Category: Places

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Florida White’s Simple Beauty

Of course there are other looks of this Florida White, Glutophrissa drusilla (my gallery link), but I kind of liked this one captured in my garden in July. See the above gallery for more looks. And I will now start posting August photos, but if the photo ops run thin, I may go back to some more like this from July! There were a lot! 🙂

Florida White, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Folk Music in Atenas Central Park

I’m not even trying to make it to all the colorful activities in our little farming community’s Central Park, but thanks to Facebook sending me links to posts they think might interest me, here’s a video from the Atenas FB Page of a folklore musical performance this past week . . .

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1292819208868018

https://www.facebook.com/MuniAtenas/videos/1292819208868018/?__tn__=F

It wouldn’t “embed” with a picture with either address. Technology is getting to be too much for me! 🙂

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Another New Species of Butterflies

This Marcellina Sulphur, Phoebis marcellina (iNaturalist link) has had only 56 observations in Costa Rica on iNaturalist and was my 3rd new species in July. I had a total of 31 species of butterflies photographed which could make it a near-record month! I haven’t been counting by months before, but have now started doing all my uploads to 4 websites by months, keeping a record now of each month for birds, butterflies and other wildlife. But with the recent bout of all-day cloudiness, it has slowed down with the less flowers. But who knows what tomorrow holds? 🙂

Marcellina Sulphur, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Most Common Bird This Week . . .

. . . is the Rufous-backed Wren, Campylorhynchus capistratus (my gallery link) with youngsters recently born and all chattering around everywhere it seems. Their chattering makes me think that they are miniature Chachalacas! 🙂 Two shots, one from above & one from below . . .

Rufous-backed Wren, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Rufous-backed Wren, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Less Sun = Fewer Flowers

We have continued to have strange or different weather this year with July usually bright sun until mid-afternoon when the showers start. Well, the showers have been mostly the same with somewhat more this year, going all night occasionally, and even a few times into the morning. Which is OK, but, the mornings and early afternoons have had much less sunshine which is simply required for many of the flowers. It has been cloudy most of each day until the rain starts every day for over a month now!

My Porter Weeds are blooming less, the Lantanas have quit blooming as has the Golden Shrimp and the new Golden Dewdrop and Tropical Milkweed, all of which attract butterflies. The Zinnias that K planted next to my yard are blooming, but smaller or dwarfed by less sun. The only two things that seem to thrive in the dominant shade are my Maraca Plants (Shampoo Ginger) and the Anthuriums which I added some more of just to have some color.

The Desert Rose did poorly for awhile, which I blamed on repotting, but it is coming back strong now with blooms on each stem! (But it’s not a butterfly flower!) 🙂 It does need sun though, and I have it on the east side for morning sun, which is when we get what little we may get now.

Here are 6 shots of the ones that are blooming in July & August with another new one that I might not keep, the Ginger Lily. A shot of the “Garden Man” for the emailed version and then 5 more below that with explanations . . .

He used to have Golden Shrimp around him, but none blooming now, just the Anthuriums.
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Purple-washed Skipper

Like most skippers, he is not very colorful or exciting, and you can’t see his purported “purple wash” on my shots, but – he is a new species for me! Right here in my garden! And that long row of white dots was what made him easy to identify! 🙂 No other shots in my gallery, but you can see others from Costa Rica in the iNaturalist CR Purple-washed Skipper, Panoquina lucas, where there are only 17 other observations of this species in Costa Rica! 🙂 You can see the “purple wash” on some photos there! Here’s two shots from my garden . . .

Purple-washed Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Groove-billed Ani

If you look close, you can see the grooves in his bill. And yes, there is a “Smooth-billed Ani” found only in the South Pacific of Costa Rica, while this one can be seen in the northern 2/3 of the country. They are semi-regular in my neighborhood and you can see my other photos of this bird in my GALLERY: Groove-billed Ani, Crotophaga sulcirostris from several locations in Costa Rica. Here’s 3 shots from my garden 2 days ago . . .

Groove-billed Ani, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
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Turquoise-browed Motmot

This is one of the lesser seen species of the 6 Motmot species in Costa Rica, found here only on the northwest coast, north of Manuel Antonio. I have photographed most in my neighborhood with two in Puntarenas Province at Jaco & Tambor Bay, plus one in Guanacaste at Hacienda Guachipelin, Rincon de la Vieja. See my other photos in the Turquoise-browed Motmot Gallery. Or read about them on eBird. Found from Southern Mexico to Northwestern Costa Rica only.

Turquoise-browed Motmot, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Turquoise-browed Motmot, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Health Update . . .

Doing well, just a little low energy and sleeping 8-10 hours at night. 🙂 But the continued oral antibiotics are working, I’m sure, and soon I will be back to a “normal” old man! 🙂 Catching a few photos in garden now and have a backlog from July, so the blog will continue! 🙂

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Westwood’s Yellow

I’ve been seeing a lot of yellow butterflies recently and this Westwood’s Yellow, Eurema westwoodii (my gallery link) seems to be one of the “regulars” this year for the first time. See more in my gallery link above.

Westwood’s Yellow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Westwood’s Yellow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Yellow-faced Grassquit

This little bird feeds in the grasses usually, though I caught him yesterday afternoon in my neighbor’s dead tree. He is the Yellow-faced Grassquit, Tiaris olivaceus (eBird link) which I have seen multiple times in my neighborhood along with a sighting at Curi-Cancha Reserve in Monteverde and at Rio Celeste Lodge near Tenorio NP. My other photos are in my gallery titled: Yellow-faced Grassquit.

Yellow-faced Grassquit, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Yellow-faced Grassquit, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Muted Colors Julia & Health Update

The Julia Heliconian Butterfly always has beige or muted colors on the bottom of the wings, but this one photographed in my garden in July seemed “muted” all over, most likely because of the sky or sunlight that particular day. It gave this particular butterfly a feeling of calm, sophistication, and nostalgia, I think. Evoking a sense of subtlety.

Muted Colors Julia Heliconian, Atenas, Costa Rica

See how bright an orange the top wings can be in my gallery: Julia Heliconian. And 2 more shots of this one . . .

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