Category: Wildlife

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Ant on a Heliconia

I got a macro lens once and found it too much trouble to use and continued to use my 600mm zoom lens to catch tiny things like some of the butterflies and the other day I tried to capture this ant on a heliconia flower which is not real detailed but it was fun trying! 🙂

Ant on a Heliconia Flower, Atenas, Costa Rica
Ant on a Heliconia Flower, Atenas, Costa Rica

See my “More Insects” Gallery for more ants and other bugs!

¡Pura Vida!

My Blog/Website Stats for May 2023

1,000 visitors viewing 2,000 pages, writing 12 comments and giving my blog 80 likes (and only other WordPress Bloggers have a “like button.”) THANKS to all the many readers of this blog! And I’m especially thankful to those living in Costa Rica who read it! ¡Pura vida! 🙂

Art Gallery Did Not Materialize

The half dozen women putting together what was going to be a great art gallery in Atenas and I was to be one of the artists, gave up on all the setup costs and government regulations/taxes, etc. and just decided at the last minute (June 15 opening) that they will just not do it. I can understand their frustration, but it’s a big disappointment for me, especially since I’ve spent several thousand dollars on photo merchandise and even commissioned last week a big 30 cm wide basket to hold the accent pillows with my floral photos printed on them. But so goes life and I’ll figure out something to do with it all or give a lot of gifts. 🙂 And they may still do the Christmas Art Show!? If so, I’m ready! 🙂

Shop at My House!

And if you live in Atenas, call first (8410-9916), then come by my house and check out these gorgeous accent pillows, which I’ll sell from home now, along with greeting cards, coffee mugs, mouse pads, tote bags, T-shirts, and of course wall art photos! All below my cost! 🙂

DISCLAIMER:

As of today, 5 June, 2023, the 11 new Wall Art Metal Photos have not arrived for my pickup in Alajuela yet (Stuck in Customs!) and the only wall art immediately available are ones left over from the JIT Christmas Art Show. I’m hoping that the new Wall Art will be available when I go to Alajuela this Thursday and get the Mouse Pads that have arrived. BUT IF INTERESTED IN WALL ART, I suggest that you wait until next week and pray that Customs releases them soon! 🙂 But I do have 400 different 5×7 Greeting Cards which some people get several of for a wall “grouping” of similar images. Also, I am preparing an online photo inventory or “Atenas Gallery” of available photo items at my house with pictures, but that takes time and is not finished yet! 🙂 I will announce it here on the blog when completed.

¡Pura Vida!

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Recent Butterflies

I’ve been way too busy in the past month and looking forward to slowing down and spending more time photographing nature! BUT, in all the recent “busy-ness” I did walk through parts of my gardens each morning and though early for the peak of butterflies here, I’ve seen quite a variety. Here’s5 or 6 different species in my gardens recently . . .

One of the Epimecis Group of Moths – possibly a baby Epimecis hortaria, Tulip Tree Beauty. This was only about an inch wide at most.
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Blue-lipped Iguana?

Not really a new species, but this is first time I’ve noticed any iguana with blue lips! (Okay, I just looked in my gallery and one at Punta Leona had his whole head blue! 🙂 ) It is an immature Spiny-tailed Iguana and I have no explanation for the blue lips or earlier blue head!   🙂   Here’s 3 shots of him the other day in my Guarumo/Cecropia Tree . . .

Immature Spiny-tailed Iguana, Atenas, Costa Rica

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Plain Longtail Skipper

Not as colorful as other butterflies but still an important part of the ecology of our planet where there are more insects than all other animals and people combined and the rest of the earth depends on them!  🙂   Plain Longtail Skipper, Urbanus simplicius. And for you who are identifiers, let me add that I had some trouble identifying this one, with the side view, to me, being more like the Teleus Longtail but I think the fainter white lines on the tops of the wings is what makes this one a “Plain Longtail,” along with the location of the white on his antennae. Here’s 4 shots from different views . . .

Plain Longtail, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

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A “Bright Scintillant” or Subspecies of “Rounded Metalmark”?

My best printed source of butterfly identification is the book A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America by Jeffrey Glassberg. In that book this butterfly is labeled as a “Bright Scintillant,” but rather than giving a scientific name, it just says it is one of the “Calephelis species.” The butterfly website I volunteer for (butterfliesandmoths.org) does not have Bright Scintillant nor does its backup website, butterfliesofamerica.com, therefore I and others have put this one in “Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis peritalis,“ a part of the “Calephelis species” as the book says. But according to the Glasberg book, the white dots on the upper edges of the the forward wing make this one different from the Rounded Metalmark in the book. I do not know who is the final authority on butterfly names, but hope this one is at least made a subspecies of the Rounded Metalmark! And identification of the myriad of butterflies in Costa Rica will always have its challenges like this!  🙂   Here’s two shots of the latest I have seen of the above butterfly in my garden . . .

Bright Scintillant or Rounded Metalmark, Atenas, Costa Rica

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Polydamas’ Three “Looks”

Three shots and three different impressions of what a Polydamas Swallowtail, Battus polydamas “looks like” in three photos from my garden below, plus you can see more in my Polydamas Swallowtail Gallery.

Polydamas Swallowtail, Atenas, Costa Rica

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Unidentified Tiny Tan

And maybe that would be a good name for this one, “Tiny Tan.”  🙂  And for you butterfly specialists, it almost has the tail of a hairstreak but not the lines or colors and thus is probably one of the enumerable Skippers! But I could not find this one in my book! Here’s 3 photos of one in my garden the other day . . .

Unidentified “Tiny Tan,” Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

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Dina Yellow is Very Yellow!

One of the common butterflies here is the Dina Yellow, Pyrisitia dina, which I have featured more than once in the past, but still an enjoyable butterfly to share. Here’s 3 shots from my garden the other day . . .

Dina Yellow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

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Tropical Buckeye

This has always been one of my favorite butterflies, even in the states with a slightly different version, seen a lot when in Florida. Here’s two shots of one in my garden the other day . . .

Tropical Buckeye, Atenas, Costa Rica

Tropical Buckeye, Atenas, Costa Rica

See my Tropical Buckeye Gallery for more photos of this colorful guy! And note that in earlier years here I called it the “West Indian Buckeye” and I was wrong then. All I have seen here are the “Tropical” and theoretically we may have some “Mangrove Buckeye” here, though I’ve not seen one yet. Probably down along the coasts in the mangroves!  🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Whirlabout

Though that sounds like me over the last few days and in the coming days, it is actually the name of a butterfly, Whirlabout, Polites vibex, and here are two photos of one recently in my garden.

Whirlabout, Atenas, Costa Rica

Whirlabout, Atenas, Costa Rica.

And what have I been so busy about? Well, several things . . .

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