Yawn! Not much going on yesterday! So I walked out into the garden and snapped some butterfly photos. None new, but I like this shot of the Brown Longtail and equally the Cloudless Sulphur shot, which is found from Canada to South America by the way! 🙂 No usable shots of the many Giant Whites I saw but I included a shot of an injured or damaged Polydamas Swallowtail, since broken wings seem common among most butterflies. Life can be harsh, even for a butterfly! 🙂
Butterflies are God’s confetti, thrown upon the Earth in celebration of His love
~K. D’Angelo
Along with the freshness of the air during rainy season, there are always butterflies in my garden – bringing smiles and sparkles of God’s love! What a blessing!
After the birds and vistas I photographed only a few of the many flowers along my Sunday morning walk. I do enjoy the immense variety of plant life here in Costa Rica! And remember to CLICK to enlarge an image:
“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in–what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.” – Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
The subtitle of my newest travel book is “When you look through the eyes of a child” describing how I tried to present this photo-travel book on Maquenque Eco-Lodge and Reserve. Yes – it is in Spanish this time but for you English-only people, don’t worry! All the photo captions are in both languages and the poem from which I got the subtitle is also in both languages, and here it is in English:
“Everything seemed possible, when I looked through the eyes of a child. And every once in a while; I remember, I still have the chance to be that wild.” ― Nikki Rowe
It’s a photo book with 141 photos, including photos of the 61 species of birds I got this visit. THE ELECTRONIC PREVIEW IS FREE, so go to this link or click the cover image below and you can see all 92 pages of the book for free! Of course full-screen is best for photos! 🙂
Just the views are a reason to walk even if no birds or flowers! 🙂 The cow pasture is across from my house, included to show you how much higher the grass is in rainy season. All other views are from my street just up the hill from my house. And people have similar views all over Costa Rica! One of many reasons I retired in Costa Rica! Pura Vida! 🙂
My hour and twenty minutes walk up the hill and back this morning provided many creativity opportunities as always! I almost overloaded this post with 4 categories of photos but will save the others for the next 3 days: butterflies, flowers and vistas. Today please enjoy the 8 birds I photographed. CLICK image to enlarge. Pura vida!
“Nature as Art” was the name of my little photo business for a few years in Nashville and I was reminded of that theme during my week at Maquenque with lots of “little things” I photographed and enjoyed just seeing! 🙂
As much as I love most art, no artist can compete with the creative handiwork of God in Nature!
All art is but imitation of nature. ~Seneca the Younger
For more of Maquenque “Nature as Art” see these galleries:
I have completed two new photo galleries from my recent trip to Maquenque. Of course the Maquenque Gallery is the biggest with most photos, but we stopped for coffee in Cinchona on the way back home and in 15 to 20 minutes I photographed 6 birds with two of them “Lifers” (new to me)! And of course the San Fernando Waterfall! And since it is a totally different location than Maquenque and my travel galleries are about locations – two galleries! 🙂
You have been getting samples or teasers on the blog (with 4 more to go through the 22nd) while this is the real collection from my #1 birding lodge and photos of 61 species this trip! Plus photos of lots of other nature! Check it out! And similar to the blog, you click photos to enlarge or sometimes open a sub-gallery for that bird or topic.
And the separate gallery for our coffee break stop on the way home at Soda & Mirador Cinchona for a waterfall and 6 birds, 2 of which are “Lifers” for me!
And in the interest of Coronavirus Safety I have no more trips planned until the middle of September, my annual Caribe Beach trip to Hotel Banana Azul where I will again be a “loner” doing things “solo” for safety. This place is more about relaxation than serious birding but there will be birds! 🙂 And solo walks on the beach searching for nature gems! And always enjoying someone else’s cooking! And reading! 🙂
And FYI, because of some spikes in Coronavirus cases, Costa Rica has shut down again until maybe August with no bars and restaurants only for “take out” or para llevar! (Or delivery, called “express” here.)
And even the banks were closed this week! I hope not next week as I’m trying to renew my residency! And for two weeks at least, private cars are allowed on the road for only 1 day a week based on tag number. We take the virus seriously here! And most of us wear masks. The borders are still closed to everyone until announced otherwise. They had hoped for limited border openings in August but that is not looking likely now, especially for Americans, the most infected country in the world! (Love your money but not your virus!) 🙂
“Small” is relative and normally would have included the Honeycreepers and Hummingbirds which came in earlier posts. And of course these two swallows could have also been with the Wetland Birds. I’m just trying to spread out the many bird photos from Manquenque.
The smallest birds are fun to see and try to photo, though difficult in rainforest shadows and often overcast skies. Here’s my efforts with these 6 and go back to see the Honeycreepers, Hummingbirds, and Wetland Birds if you missed those posts and like birds! 🙂 CLICK an image to enlarge.
Okay – an odd combination! 🙂 But I’m trying not to show too many birds at one time as I continue to share the many birds I photographed at Maquenque.
My collection from the past has much better images of the Pale-billed Woodpecker but I’m lucky to have even this shot, shooting through the jungle vines, limbs, leaves to a distant and constantly moving bird – but the pale -billed is not seen that often and I wanted to include him.
The woodcreeper was also difficult to shoot among the trees but I lucked into just this one decent shot (if enlarged). Bird-photography in the rainforest is a tough challenge sometimes, but very rewarding when you get even one shot! CLICK an image to enlarge it and better see the bird.
Streak-headed Woodcreeper
House Wren
Pale-billed Woodpecker
Black-cheeked Woodpecker
Clay-colored Thrush or Yiqüirro — National Bird of Costa Rica
