Category: Atenas

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The Tanager in My Nance Tree

This female Summer Tanager seems to live in or near my garden, as I have been seeing her feeding and resting in my Nance Tree for months now. A regularly visiting bird seems like an old friend and I’m glad she likes the flowers, seeds, and fruit of this tree at different times of the year.

Summer Tanager female, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See my different Summer Tanager photos from around the year here in Atenas and from 3  other parts of Costa Rica in my Summer Tanager GALLERY. Always more females than the bright red males.

¡Pura Vida!

Blog post DATE “disclaimer” or “truth in reporting” :   When writing so many posts about my Tortuguero visit in February, I gradually had several days worth ahead, up to two weeks worth, and so now the “daily sharings” from my little casita garden and walks through Atenas, Alajuela Provincia, Costa Rica are being written several days ahead of time. For example, this post was written on March 2. And if I have a down day with no post, the flow will continue!  🙂  My life of being “Retired in Costa” is almost daily recorded in my blog posts and totally collected in my Photo Gallery by subjects and trip galleries. Sharing photos of my interactions with nature is my life now as displayed in that online gallery.

THANK YOU for following my blog and your interest in my retirement life and photography! It has been a real joy now for more than eight years and there’s more to come! The website stats say I have 473  blog subscribers plus the 650 friends on Facebook that receive a link and the stats say that beyond reading the email notice and Facebook link photo, my blog website gets over 2,000 visits a month, with 28 comments and 218 “Likes” which only other WordPress bloggers can give. So blogging my retirement love of nature in Costa Rica has been very fulfilling and fun for me! And I was surprised at how many people in Costa Rica follow the blog when a large number showed up at the December JIT Art Show! That was a real joy! And that will continue this year as my only one time a year to sell photos in person.

I am not in business to sell my photos (It’s a hobby!), though they are always available in many formats through my gallery with only a dollar “markup” for me, plus in photo books in my Bookstore (also with only $1 markup), and a few novelty items in my CafePress shop (also with only $1 markup). So shop online if you like my photos!  🙂  Available for your pleasure, not my profit!   🙂

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Grasshopper in My Shower

He was on the shower curtain which I whisked a bit and he fell to the bathroom floor, not moving during my shower. So I photographed him and turned out the light. The next day he was on the shower curtain again and I carried him out to the garden this time. I have a big stack of insects books but little in any of them to help identify grasshoppers other than the “Giant Grasshopper” which tourists love. So I’ve just added this one more “Unidentified Grasshopper” to the 15+ in my Grasshopper Gallery.  🙂

One website says that there are 11,000 species of grasshoppers in Costa Rica plus over 6,000 species of Katydids which are often confused with grasshoppers, so I guess a field guide would be difficult to develop and pretty thick!   🙂

Unidentified Grasshopper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Tico Times Article: Costa Rica Wildlife: The Spotted Skunk

 

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Margaret’s & Pat’s Costa Rica Adventure

Some of the new friends that have come into my life in Costa Rica are “seasonal” or some say “Snow Birds” who come to our tropical climate as an escape from the snow & ice up north during the coldest months. One, who has in the past stayed in Roca Verde just up the street from me, is Margaret from British Columbia, Canada and like me, a birder in her 80’s.

This year she decided to go beyond Atenas and see the birds and other sights of many areas of Costa Rica and brought her friend Pat with her. Here’s the diary or journal of their very economical adventure by public bus and staying in local B&Bs, like I did in my early years here . She included 45 photos that I could not copy with the story and adding all individually to this blog post would greatly slow it down, so I chose 4 to scatter throughout the story. And her good “storyteller” way of reporting their adventures makes her words the “illustrations.” Her third person references (you and yours) are to Jill, one of their first hostesses she was writing much of this to. The sub-headings are my addition to indicate the general area of Costa Rica they were in at that time of their trip.  Enjoy!  And plan your own adventure!  🙂  ¡Pura vida!

Margaret & Pat with one of their many guides.

Margaret & Pat’s Costa Rica Adventure

By Margaret

Continue reading “Margaret’s & Pat’s Costa Rica Adventure”

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My Garden Peacock & Health Update

And of course you do know that I mean Peacock BUTTERFLY!  🙂

There are two species that I see here, the more common is the Banded Peacock that I see all over Costa Rica and shared one from last week’s visit to Xandari, but maybe my preferred is the simpler but elegant  White Peacock Butterfly, Anartia jatrophae. Click that link for my gallery photos of them. They are also found all over Costa Rica, though not in the abundance of the Banded Peacock. These are the only 2 “Peacock” butterflies in Costa Rica, while Panama and south into South America there is also a Red Peacock Butterfly which is similar to the Banded but with thicker bands of red where the Banded has thinner white bands.

White Peacock Butterfly, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Continue reading “My Garden Peacock & Health Update”

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Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak

This is my second time to photograph the Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak, Strymon istapa, in my garden. The first time, back in November when one was on a Heliconia flower being attacked and eventually eaten by a Jumping Spider. See that blog post. This one was at the top of my garden along the top of the garden wall, flitting from plant to plant. A tiny, thumbnail sized butterfly in the Gossamer Wings Family, Lycaenidae. See both sets of photos in my Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak GALLERY.

Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak, Atenas, Costa Rica

 

 

Here’s 3 more photos of this guy . . . Continue reading “Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak”

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White Peacock Butterfly

In my garden the other day as one I haven’t seen much of this year. A beautifully simple butterfly unlike his cousin the more flashy Banded Peacock. You may have noticed that I saw one on the birding hike last Saturday also. See my White Peacock GALLERY for some better photos of this normal-sized butterfly.

White Peacock, Atenas, Costa Rica
White Peacock, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Last Saturday’s Birding Hike

A local friend who has connections with a private religious retreat center in the mountains of Santa Eulalia, Atenas Canton, took me and two other friends last Saturday morning for a really nice birding hike that included all nature!  🙂  You can see the photos at:

https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2022-January-21-Sermon-on-Mount-BIRDING

Or if I did it right just click this first page of the gallery . . .

¡Pura Vida!

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Eastern Tailed-Blue

This is another new butterfly species for me! And in my own gardens! 🙂  Eastern Tailed-Blue, Cupido comyntas (linked to butterfliesandmoths website). Like the other blues, it is very tiny, literally “thumbnail sized.” These tiny ones stay mostly in the grass and are very skittish, so I can’t get close-ups, but rather shoot with my telephoto lens and do a pretty big crop to make it visible for the viewer. Like many other butterflies, the top view and folded-wings view are totally different. Below are my shots of both and then you might want to see my gallery of other blues and tiny butterflies like Hairstreaks in my
Lycaenidae – GOSSAMER-WINGS Gallery.

Eastern Tailed-Blue, Atenas, Costa Rica
Eastern Tailed-Blue, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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White-winged Dove

The White-winged Dove (eBird) is one of my faithful regularly seen birds in my garden. Here is in a Yellow Bell Tree behind my house. I also have quite a few photos in my White-winged Dove GALLERY, including what I think was my first bird to photograph here the hour I arrived for a birding tour in 2009.  🙂

White-winged Dove, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Polydamas Swallowtail

I see many more of these large butterflies during the rainy season, but the other day this one was flitting about the different flowers in my garden in spite of the wind! He has to eat, windy or not!  🙂

Polydamas Swallowtail, Atenas, Costa Rica
Polydamas Swallowtail, Atenas, Costa Rica
Polydamas Swallowtail, Atenas, Costa Rica

Check out my other shots of this species in my Polydamas Swallowtail GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!