Category: Plants

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Rio Tres Amigos Safari

My 4th time at Maquenque Ecolodge, but first time to go on this particular float trip (their web description link) though I’ve canoed their lake and been on the bigger river, San Carlos, in a larger boat. The only reason I’ve missed this one is that they require a minimum of 2 paying customers and I travel solo! 🙂 This was the first time there were other guests interested in this same float trip to make up the minimum with me. They were a lovely couple from Europe, he Italian and she Swiss! We had a great time together and I got a lot of photos which is right now the only part of my Maquenque Trip Gallery that is completed. So you can see more photos at Rio Tres Amigos Safari GALLERY.   🙂

And note that the only wildlife (The cow doesn’t count!) that I show in this post is one bird, but it’s a rare photo of a female Sunbittern sitting on her nest! In earlier blog posts I’ve shown you 3 animals from this safari:  Crested Caracara, Green Iguana and Mantled Howler Monkey, yet there are still many more in the above gallery including 12 species of birds!  🙂  And here are 6 shots to give you an idea of what just one morning at Maquenque can be like!  🙂  Still my favorite lodge!

A fresh fruit & water break along the Rio Tres Amigos, Costa Rica.

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Rejoice!

A view of our tranquil little farm town from a hill in my neighborhood.
Plants up the driveway from my house that said “resurrection” to me.
One of the most joyful flowers in my garden, to me, the Flame Vine or Triquitraque here,

He has risen!

He has risen indeed!

¡Pura Vida!

For a few shots of old Traditional Easter Pageantry, see the trip gallery of my 2016 Visit to Granada, Nicaragua Easter Week, called “Semana Santa” en español.

PERSONAL NOTE: Tonight I will be at one of my favorite nature lodges, Maquenque Ecolodge in Boca Tapada on the Nicaragua border from which you can expect weeks of nature photos and maybe one tonight!   🙂

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Yellow-faced Grassquit

This common resident bird is found literally all over Costa Rica at most levels and this is my 4th time to see one in my Atenas neighborhood, with all other photos here in trees, bushes or on a fence, though their feeding is in the grasses! I have seen one across the street in the cow pasture grasses but without a photo!  🙂  I did get photos of him in the grasses of a meadow in Curi-Cancha Reserve, Monteverde and I’ve also seen one at Celeste Mountain Lodge at Tenorio Volcano NP. See my other photos in the Yellow-faced Grassquit GALLERY. And you can read about them on eBird. He’s a resident, tropical, non-migrating bird found throughout Central America, the Caribbean Islands and the northern fringes of South America. Here’s 3 shots of this male in one of my Nance Trees . . .

Yellow-faced Grassquit, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

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The “Brown is Cool” Butterflies

Three butterflies I got the other morning at the same time that are not new to me but I think handsome butterflies, The Tanna Longtail (normal sized) and the Rawson’s Metalmark (tiny fingernail sized), the same species I featured 6 days ago on March 22, and a Plain Longtail not much different from the first one above.

Tanna Longtail, Atenas, Costa Rica

Note that this Tanna Longtail is very similar to the Teleus Longtail (darker side spots, thinner median band) and the Brown Longtail (also with darker side spots) and thus my ID is not guaranteed but I’m pretty sure!  🙂

Rawson’s Metalmark, Atenas, Costa Rica
Plain Longtail Skipper, Atenas, Costa Rica

 

See my galleries of other shots of these two at:

¡Pura Vida!

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Brilliant White Peacock Butterfly

Though one of my regular visitors, I continue to be amazed at the simple beauty of this butterfly . . .

White Peacock, Atenas, Costa Rica

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Nature as Contemporary Art

Delicate flower buds, a dead leaf and a huge tree on the hill above my house – just using my imagination and playing with nature in the camera . . .

Nature as Art, Atenas, Costa Rica
Nature as Art, Atenas, Costa Rica
Nature as Art, Atenas, Costa Rica
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Fingernail-sized Butterfly

This tiny butterfly in my garden the other day that I am identifying as a Rawson’s Metalmark. These very tiny little brown butterflies are difficult to identify!  🙂   Here’s 4 shots of this one from different angles . . .

A tiny Metalmark Butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica

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Garden Pix

Walking through the garden on two mornings (March 11 & 12) and I chose these shots to share in a little slide show. Rainy Season usually sorta starts the middle of April and really starts in May, but by March 12 we have already had 3 little but nice rains! So I’m glad as is my garden!  🙂

Each and every bloom is unique and beautiful to me. Enjoy walking through my garden with the slide show below and here is the only one I can’t identify, from across the driveway in neighbor’s yard . . .

Unidentified in Neighbor’s Yard

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Last 4 Birds from Tortuguero

These fit with the larger ones already shared and though there are more that I saw and even tried to photograph, these are all I will try to share of the birds. Some other wildlife next!  🙂

Turkey Vulture, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
Great Green Macaw, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
Montezuma Oropendola, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
Great Kiskadee, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

All this trip in: Tortuguero 2023 Trip Gallery

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The Other 2 White Birds

Three days ago, March 2,  I published a blog post on the Snowy Egret, an all-white bird, and here are the other 2 all-white birds at Tortuguero: the Great Egret and the Cattle Egret.

You can tell the Snowy Egret and Great Egret apart by the opposite colors of their beaks and feet: Snowy has black beak and yellow feet, while Great has yellow beak and black feet.  🙂 The Cattle Egret is much smaller with shorter neck and beak and often with pale salmon coloring on head and chest. After this introductory photo, there is a 3-pix gallery for each of these two new all-white birds . . .

Great Egret, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica

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