charliedoggett.net
The last of the three day trips that I participated in with my Canadian Friends was to the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve better known here for its Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel where we had breakfast after a couple of hours of birding. And the clouds never lifted or burned off the entire time we were there. Click the first page of that gallery below to access it or if you prefer an address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/Birding-at-Villa-Blanca-Cloud-Forest-Reserve
¡Pura Vida!
The Peruvian Shield Mantis – Choeradodis rhombicollis (Wikipedia link) is found mostly in Central & South American tropics. I photographed this one last week at Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort. And yes, he is related to the Praying Mantis, also found here. In my gallery I have him with other Hooded Mantises, Genus Choeradodis. But both iNaturalist & Google Lens were specific with a species name on this one. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Hiding in a piece of vegetation in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve two days ago. See more from several other locations in my gallery Masked Tree Frog, Similisca phaeota.
¡Pura Vida!
Here’s one shot each of a male & female Collared Trogon, Trogon collaris (my gallery link). They were the first two birds we saw in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve or Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort yesterday. Just waiting on us as we arrived! 🙂 This particular trogon is found only in Central America and the northern portions of South America. And as you can tell from my collection of photos (above linked gallery), is found only in the higher elevations like where we were yesterday, inside a cloud. 🙂
This tiny little bee on the Spadix of an Anthurium (not a large pistil) was, I first thought, a Green Orchid Bee, but the AI of iNaturalist says no, it is one of many different species of sweat bees and once I post it on iNaturalist, it may or may not be given a species name, just the Tribe Augochlorini. He will go in my general Bees Gallery with only this tribal name for now. 🙂 He is less than half the size of yesterday’s orchid bee.
¡Pura Vida!
Early this morning Walter will take me and a group of 4 Canadian friends to breakfast at El Jardin on our way to a birding boat trip on Rio Tarcoles to its mouth on the coast followed by a birding hike in nearby Carara National Park, then lunch somewhere on our way back to Atenas. This is the second time I’ve arranged this always productive birding trip for this group.
Then on Thursday we go, at their request, to a mountain Cloud Forest Reserve north of San Ramon. There will not be as many birds there but all will be different from what was seen on the coast. Plus that 6:30am guided hike will be followed by a great “farm to table” breakfast at the Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort. I spent a couple of nights there during my earlier years in Costa Rica (2017) and it is nice, but I photographed only 9 species of birds that one time there. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
I live in a tropical country, 13° above the equator, with lots of rainforests and cloud forests an hour or so from where I live. Though this Central Valley location is not as humid as a rainforest (except in the rainy season), it is still humid and I’ve learned that humidity does many negative things to my cameras and the lenses .
I recently spent over $300 at the authorized Canon Repair Shop for minor repairs and mainly cleaning of 2 cameras and 2 lenses which had various kinds of mold or other humidity-related problems affecting the electrical connections, the glass and other details.
The repair man was kind enough to reduce some of his future business by recommending that I store my cameras and lenses in a “Dry Box,” which is a metal box containing an electrical device that keeps the humidity down to the level recommended for cameras (40-50%) and at a recommended temperature of 25-29°C. And it costs a fraction of what continued cleaning and repair would cost! (just $150) So a no brainer! 🙂 When you walk in my office now, it looks like I have a little dorm fridge sitting on top of my file cabinet, full of cameras & lenses. 🙂 Anywhere one lives, there are some adaptations that can be made to live with the extremes that might be there. And this will particularly be good when I return from one of my trips to either coast or any rainforest or cloud forest where there’s always more humidity. Humidity damage is now stopped and I expect my cameras to work better! 🙂
Under the ABOUT Menu of my website there is a PHOTOGRAPHER page with a sub-page on My Photography Equipment where I have now added this handy little device to protect my cameras and lenses. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
This post was made about 2 weeks ago which is about how far ahead I am on creating most of my Blog Posts now since the Christmas trip to Punta Leona.
. . . is finished and ready for visits! Just click the gallery image or go to this web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2025-12-23-27-Punta-Leona
Read on for my dislikes and a gallery of more hotel photos.
Continue reading “Likes & Dislikes – Punta Leona”
It doesn’t seem as crowded in these photos as it felt in person walking on the beach and the bulk of people were in the shade of the beachside forest trees that I did not photograph, feeling like I would be invading their privacy. Nor did I try to photograph the monkeys that usually hang out in those trees because of all the people and I’m guessing that is also where most of them went to the bathroom with no public baños or porta-potties. The week before Christmas through New Years Day are the busiest days on all of Costa Rica beaches and in public parks, etc. since more Ticos are on vacation those two weeks than any other one time.
That title is because tomorrow I will show some “Crowded Views” (Not pleasant to me) of the beach as sort of a contrast and then the following day I will report on all my “Likes and Dislikes” of Punta Leona and why. And I know that one of these pix shows some of the crowds, but I included it here for the lush forest that Punta Leona has right up to the beach and the new maybe 15-20 story beachside hotel that is under construction on Mantas Beach as a part of Punta Leona Beach Club & Nature Resort.
Now some Mantas Beach views that I like . . .
