The unusual “Cigar Plant,” Pampano or Gadetea in Spanish (Calathea lutea, scientific name) doesn’t attract many birds (an occasional hummingbird) but this large bee seems to like its nectar. The Belted Orchid Bee, Eulaema cingulata, is one of 8+ species in my Bees Gallery for Costa Rica. I may soon break that gallery up into species galleries. And with the mostly windy days now, bees are sometimes all I can find to photograph! But tomorrow I go birding with some visiting Canadian friends to Rio Tarcoles & Carara National Park, so that will boost my lagging daily photos! 🙂
A small flock of these egrets flying up and away from the Cow Pasture across the street on January 31. They are regulars at the pasture but I seldom try to photograph. A small group of houses are at the south end of the pasture and the birds are flying up from the pasture and over those houses. I’m able to get closer and better photos on some of my river trips as you can see in my Cattle-Egrets Gallery. Just the one photo here.
Western Cattle-Egret, Cow Pasture, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Two days in a row I photographed lizards on my terrace that I cannot identify as species, though on iNaturalist both are accepted as the same Genus, Anolis, but obviously different species, though none of the “experts” have yet to identify the species of either one. Hopefully they will both eventually get identified! 🙂
Genus Anolis, Anole Lizards, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica — This one has a red-orange dewlap.Genus Anolis, Anole Lizards, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica — If this one has a dewlap, he did not display it for me. I think the eye markings will be the identifier.
I have 21 species identified in my LIZARDS GALLERY and another 15+ unidentified. The genus identifications of the above two are not confirmed yet and hopefully I will get even the species name later from identifiers on iNaturalist. Books sometimes give me identities, but not always.
This was in my garden and not the cow pasture, but with the strong winds this time of year I’m seeing a lot fewer of any species in the garden, though this one has been pretty common in the past as you can see in my Gallery: Giant White, Ganyra josephina. Note that all of them have been seen in Atenas! 🙂 Two shots from the other day . . .
A favorite of mine among the many birds found only in Central & South America, the Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus (my gallery link). One of the many wild birds that seem to like power lines for perching. And that can make it easy to photograph, depending on the sunlight of course! 🙂
Tropical Kingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaTropical Kingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
This tribe level identification means it will be difficult even for the experts to identify, as that is as far down the ID latter the iNaturalist AI would go and I’m certainly unqualified to go farther. It may end up being a common species with two anomalies, that dark “plate” or whatever on his back or shoulders and the whitish tip of his tail. Neither characteristic matches any of the similar species photos I could find, so I’m leaving it at the tribe level. 🙂 Found in the cow pasture and it is the last one from that visual adventure. 🙂 This tribe is also called “branded grass skippers” which is appropriate for one found in the grasses of a cow pasture! 🙂
Hesperini Tribe or branded grass skipper butterfly, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
An added side-note on that walk along the cow pasture in my shorts is that, when I got back to the house, both legs were itching all over, possibly from some insect in the grasses or allergic reaction to some plant. A generous lathering of Allergel took care of that itching pretty quickly! 🙂 This is all from the cow pasture for now. Back to my garden! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
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It is not all little dull brown butterflies in the cow pasture, but some colorful ones too! 🙂 It was also interesting to note that most of them stayed close to the ground or down low in the tall grasses, only occasionally flying or landing up higher to, I guess, absorb the sun or eat from a flower. This one may be my most seen butterfly all over Costa Rica, as you can see in my gallery: Banded Peacock, Anartia fatima.
