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The national bird of Costa Rica, believed to “sing in the rain” in April and May, beginning the Rainy Season. An ever present bird you can find in most of Costa Rica is one that I never tire of photographing. Just one shot from my garden a week or so ago.
See my gallery of Clay-colored Thrush for many more photos! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
We have continued to have strange or different weather this year with July usually bright sun until mid-afternoon when the showers start. Well, the showers have been mostly the same with somewhat more this year, going all night occasionally, and even a few times into the morning. Which is OK, but, the mornings and early afternoons have had much less sunshine which is simply required for many of the flowers. It has been cloudy most of each day until the rain starts every day for over a month now!
My Porter Weeds are blooming less, the Lantanas have quit blooming as has the Golden Shrimp and the new Golden Dewdrop and Tropical Milkweed, all of which attract butterflies. The Zinnias that K planted next to my yard are blooming, but smaller or dwarfed by less sun. The only two things that seem to thrive in the dominant shade are my Maraca Plants (Shampoo Ginger) and the Anthuriums which I added some more of just to have some color.
The Desert Rose did poorly for awhile, which I blamed on repotting, but it is coming back strong now with blooms on each stem! (But it’s not a butterfly flower!) 🙂 It does need sun though, and I have it on the east side for morning sun, which is when we get what little we may get now.
Here are 6 shots of the ones that are blooming in July & August with another new one that I might not keep, the Ginger Lily. A shot of the “Garden Man” for the emailed version and then 5 more below that with explanations . . .
The Julia Heliconian Butterfly always has beige or muted colors on the bottom of the wings, but this one photographed in my garden in July seemed “muted” all over, most likely because of the sky or sunlight that particular day. It gave this particular butterfly a feeling of calm, sophistication, and nostalgia, I think. Evoking a sense of subtlety.
See how bright an orange the top wings can be in my gallery: Julia Heliconian. And 2 more shots of this one . . .
Continue reading “Muted Colors Julia & Health Update”
As it does almost every afternoon! And this particular shot of rain on nearby hills was on May 22. A daily afternoon or night (my favorite) is what keeps tropical places like Costa Rica green, beautiful and full of so many species of plants and wildlife. I love it! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
My collection of such photo views from my terrace is growing! 🙂
Many of my U.S. friends who have visited here have included a visit to Poas Volcano NP, which is (“as the crow flies”) just 53.5 km or 33.2 miles from me, though a 2 hour drive through the mountains. 🙂 It has been erupting daily now for a few weeks and increasing in intensity. Today …
The Costa Rican National Emergency Commission (CNE) has declared a red alert for Poás Volcano National Park due to increased volcanic activity, with ash plumes reaching up to 4,500 meters. The park is currently closed indefinitely, and authorities recommend that visitors stay away from the area. Adjacent areas, including Grecia, Sarchí, Alajuela, Poás, Naranjo, Río Cuarto, and Zarcero, are under orange or yellow alerts due to ashfall and gas exposure.
It has always been my favorite volcano to visit in Costa Rica, not only because the closest, but the only one you could look down in the crater and see the bubbling stuff, plus it has a second, older crater with a beautiful turquoise-colored lake. who knows what it will be like after these major eruptions?
Because I live south of Poas and most of our winds are East-West, I don’t get a lot of the ash fall, but some. Before breakfast on my terrace each morning, I wipe the glass-top table off with a Lysol Wipe and then a paper towel. They are black from the small amount of ash we do get. 🙂 Yet farmers near active volcanoes say the ash is excellent for growing vegetables! 🙂
Facebook Video of one day’s eruption: (it would not embed)
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2160888447696509&t=18
And if the FB link above doesn’t work, try the Tico Times article where I first saw it: https://ticotimes.net/2025/04/23/video-poas-volcano-erupts-with-3-5-km-ash-plume-ovsicori-reports
¡Pura Vida!
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is the Costa Rican Spanish name for the English-named Clay-colored Thrush. (my gallery link) This is the bird that gently wakes me up each morning singing, and, as tradition has it, he/she is singing in the rains for the beginning of our winter or rainy season in May.
¡Pura Vida!
“The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind” (apologies to Bob Dylan)
Some large Yellows are flying up in the tree limbs and other smaller yellows, whites and skippers I’ve seen down lower without ever stopping for a photo! 🙂 But Friday I did manage to get a couple of shots of this Polydamas Swallowtail, Battus polydamas (my gallery link) quickly stopping by both the Porter Weed (below) and the Plumbago (above), one of the few who land on that sticky flower! (Maybe the ‘sticky’ keeps him from blowing away!?) 🙂 And though that answer is not as philosophical as Bob Dylan’s, there simply will not be many butterflies until this wind quits blowing! 🙂
The high winds this time of year seem to keep away both birds and butterflies from my efforts to photograph, except for one bird! And in my neighborhood he seems to never stop soaring, The Turkey Vulture! Cathartes aura (linked to my gallery). I don’t get to regularly see an Eagle or Hawk soaring, but this vulture I can see almost every day as he makes riding the wind drafts look easy and motivates me to want to soar! 🙂
“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.” ~Helen Keller
And may you soar today in whatever you do! Windy or not! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
A couple of years ago my gardeners planted this Cigar Calathea, Calathea lutea (linked to Wikipedia). It has many other cigar names which I guess is because of the cigar-shaped flower, but the leaves are not used for cigars! Rather, they are used for the presentation of food in some restaurants or to wrap food to go. It was surrounded by other tall plants like the Ti Plant, but I had those removed because they blocked the sun and flowers below would not bloom without sun! Here’s a series of photos made this week, with a couple earlier showing un-shredded leaves.
