Category: Atenas

Posted on

Pale-vented Thrush – A Lifer!

“A Lifer” means “first time seen species” and this is my first new bird in quite a while! (# 189 in my CR bird gallery) 🙂 He was on the ground in my garden (or front yard) and I first thought it was a young Yigüirro – Clay-colored Thrush (and it is possible that he actually is), but it is instead the iNat AI says it is a juvenile or immature Pale-vented Thrush, and I’m going with that. As they get older they lose those two rows of little orange spots and the belly turns whitish. In Costa Rica they are seen only in the low foothills of the Central Valley (like where I live), so not your every day bird all over Costa Rica! 🙂 And I got only one useable photo the first sighting (read on for the better 2nd sighting) . . .

Pale-vented Thrush Juvenile, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Then, the next day, I saw this same juvenile in a tree waiting for Mom to come feed him as you can see that she did in these two shots the day after the above photo . . .

Continue reading “Pale-vented Thrush – A Lifer!”
Posted on

Barred Yellow

June has become the usual big butterfly month in my gardens and here is another nice one, the Barred Yellow (my gallery link) . . .

Barred Yellow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Barred Yellow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Orchid Bee

One of the most common bees in my garden is this particular Orchid Bee. There are several kinds of Orchid Bees. All of my Bee photos are in one gallery called Bees — Abejas.

Here are two shots of one in my garden recently as they join the Hummingbirds and Butterflies in spreading nectar around . . .

Orchid Bee, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Orchid Bee, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Streamside Forest

When you fly anywhere in a small plane you can easily see how trees grow thickly along almost all streams, even in urban or developed areas and that is certainly so for the little stream across the cow pasture from me. I zoomed in on it with the camera from my terrace and I like the thick forest look, even in a highly populated town or small city. 🙂

Streamside Trees, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”

~Khalil Gibran

¡Pura Vida!

And check out my Trees Gallery!

Posted on

South American Cloudless Sulphur

I’m the #1 observer of this species in Costa Rica’s iNaturalist and earlier I had it lumped with the North American Cloudless Sulphur, but someone decided that we are a different subspecies down here and added the “South American” identifier to the common name in both English & Spanish. Today I had 51 photos in my South American Cloudless Sulphur Gallery. (linked) Phoebis sennae.

South American Cloudless Sulphur, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Caterpillars on the Milkweed!

When I first planted the Tropical Milkweed I was hoping they would attract the Monarch Butterfly which is not as common here as in the States, but none yet. Then the other day I found 3 caterpillars on one of the Milkweed plants and with the iNaturalist AI have identified them as caterpillars of the Queen – Danaus gilippus butterfly (Linked to my gallery) which is related to the Monarch. Maybe in the near future I will have some fresh Queens birthed in my garden! 🙂 So far, the only two Queens I’ve seen have been elsewhere.

I’m hoping that their eating all the leaves off my best Milkweed plant will not kill it! 🙂 They were first planted between two tall flowers and thus only get sunshine midday which is really not enough sun for milkweed. I just a few days ago planted 3 more Milkweeds in a different part of the garden where they get both morning and midday sun, so hopefully they will do better! I’m on the side of a hill with lots of trees, so plants like this that need lots of sunshine will always struggle on my little lot.

Caterpillar of Queen Butterfly – Danaus gilippus, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
(Note that most leaves are already eaten!) 🙂
Caterpillar of Queen Butterfly – Danaus gilippus, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
(Note that most leaves are already eaten!) 🙂
Tropical Milkweed, in my garden, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica — Those caterpillars ate all those leaves!

¡Pura Vida!

I have not focused on caterpillars, but do have a little gallery with what caterpillars I’ve photographed in Costa Rica at CATERPILLARS (linked) with most in the “Unidentified” folder for a total of 15 species, assuming no overlap or duplication.

Posted on

Blue-vented Hummingbird

This is becoming my new favorite bird in my garden, mainly because of that deep blue tail! See more of my photos in the gallery: Blue-vented Hummingbird.

Blue-vented Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Blue-vented Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Blue-vented Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Bitter Melon?

The question mark is because this strange, edible, vine-growing vegetable has a long list of “Common Names” around the world with “Pepino Cimarrón” the most used one here in Costa Rica says iNaturalist, though they refer people to Wikipedia for more information on the scientific name of Momordica charantia (linked to Wikipedia article). And somewhere you will hear about “Balsam Apple as similar (that’s what Google-Lens called it), but that is a different species in the same family, which by the way, includes cucumbers! 🙂

I photographed this less than a half-block from the front gate of Residencial Roca Verde on my Sunday morning walk to El Fogon for breakfast. It was on a vine growing on a barbed wire fence of a vacant lot in Barrio Boquerón. They originate from Asia and Africa and were brought here in the 1800’s where they grew well in the tropical climate. Some are farmed, but this one was growing wild. They are eaten as a vegetable and used as natural medicines, especially the leaves of the vine. And only God could design a bright orange vegetable with bright red seeds! 🙂 Read more on Wikipedia.

Bitter Melon, Pepino Cimarrón, Momordica charantia,
growing wild on a fence in Barrio Boquerón, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

And the next morning I saw something a little different at the same location . . .

Continue reading “Bitter Melon?”
Posted on

Brazilian Skipper

A cool little reddish-brown skipper that I’ve seen in my garden before. See other photos in the gallery: Brazilian Skipper.

Brazilian Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Tomorrow is the day to which I moved my little 2-night visit to Xandari Nature Resort in Alajuela (because I was sick on the original date in May) and tomorrow morning I will repost or link to the May post about Xandari, a favorite nature place with a large variety of butterflies! Probably my 3rd best location for butterflies. 🙂 And . . .

MY REPORT ON: Pause 10: Final Project—Your Mindful Photography Journal 

That little online class is completed with that above link going to my report on the last class. In the next week or so I will write my personal evaluation of the whole course and say whether I recommend it. 🙂 If interested in Photography & Mindfulness, read all my notes there.

And get ready for my next Nature Adventure at Xandari this week!

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Laverna Metalmark – Dark & Light

Many species of butterflies can have greatly different looks and yet be the same species and in this case (I think) even the same individual can look quite different because of the light or shadows, the angle of the shot or even the background which I think is the case for these two photos taken within a few seconds of each other on different color backgrounds. I vaguely remember the same individual flying from the blue Plumbago flower to the green leaf of a Heliconia flower.

Laverna Metalmark on a blue Plumbago Flower, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Laverna Metalmark on the green leaf of a Heliconia Flower, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See more of this regular in my garden in the gallery: Laverna Metalmark.

¡Pura Vida!