I almost had this one labeled as a Garden Emerald that can be found only in a few limited areas of Costa Rica and Panama, because the iNat AI said it was a Garden Emerald (very similar to Canivet’s), but the same day I posted it on iNaturalistCR, two serious birders corrected me because of both location and the length and shape of the tail. 🙂 So I corrected it there and in my gallery, not getting the “Lifer” that I thought I had! 🙂 Note that this is a male, all green, while the female has a white front and white eyebrow. You can see both in my gallery, Canivet’s Emerald.
This is another new species for me, a Spreadwing Skipper named Common Anastrus or Common Bluevent (my gallery linked) with more images in that gallery. Not as colorful or flashy as some I’ve seen here recently, but another important member of the Butterfly Family, photographed here on Lantana Flowers. It lives in Central America and tropical South America with Costa Rica it’s “type locality” or where it is happier (like me)! 🙂
Common Anastrus, Echelatus sempiternus, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Costa Rica is the only place in the world where whales come from two hemispheres to give birth to their babies. Currently the whales from Antarctica are here and by December those arctic whales from off the coast of Alaska will be here for the same reason. The 46 minute video was made by a large conglomeration of volunteer scientists, underwater photographers, and nature organizations in cooperation with Costa Rica TV Channel 7 that just premiered it on TV. They now share it with the world for free from their YouTube channel, linked from the title above and embedded below . . . IT IS IN SPANISH ONLY . . .
You will enjoy the photography, even if you can’t understand Spanish! 🙂
My only other time to see this bird was in January of this year, also in my garden. eBird says they live from Mexico to Costa Rica but only in Northwest Costa Rica and I am in more of West Central Costa Rica. Maybe their habitat is expanding south! 🙂 Notice the big difference in the male and female, fairly typical of all Euphonias. See all my photos in the gallery Scrub Euphonia – Euphonia affinis (linked).
Scrub Euphonia, female, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaScrub Euphonia, male, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
One of the weirdest moths I’ve seen is the Titan Sphinx Moth – Aellopos titan (my gallery link) which has always been in my garden before, but this one earlier this month I saw on a Porterweed plant at the front gate of Residential Roca Verde. Some people have called them “hummingbird moths” because they hover over a flower like a hummingbird. I think they look more like a flying Shrimp! Ha, ha! 🙂
Another great discovery in my garden is this Blue Lasaia or Blue Metalmark (Lasaia sula)(my gallery link). It is the first one seen in my garden, though I saw one other back in 2022 on the lady’s Zinnias at 8th Ave & 3rd Street, with those shots also included in the above linked gallery. There are so many cool butterflies in Costa Rica! (About 1,500 species). 🙂
About 3 days ago a new species of butterfly appeared on one of my Tropical Milkweed flowers as seen in these two photos, another new species for me. The Banner Metalmark, Thisbe lycorias, is a striking butterfly found from Mexico south through Central America to the Western Amazonian Basin of Peru. It has also been called the “Foxface Metalmark” and one of my older books the “Fox-face Lemmark,” meaning as with many species, I struggle to keep up with multiple names, but now default to whatever iNaturalistCR is using and only rarely do they differ from BAMONA, my second-ranked online source.
Banner Metalmark, Thisbe lycorias, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
It appears in only two of my several Costa Rica butterfly books and with limited information. So I researched the scientific name Thisbe lycorias and that’s how I came up with the headline for today’s post. In short “Thisbe” was a Babylonian forest nymph and part of their early legends, while “Lycorias” was a Greek sea nymph as part of their early stories and myths. If you didn’t know, historically a nymph was a “minor nature Goddess” in those early tales. 🙂
From Google & Wikipedia: “When British entomologist William Chapman Hewitson first described the species in 1853, it was standard practice among European naturalists to pluck names from classical Greek and Roman texts. By pairing the Babylonian nymph Thisbe with the sea nymph Lycorias, the scientific name became a poetic nod to ancient folklore.” 🙂 With the “fairy-like” appearance of so many butterflies, that early naming practice is sort of understandable. 🙂 And I’ve started a gallery on this species with 4 shots from this one observation: Banner Metalmark, Thisbe lycorias.
This Southern House Wren (my gallery link) looks pretty much like the Northern House Wren found in the United State to me, but they say there are many subspecies of both, as the scientists get into genetic details! 🙂 This one is found from Mexico south through all of Central America and most of South America. You can of course read about it on eBird or on iNaturalistCR.
Southern House Wren, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Jetpack still hasn’t fixed whatever is keeping my posts from being emailed when scheduled ahead, so I have to publish them manually to get the emailed version and my mornings are usually pretty busy, thus, as today, it is noon before I got around to it.
This is one of two or three different ” seed eater type” birds that I see around my house, especially in the cow pasture across the street where this one is. See more of my photos of this species in my gallery Blue-black Grassquit(linked) where the last two images were made on my first trip to Costa Rica in 2009. Or read about them on eBird or oniNaturalist.
Blue-black Grassquit, Roca Verde Cow Pasture, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Shot was made from my terrace zooming in on the fence across the street. 🙂
There are several species of “Cattlehearts,” a type of swallowtail butterfly which are all solid black with red/pink and white spots or other “designs.” This is one of prettiest of the 9 species I’ve photographed here and show in my SWALLOWTAILS family gallery (linked) or you can see more of just this species in the gallery: Pink-Spotted Cattleheart (linked).
As in most months I occasionally walk through my gardens and focus on the flowers rather than birds or butterflies. Below are two galleries (separating verticals & horizontals) with a few of the photos made in July . . .
