Category: Atenas

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FAVE BIRDS – Toucans at Home

Okay, I’m kind of “cheating” here by showing two different types of toucans that have perched in my Cecropia or Guarumo Tree: The Fiery-billed Aracari (eBird description) and the Keel-billed Toucan (eBird description). And with many more shots of both from all over Costa Rica, see my Fiery-billed Aracari Gallery and/or my Keel-billed Toucan Gallery. Since I have so many photos from so many different places, I will not try to feature the locations, though the location for both of these shots is my own garden in Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica! 🙂 I am indeed fortunate!

Keel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica
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FAVE BIRDS – Squirrel Cuckoo

I was really excited the first time I saw a Squirrel Cuckoo (eBird description) in my garden, thinking that all cuckoos were rare exotic birds. I’ve since learned that this particular one is fairly common all over Costa Rica and you will find 5 locations in Costa Rica in my Squirrel Cuckoo Gallery. Plus eBird says it is “widespread” throughout Central and South America. It is one of 6 different species of Cuckoos found in Costa Rica. Beyond this one, I have photos of just 2 other species in Costa Rica: The Mangrove Cuckoo (2) and the Lesser Ground-Cuckoo (1). See more information and links in The Backstory below . . .

Squirrel Cuckoo, My Gardens, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Fiddle-Leaf Fig

Ficus lyrata, commonly known as the Fiddle-Leaf Fig (Wikipedia), is often used as a smaller houseplant indoors though it eventually has to be pruned or moved outdoors. Since the last plant I had in my bedroom died I decided to try something different in harmony with the Strangler Fig Tree outside my bedroom window (behind those palms). We will see what happens in this window-side spot that receives very little sun. I liked this houseplant choice especially for the big leaves! 🙂

Fiddle-Leaf Fig
Fiddle-Leaf Fig has big leaves!

“Plants give us oxygen for the lungs and for the soul.”

 — Terri Guillemets

¡Pura Vida!

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Dia de la Mascarada Costa Rica

Costa Rica’s answer to the American Halloween tradition is “Day of the Masquerade” or Dia de la Mascarada (Wikipedia article) and today I experienced a tiny fringe of it at my favorite Supermarket . . .

Dia de la Mascarada a La Coope Supermercado Parking Lot

And I have more photos and information . . .

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STREET ART: Atenas, Costa Rica

This post begins a new series of “Photo Essays” that could become the new style of my blog, now that I’m not traveling as much. I’m starting with a “Street Art Series” of maybe a week’s worth of posts on places where I’ve lived or visited. The first is an unlikely art town, the little coffee farming town of Atenas where I now live . . .

“Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.”

~Wikipedia

Here’s one street art in Atenas for the emailed post, then click & read on for more . . .

At Pachacuti Art Shop
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Verdure

Verdure = the fresh green color of vegetation.

Verdure
Hugging me
Daily

Upon
My terrace
Fresh, Green
Seeing
The garden
Colors
Feeling
The Garden 
Tranquil

“To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.”

—Jane Austen

¡Pura Vida!

More CR Nature Haiku

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Two-barred Flasher Butterfly

This is my second sighting of this bright turquoise fellow, this time INSIDE my house! There are better photos made in the garden this same time of year, two years ago in my Two-barred Flasher Gallery. Here’s two cellphone shots of one on my kitchen counter.

Two-barred Flasher
Two-barred Flasher

¡Pura Vida!

See all my Costa Rica Butterflies Galleries, 130+ species.

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Living with Lizards

Anyone who has lived in a tropical climate has experienced Geckos if not other lizards living in your house. They are the best mosquito repellant and eat many other insects also, thus I’m glad I have Geckos! And I don’t object to other types of small lizards as they all eat insects! 🙂 This one in my kitchen yesterday was not like the other Geckos I have seen but when I looked him up in the book he seems to be just a different species of Gecko called a “Common House Gecko” (Wikipedia link) and it is a non-native “introduced” species, one of 9 species in Costa Rica now. That ID and number of species is from Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica, a Pocket Guide by Chacón and Johnson.

Common House Gecko, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

And here’s three more cellphone photos of the one yesterday . . .

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Park Renovation Continues

Soon after the Covid Pandemic started in March of 2020 the regular work on renovating the Central Park of Atenas slowed and then stopped in October 2020. I don’t know, but guessing they ran out of money or the pandemic caused a reduction of tax income or something like that for the city. There has been no work on the park renovation for more than a year. Well, this week it started up again!

First I noticed the tin fence around a small triangle of the park between two sidewalks at the corner opposite Olivera Pizza and between the City Hall and Banco Nacional.

View across old park while standing in street in front of Banco Nacional or the North side of park.

As I walked around the fence to see what was going on inside the fence, I stopped at the very Northwest corner of park opposite Olivera Pizza:

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