get my hopes up!

I just hope we don’t have rain tomorrow morning like we have had most of today. Here we are on the Caribbean Slope which tends to have more rain than the Pacific slope where I live. But it is still the beginning of the dry season here with less rain than they’ve had the last 6 months. We will bird from 6-8 AM, have breakfast, then the rest of the morning. So I’m hopeful with a half day with a birding guide I will get lots of birds!

Now a slide show of the last 24 hours of birds on my own with two shots of Scarlet-rumped Tanager because the male and female are totally different and two of the Brown Jay with one flying and the other perched; 22 shots of 20 species including my “lifer” I introduced yesterday:

  • Turkey Vulture
  • Great Curassow Male
  • Green Honeycreeper Female
  • Palm Tanager
  • Golden Hooded Tanager
  • Montezuma Oropendola
  • Clay-colored Thrush – Yigüirro
  • Red-billed Pigeon
  • Crested Guan
  • Silver-throated Tanager
  • Bananaquit
  • Baltimore Oriole Female
  • Blue-gray Tanager
  • Yellow-throated Euphonia, Female
  • Brown Jay
  • Brown Jay
  • Collared Aracari
  • Buff-throated Saltator
  • Tropical Kiingbird
  • Emerald Tanager
  • Scarlet-rumped Tanager Male
  • Scarlet-rumped Tanager Female

See my Costa Rica Birds Gallery.

“The bird who dares to fall is the bird who learns to fly.”

¡Pura Vida!

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A “Lifer” in first afternoon

I arrived at Arenal Observatory Lodge in time for lunch with my driver and my first afternoon of looking for birds with 11 species photographed including the above Emerald Tanager (link to eBird description) which is a “Lifer” or first-time-seen bird for me! And a colorful one found only in Central America plus Columbia & Ecuador.

I did lots of walking including to the top of the 28 meters or 92 ft. tall observation tower with 146 steps on stairs. I’ve gotten lots of birds and monkeys from this tower in the past, but not today with it being overcast and very windy when I went up today, but I got several landscape shots including this one I call “A Sea of Treetops.”

My “Sea of Treetops” shot today from the top of Arenal Observatory’s observation tower.

“For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.”

– Martin Luther King Jr.

¡Pura Vida!

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House in the Forest

I just found this feature image from the May 9 “Big Day” of bird counting for eBird when I walked, counted and photographed birds in Roca Verde and adjacent Calle Nueva. The only non-bird photo was this above of a “House in the Forest” which I think I shot because it was so appealing to me, beckoning me into the forest.

Then just as I started to use it in this post as a wishful place, PRESTO! I realized that I already have it! It is the same kind of thing I have created with my little rental house, planting trees and flowers all around it where there were none already until I now have a slightly more modern version of the above house in the woods. Mine is seen below:

  • From Driveway Above House
  • From Driveway or Neighbor’s House
  • From Lower Driveway
  • From Entrance Gate
  • From Street by Gate
  • From Street
  • My Terrace in the Forest
  • My Cecropia or Guarumo Tree by Terrace
  • Flowers
  • Entrance Garden

I love my “house in the forest” and the “jungle” I’ve created around it. This was “wide open” or mostly barren when I came 5.5 years ago, so I’m proud of my “reforestation!” 🙂 Plant a tree! It will make you happy!

A few weeks ago I spoke to this “living in a forest” with my blog post Forest Window and back in January I did a post titled My Windows – My World where I actually showed you the view I have from every room in my house! 🙂 You see, I love forests and living in them! 🙂

But I also live periodically all over Costa Rica now and those many forests can be seen through my eyes in a Flora & Forest Gallery and of course other galleries with the birds & other animals in these forests! And oh yes, today is the day I leave for one of my favorite forests in Costa Rica, Arenal Volcano National Park and the wonderful in-park wilderness lodge Arenal Observatory Lodge (link to lodge website). So maybe an arrival-day blog post report tonight! 🙂 Enjoy your own trees and plant some more! 🙂

“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.”

– John Muir

¡Pura Vida!

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Forest Details

At the end of Avenida 8 on the “Country Lane” part of the land is forest even though private property. As everywhere here in Costa Rica, if you look deep into the forest you see more details and colors like the orange Heliconia in the foreground of this photo and towards the back left the Red Ginger flowers. Yes, these flowers do grow wild in the forests as well as being cultivated in home gardens. Tropical Costa Rica! And even the variety of leaves and shades of green bring me joy as I continue to love forests more and more!

“In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.”     

~Paulo Coelho

See also my Flora & Forest Galleries.

¡Pura Vida!