Category: Wildlife

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Saltbush Sootywing

Saltbush Sootywing is the common name and the scientific name is Hesperopsis alpheus. This is a new species for me. And my ID is based on the Glassberg book where it is an exact match, but my photos don’t match the ones on butterfliesandmoths.org for this species, so I will probably be flagged and if so, I hope whomever can give a good identification for this butterfly, IF this ID is not correct. Note that the two photos are of the same insect on the same leaf within seconds apart, but the changing light or capture of the camera has them as two different colors. 🙂

Saltbush Sootywing, Atenas, Costa Rica
Saltbush Sootywing, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Covadonga Skipper

Pheraeus covadonga is the scientific name and the website uses “Covadonga Skipper” as the common name, while the Glassberg book uses “Etched Solar-Skipper” as the common name. The “etched” in that name refers to the black and white spot that is barely seen in my photo, but that’s what separates it from all of the other little yellow Skippers. And this is a new species for me! 🙂

Covadonga Skipper, Pheraeus covadonga, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Cobalopsis Nero or Nero Brown Skipper

This is the first of three new species for me that I photographed in my garden on the 17th & 18th of this month! The other two coming in the next two days. At first glance, all brown Skippers seem to look alike, but there are so many variations and this is one of those! 🙂 Butterfliesandmoths.org just uses the scientific Latin name as the common name, Cobalopsis Nero, while the Glassberg book calls it the “Nero Brown Skipper” as a common name.

Cobalopsis nero, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Cobalopsis nero, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See all of my SKIPPERS Gallery to see some of the many variations in Skippers, 67 in my gallery alone and there are many more!

¡Pura Vida!

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Carolina Satyr

This one is almost as common in my garden as yesterday’s Banded Peacock, or it was last year especially when I seemed to see it everywhere! It is also common in the Southeastern U.S. west through OK & TX and south through Mexico and all of Central America with a slightly different species in South America. We also have more than 20 other species of Satyrs with color differences and uniqueness of those eye spots. They are mostly quite tiny, like only a bit bigger than my thumbnail, with of course a few exceptions! :-)

Carolina Satyr, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See more in my Carolina Satyr Gallery.

Or to explore more of the larger Satyr Sub-Family of butterflies scroll down to the bottom of my BRUSHFOOTS FAMILY GALLERY where I have 22 different species of Satyrs photographed! It’s quite an intriguing sub-family of mostly tiny butterflies, though a few are large, like the Moon Satyr, and all have variations of the eyespots seen on this one.

Butterflies are soooo interesting!

🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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The Savegre Trip Gallery Finished!

It took longer after this trip to put the gallery together with a lengthy flurry of activities and first of year requirements, but my Christmas Trip of 2023 December 22-28 — San Gerardo de Dota, Hotel Savegre is ready to visit with all my birds, other wildlife, flowers and landscapes ready to view!

CLICK this Gallery Image to go visit it.
Continue reading “The Savegre Trip Gallery Finished!”
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4 Local Birding Hikes

Local hikes this December-January 2023-24 with a birding friend from British Columbia . . . Here’s a linked small gallery for each, represented with one photo from each and the linked date & place headings (or the photo) to go to that gallery . . .

December 19 – Calle Nueva, Atenas

Lesson’s Motmot on Calle Nueva, Atenas, Costa Rica.
Continue reading “4 Local Birding Hikes”
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Muscovy Duck Flying

This duck was one of several flying into the trees and roosting on tree limbs which I was not aware that they did. I’m still processing photos from the Chucás Hydroelectric Dam trip the other day – so this is just a sample of what I will share later! :-)

Muscovy Duck flying at Chucás Hydroelectric Dam, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Madre Verde Butterflies!

Yesterday was the last morning birding hike with my friend from British Columbia and Walter took us to a new nature reserve for me, Reserva Madre Verde near Palmares which is north of Atenas, a 30 minute drive through beautiful mountains (or maybe hills). :-)

Our two hour hike up & down a hill had a 300 meter rise in altitude was good for us 80-somethings! We heard lots of birds but in a fairly thick forest we did not see as many as the other two birding hikes. I got photos of only 3 birds – BUT – I’m still happy because I got photos of 9 different species of butterflies, which took me all afternoon to identify and process the photos AND I got 3 new species for me! :-) So a very good 2-hour hike! Below is a gallery with one shot of each of the 9 butterflies after this one shot for the email version of post . . .

Tiger Mimic-White, Reserva Madre Verde, Palmares, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Madre Verde Butterflies!”
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Birding at Our Dam Yesterday

Taking someone else birding gets me into new locations sometimes and yesterday was my first visit to the very nearby dam on Tarcoles River named officially “Hidroeléctrico Chucás” which was under construction when I moved here. In addition to the expected water birds, the trees around the dam were just full of many small birds and a few larger ones. I got photos of more than 20 species and we heard a Scarlet Macaw, though we did not see him. Well, we heard a lot we did not see. :-) But I’ve always said we are too far from the coast for Macaws, but evidently not! It was a good birding walk before breakfast at Crema y Nata! It may be awhile before I get all those photos processed, but at least I did not erase or lose any this time! :-) Today is the last birding walk which will be at Reserva Madre Verde in Palmares, another new location for me which my neighbors Neal & Judy told me about. A report sometime in the future.

“Hidroeléctrico Chucás,” the dam on Rio Tarcoles in Atenas Canton.

¡Pura Vida!