Crested Owl Jungle Challenge

One of the Maquenque Managers took me out into the thick rainforest today where one of the new Treehouses is being built, while the workers were on their lunch break.  🙂  They discovered the roosting place for a couple of Crested Owls at eye level from one new treehouse in the forest, but hidden from the normal human eyes behind the limbs and leaves of the large tree they’re in. It was impossible to get a good photo, but here are three shots that show three different things: first the top 2/3 of one with the second shot showing the bottom 2/3 of one and the third shot showing a portion of both owls, just to show that there are two there!  🙂  They weren’t poising on an open limb for me!  🙂

Shooting through the foliage is a common challenge when birding in a forest anywhere and could be a part of your challenge if you come stay in a treehouse at Maquenque, but in my past stays in treehouses here I’ve also had some very clear shots of toucans, spider monkeys and howler monkeys; so don’t let a little jungle challenge stop you from a great experience here at Maquenque Eco Lodge & Reserve! (Link to lodge website.)

Top 2/3 of a Crested Owl, Maquenque Eco Lodge, Costa Rica

You can sort of see the “crests” which seemed to be relaxed while resting.

Bottom 2/3 of a Crested Owl, Maquenque Eco Lodge, Costa Rica
And the most I could capture of the two birds together! You can barely see that there are 2! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

And you may want to see my Crested Owl Gallery, though I have only one other photo.

And you can read about them on eBird. Found in Central America and the northern half of South America.

Lunch with Spider Monkeys

As I finished my quesadilla lunch today, I stepped out of the dining room to a tropical Guaba Tree where a couple of Spider Monkeys were eating both fruit & leaves for their lunch! 🙂 Here’s just one photo. You can see more photos of this wiry guy in my Central American Spider Monkey Gallery. And oh yes, only “new world monkeys” (Central & South America) have prehensile tails and can hang in a tree like this fellow with all hands and feet free! Nada in Africa and Asia! 🙂

Central American Spider Monkey, Maquenque Eco Lodge, Costa Rica

Part of the fun of living Retired in Costa Rica!

¡Pura Vida!

Woodpecker House-building

I captured some images today of this Black-cheeked Woodpecker building a new house where soon some new little woodpeckers will be raised at Maquenque Eco Lodge.  🙂

Black-cheeked Woodpecker house building, Maquenque Eco Lodge, Costa Rica
Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Maquenque Eco Lodge, Costa Rica

And I’m getting lots of other bird photos plus other wildlife here in the rainforest which I will eventually share here or in my gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Maquenque Eco Lodge website

Xandari 2024 GALLERY Completed

I consider my group of galleries titled Costa Rica TRIPS to be my best group of photo galleries, because they cover my trips to all my favorite nature places all over Costa Rica, now numbering 120 including day trips! Though I share some good photography from home here in Atenas, including my garden, the exciting stuff is usually from the trips! 🙂

And the newest one is from last week’s little 2-night trip to Xandari Resort on the edge of my provincial capital of Alajuela, Alajuela with their surprising private rainforest with waterfalls, all kinds of trees and wildlife, along with their gorgeous gardens near the rooms, restaurant, spa and their farm. A great little jungle island near a big city! This gallery is labeled 2024 June 11-13 — Xandari Resort, Alajuela (linked to the gallery) or you can click the image of the first page of the gallery below to get there . . .

CLICK this first page of Gallery to go there.

If you are one of my readers in Costa Rica and want to check out Xandari, which has greatly reduced prices during rainy season, go to their website at Xandari Costa Rica! (Pronounced shaun-dar-ie) It is the Costa Rica location of a chain of resorts based in India, all focused on nature and local culture and people.

Now I will start catching up on some blog posts from my garden that I made before Xandari. 🙂 And my next trip is in July to Maquenque Eco Lodge where I’ve photographed more birds than any other location! 🙂 Plus I will celebrate my 84th birthday there! 🙂 Always something to look forward too when you live “Retired in Costa Rica!”

¡Pura Vida!

Xandari Butterflies

I said yesterday I had 15 species and I just realized the plain brown top is the top of the Carolina Satyr, meaning I moved those photos in with the Carolina Satyr dropping it to 14 and one unidentified Yellow could possibly be one of the other yellows, so I got either 13 or 14 species of butterflies with I think three new species. Xandari has always been a good place for butterflies for me, both in their forest and in their gardens, my third best place after my own garden and Hotel Banana Azul in the Caribbean! 🙂 Here is one pix for the emailed version of post, followed online by a gallery of all 15 photos . . .

Simple Satyr, Xandari Resort, Alajuela, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Xandari Butterflies”

Rainy Season Contrasts

The rain makes everything green and when it is not raining or cloudy, it is beautiful wherever you look. But when overcast or raining you can sometime see only a few meters away as these two shots from my room at Xandari show, looking out over the city of Alajuela and the Central Valley . . .

Vista from my room at Xandari Resort in Alajuela, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Vista from my room at Xandari Resort in Alajuela, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

5 of 10 Xandari Birds

Yeah, ten were all the birds I photographed there this time, but it was only a little more than one day there and during rainy season, so okay for near a big city. But by comparison, I got photos of 15 butterfly species! I will eventually share more of them. And on my first day’s post there were two more birds, a Kiskadee and a Rufous-tailed Wren. Here’s 5 more . . .

Red-billed Pigeon, Xandari Resort, Alajuela, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Continue reading “5 of 10 Xandari Birds”

Wee Wildlife @ Xandari

I came back from Xandari this morning late and I’m still processing photos from there, including some made this morning before leaving. right now it looks like I photographed 15 species of butterflies, 10 species of birds and 4 other wildlife, 3 of which I am sharing here as other insect . . .

Leafcutter Ant, Xandari Resort, Alajuela, Alajuela
— Click above image to see my Leafcutter Ants Gallery
Continue reading “Wee Wildlife @ Xandari”

Lirio Caminante, Trimezia gracilis

Thanks to one of the volunteers on iNaturalist, I now have a species name for that “cute smiling” flower I photographed at Arenal last month. The scientific name is Trimezia gracilis and the most used common name is Liro Caminante, with a less-used common name of Falsa Orquidea. You can see a map of where they are found around the world and read more information about them on PlantNet.org. Here’s that one photo again and I’m proud to be first to share it on iNaturalist! 🙂

Lirio Caminante, Trimezia gracilis, at Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

Athis inca moth – A Rare Find!

One of my unidentified photos from Arenal just got identified by an authority with butterfliesandmoths.org and it is another one of those rare finds and mine is the first one ever submitted to butterfliesandmoths. 🙂 Wikipedia says “Athis inca is a moth of the Castniidae family. It is found from Mexico to Costa Rica.” You can see this photo of mine posted on butterfliesandmoths or in my gallery. And to learn more, the website that seemed to have the most information was GBIF (linked). And Project Noah (linked) has several nice photos, including different subspecies. I’m proud of my find and so glad that J. Wiley Rains of BAMONA identified it for me! Costa Rica is just full of “rare finds!” 🙂 And it is wonderful to be “Retired in Costa Rica,” the name of my blog! 🙂

Athis inca Moth, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Costa Rica

On this same trip I also found another semi-rare moth which you can see in my gallery, the Feigeria herilia, an equally interesting and different moth! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!