Pizote!

Pizote is what everyone in Costa Rica calls this animal which in English is the White-nosed Coati. I see them all over Costa Rica and thus a lot of photos in my White-nosed Coati Gallery. 🙂 They remind many north americans of the raccoon, but are different in several ways, plus we have raccoons here, just not as many! Here’s four shots from Esquinas . . .

White-nosed Coati, Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Golfito, Costa Rica
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The Birds of Esquinas

I think I’ve shown 5 favorite birds on their own individual blog posts, now here they are with all the other birds in a gallery of 18, a fraction of the 50 species I got on my last trip there, which I will blame on both climate change and the lack of a mangrove boat trip this time, though there were still fewer birds at the lodge this time, just like there are fewer birds at my house this year! Here’s one bird for the emailed version and then a gallery of 18 total birds to follow.

White-tipped Dove on a Panama Hat Flower at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Golfito.
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New Esquinas GALLERY is finished!

Check out the now finished gallery of photos from my latest Costa Rica Adventure and second visit to Esquinas Rainforest Lodge by clicking the first page image below or go to this link: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-July-1-6-Esquinas-Rainforest-Lodge

CLICK this image of the 1st page of my ’23 Esquinas Rainforest Lodge GALLERY to visit it.
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Another New Butterfly!

I’m slow getting all the photos processed and identifications made is why I keep coming up with new things! 🙂 This butterfly is not one I saw for the first time at Esquinas but have identified correctly for the first time, as I’m getting a little better at ID. It is a Hewitson’s Longwing, Heliconius hewitsoni that I saw in the understory deep in the forest on the Manakin Trail the other day at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge. I often compare my photos with not only my butterfly book photos, but online photos and even my own older photos which is when I discovered I had seen him before at Punta Leona but misidentified! And because the one at Esquinas was damaged and not in the best light, I am including the much better photo I made at Punta Leona for comparison and I will have to go back to all the places that photo appears and re-identify it! Whew! And because it is such a better photo, I will show it first and this is my first time to properly identify it.

Hewitson’s Longwing, first photographed at Punta Leona (near Jaco) and just now properly identifying.

Now see three weaker photos I made in the dark understory of the rainforest at Esquinas Lodge for comparison. I am now certain of this new identification and the website I volunteer for will have to add this new species because it is not now included, meaning that my photos will be the first ones on butterfliesandmoths.org. And this is not the first time I’ve introduced a new species there, thanks to the incredible variety of species in Costa Rica! Many are endemic to just Costa Rica or sometimes, like this one, endemic to Costa Rica & Panama’s Pacific Coast.

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A New Butterfly!

I was happy to find a new butterfly for my collection while at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge last week, the Spot-banded Daggerwing, Marpesia merops, found only in the tropics between Guatemala and Brazil. I will share the few other more common butterflies that I photographed on this trip in another blog post, segregating this very special one! 🙂 And for those in the Golfito area, I photographed him on the gravel road leading up to the lodge, between the lodge and La Gamba Research Station.

Spot-banded Daggerwing, Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Golfito, Costa Rica

And as long as he was anywhere near me, he never fully closed his wings for me to get a side shot or picture of the bottom of his wings, but from my books it is the same pattern in a much lighter color, sort of a whitish tan or light grayish tan with none of the black seen on the top but the white spots remain.

This is the most he ever folded his wings for me.
Spot-banded Daggerwing, Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Golfito, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Long-billed Hermit

One of my favorite Hummingbirds seen in the rainforest is the Long-billed Hermit (eBird link) found throughout Central America and the northern edges of South America. He can hover longer in one place than some hummingbirds and his tail can be long and straight or opened into a fan shape plus he seems to favor Heliconia flowers. Here’s four shots from the forest at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge.

Long-billed Hermit, Esquinas Rainforest Lodge. Piedras Blancas National Park, Golfito, Costa Rica.
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My Birthday Party

And I’m a little late reporting on what was this past Tuesday, but thanks to those who wished me a happy birthday (July 4) from around the world! And it was, as always, happy when I’m in a rainforest! 😊 The photo is of the birthday cake the lodge made for me, decorated with local fruits and topped with a sign that translated to all English says: 83 – Happy Birthday! – Charlie – We wish you a happy birthday full of joy and you enjoy it very much. From: Esquinas Rainforest Lodge.

My 83rd birthday cake in the rainforest!
83 – Happy Birthday! – Charlie
We wish you a happy birthday full of joy and you enjoy it very much. From: Esquinas Rainforest Lodge.

¡Pura Vida!