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Three days ago I had a photo of a male which includes the 2 bright yellow splotches on upper wings and four little brown dots. The female of this species is all white but different from the all-white Florida White because of the very strong veins. Often the males and females are like two different species in butterflies and birds. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
See my White Angled Sulphur Gallery or the bigger CR Butterflies Gallery.
And unidentified for me! Skippers take up almost half the pages in my butterfly ID book, 119 pages with only 161 pages for all the other butterflies! Plus browns & golds are a dominant color on possibly most of them, so you will forgive me for not finding these two Skipper butterflies in the book for identification. In my galleries I have identified seventeen different specific Skippers and have only one gallery for Unidentified Skippers with only 7 in it. 🙂 There is a general article on all 3,500 known Skippers on Wikipedia.
You thought I was going to run out of unique butterflies didn’t you? 🙂 Well, when I do I will go to other nature and the birds have been mostly away from my house the last week or so. And I will keep looking for more butterflies! My Costa Rica Butterflies Galleries. I have all the Skippers together alphabetically, Skipper, name; Skipper, next, etc.
¡Pura Vida!
Like me recovering from cancer and the just-as-bad cancer treatment, this pitiful-looking damaged butterfly is still flying and eating! 🙂 He is a Ilus swallowtail or Dual-spotted swallowtail, Mimoides ilus (Wikipedia link) and note that it is very similar to another butterfly that I originally labeled this as, the Emerald-patched Cattleheart. The main difference is the Cattleheart has emerald or light-green spots on the upper wings instead of white as this Swallowtail has. (And by the way, Cattlehearts are in the Swallowtail family!) See my Dual-spotted Swallowtail Gallery or all of my CR Butterflies. Note that in the additional photos below this feature image there is one of a non-damaged Dual-spotted that got in my house on the window screen before I opened it and let him fly out.
And some more shots including of one not damaged (+ health update) . . .
Continue reading “Butterfly & Holiday/Health Report”
This type of little Skipper butterfly is actually more colorful than he would let me photograph this time, since his upper back is a bright blue. You can see some pix with the blue showing in my Two-barred Flasher Gallery and to learn more see this article in Wikipedia. Binomial name: Astraptes fulgerator.
¡Pura Vida!
See all of my Costa Rica Butterfly Galleries!
This beautiful Green Orchid Bee, Euglossa dilemma (Wikipedia link) is endemic or native to Central America, though some yokel recently introduced them into Florida in the states. I never tire of seeing the little shiny emeralds flitting about my garden. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
See more in my Bee Gallery or for other interesting CR insects, see my More CR Insects Gallery.
Another of my regular garden butterfly visitors is the Juno Heliconia, Dione juno (Wikipedia link), also called Juno silverspot and Juno longwing. They are a nice sparkly butterfly like the checkerspots on the bottom of wings or side-views while all orange with black trim on top almost like another favorite, the Julia (though not as large). See my gallery of this variously named Dione Juno or check out my bigger CR Butterflies Gallery. This Juno is found from the southern U.S. down through Central and most of South America.
And more photos . . .
Continue reading “Juno Heliconian”
Another common butterfly in my garden here in Atenas, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica is the Giant Swallowtail, Papilio rumiko (Link to Wikipedia) and I just noticed that ones here in Central America and Western U.S. have been re-classified, while the ones in Eastern U.S. are called Papilio cresphontes, for those really into insect ID! 🙂 Many websites not updated still have them all as cresphontes, including my trusty Swift Guide to Butterflies. So you may have read it first here! The Giant Swallowtails in Costa Rica are Papilio rumiko! 🙂
And more photos . . .
Continue reading “Giant Swallowtail”
I’m back home for awhile and one of the first contrasts with the big city was the green field across from my house, seen here at ground level . . .
And online I found a poem that expresses some feeling of my front yard “green field,” though I would never lay down in this one with the cow patties and snakes! 🙂
Continue reading “Green Field”
Final for this trip or purpose here, but I will be back! Everyone who lives in the country has to go to the big city sometimes. 🙂
And because nature walks have helped me get through this cancer treatment more than maybe anything else, I chose nature shots from my last couple of days here. And for those who don’t know, today was my last radiation treatment and that is why I can return to Atenas and enjoy the nature there while taking possibly months to recover from the side effects of radiation. I will report on that progress along with the joys of nature in my little coffee farming town of Atenas. Pura vida! And now, MY LAST NATURE SHOTS FROM THIS SAN JOSE TRIP . . .
Continue reading “San Jose Finale”
. . . and so am I, almost! I’m redder or pinker now on my face from the radiation 🙂 and also ripe at the point of being almost finished. Today, Tuesday, I lack only 2 more radiation treatments, meaning I’m finished by noon Thursday! Yay! Starting Thursday afternoon I’m home to stay for at least 5 weeks before I have a trip planned. And hoping I have some taste and swallowing ability back by then (the lodge food is said to be excellent!), though my doc says to not count on the taste totally returning that soon. She says it can take up to 6 months for some people to have it totally but gain it little by little, week by week. Since my radiation was only on the left side of my mouth, maybe I will get it back sooner. Hoping! 🙂
The red berries are on the big tree at the hotel that had been yellow berries for weeks but now red, ripe and ready for the birds and other creatures! The blue or black berries below are in a yard I walk by everyday to and from the clinic and Walter, my driver, says they are sweet and if people can pick them before the birds and animals, they add them to dishes for sweetness or just eat as berries.
Continue reading “These Berries are Ripe . . .”