Category: Photography

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Thanksgiving Dinner at Neighbor’s

At Margaret & Dario’s house on top of one of the Roca Verde hills with the assistance of Susan and Fred, 26 of us had a huge American-style Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey, Ham and Beef Brisket along with more vegetables and salads than I can list after gourmet appetizers and Champagne, followed by a course of exotic cheeses and then deserts. Each of us brought a dish of something and a bottle of wine. It was a feast fit for a king and even though I only ate breakfast beforehand, I feel stuffed (Thursday night after dinner) while I write this.

Thanksgiving is not a Tico holiday, but the Ticos who came sure enjoyed it!  🙂  Margaret and Susan are the high-energy, highly organized leaders of the Roca Verde neighborhood and put this together.

SORRY MY CELLPHONE PHOTOS ARE NOT GOOD which I will blame on the lighting and I didn’t even try to get the group photo by the pool because it was dark, raining and the light worse. But we had a lot of fun with a great meal and I have two new couples-friends!

Margaret’s Group Photo on Facebook.

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“I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”

~Psalm 9:1

¡Pura Vida!

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Vacant Lot Flowers

“There is poetry among the wildflowers’.”
― Rachel Irene Stevenson

Sure! I look for nature everywhere! And noticed yesterday morning when I left the Coffee Shop that the vacant lot across the street had this mass of yellow swished across it. Wildflowers!

Beauty is where you find it!  And those trees are kind of nice too!   🙂

“Wildflowers are the stuff of my heart!”
― Lady Bird Johnson

¡Pura Vida!

 

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Arenal Trip Photo Gallery

Wow! Another great trip to one of my top 5 or 6 favorite places in Costa Rica, Arenal Observatory Lodge, with photos of 49 bird species , including the two new lifers for me! Plus 7 other animal species, a new birding trail (Bogarín), the waterfall, wonderful hiking trails and gardens to walk through, and the tallest birding tower in Costa Rica where this year I got lots of Honeycreepers in place of all the monkeys photographed last year, plus a repeat of my favorite room 29 and really good food! I have been so busy after the trip that it has been difficult to process all the photos, but finally done! Check them out at (or click image):

https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2019-November-11-17-Arenal-Observatory

 

Arenal-2019-Screenshot-WEB

Leave the road, take the trails.

~Pythagoras

Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Gold-stained Satyr

Another new butterfly for me – a lifer? 🙂 This one was on my phone camera dated the day after returning from Arenal Observatory and I don’t remember where! It was on a concrete wall which could be a lot of places!   🙂

Though it has been reported in southern Texas, most websites show it in Mexico & Central America with a few in northern South America, particularly Ecuador. An interesting butterfly with a positive identification from websites and my best butterfly book, A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico & Central America, Second Edition.

And  just like with birds it is always fun to add a new species to my collection. My photo gallery of Costa Rica Butterflies & Moths is I think the best one on the web now. Check it out!

 

Butterflies are God’s confetti, thrown upon the Earth in celebration of His love .    

~K. D’Angelo

¡Pura Vida!

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Waterfall & Tower Hikes

Today I had a morning hike to the Danta Waterfall and afternoon hike to the Observatory Tower they call “The Nest.” Both were good, see photos below. And though still rainy today (I had to leave tower before most toucans arrived), there was almost a sunset tonight or the nearest we’ve had this rainy week and of course what little I got was mostly behind the clouds.   🙂

Waterfall Hike

 

Tower Shots

 

An Almost Sunset

 

Arenal Observatory

¡Pura Vida!

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Over the Rainbow

“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue. And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”— Judy Garland, “Over the Rainbow”

Photo of Breakfast Rainbow today at

Arenal Observatory

¡Pura Vida!

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Bogarin Trail

It did rain this afternoon, just a light shower, but enough to keep me from climbing the tower in the rain – so I processed the Bogarin Birds! If you are ever in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, I recommend the place as a good for many, many birds! Saw 40 species! 21 here in photos.

It is a protected reserve right in town – a town I don’t care for but love their Bogarin Trail! La Fortuna is too touristy for me like Manual Antonio and Jaco, packed with competing hotels, restaurants and T-shirt shops!   🙂  Check out the trail website at:   Bogarin Trail  (or their Facebook Page).

My “lifer” or first time bird today is in the featured photo above, White-throated Crake. The name link is to the article on Cornell Neotropical Birds.

Bogarin Trail Birds

Click an Image to Enlarge.

 

Arenal Observatory

¡Pura Vida!

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Unclouded Volcano

Today was the first time we’ve had enough sunshine for the Arenal Volcano to be totally visible or almost! A beautiful day and my guide Nestor, whom I also had a year and a half ago when here before, took me to Bogarin Trail  (or their Facebook Page)  where we saw about 40 species of birds and I got usable photos of about 21. If it doesn’t rain, I’m going back up on the tower this afternoon, meaning I won’t have time to post my Bogarin Bird Bonanza, including my second lifer this week, a White-throated Crake. Another good day! And the blog posts pile up!   🙂

Arenal Observatory

¡Pura Vida!

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More Volcano Birds

The morning was dry with my first view of an unclouded volcano (above) since I’ve been here! And from my room at that!   🙂   And no rain for a before-breakfast guided walk nor the after-breakfast solo trip to the tower for the honeycreepers!   🙂  Two birding hikes today and the one from yesterday together gives this colorful collection with one new “lifer” bird, the Rufous-winged Tanager! And I worked on the photos after the rain started about 1:15 pm.

More Arenal Birds

CLICK an image to enlarge or pass cursor over for name.

Click for manual slide show – best way to see the photos!

 

Arenal Observatory

¡Pura Vida!

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First Morning’s Birds

Even with lots of rain all day today, I got these birds before and after breakfast and it doesn’t count some different birds on an afternoon bird walk that was nearly rained out. Rain or shine, there are always a lot of birds at Arenal Observatory! Click image to enlarge and pass cursor over image for name of bird.

Birds First Morning

 

Arenal Observatory

¡Pura Vida!