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This is my second sighting of a Black Pondhawk, Erythemis atala (my gallery link) with the other one not far from Punta Leona at the old Hotel Villa Lapas in Tarcoles which today (January 1) reopens as a more expensive Marriott, Santa Lucia Jungle Hacienda (their website link). Hope they still have the abundance of wildlife on their property next door to Carara National Park! I may try it out one time, we’ll see. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
At least that is what everyone calls them in English! 🙂 While the “official” common name in English is “Common Morpho!” And in Spanish everyone is covered with “Mariposa Morfo Azul Común” or “Common Blue Morpho Butterfly!” 🙂 And “Common” is good because there are other species with blue tops! 🙂 See my photos from many different locations of this, the National Butterfly of Costa Rica, Common Morpho, Morpho helenor gallery. Four shots I liked from Punta Leona after this first introductory photo . . .
Like one I photographed in my garden June, just not as good a photo this time. 🙂 And one of the iNaturalist “experts” changed the other photo to an “Orange Cracker,” but me and the AI + my book believe this one is “Red” though I admit the tops of both are similar. 🙂 I’m putting this with my other “official” shots of a Red in my Red Cracker Gallery. And if an “identifier” changes it, I’ll move it. And the butterfly house at Punta Leona says they have both Red & Orange there, so no help there! 🙂 But I’m sticking with red for now! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
One of the many butterflies I photographed at Punta Leona was the White Satyr – Pareuptychia ocirrhoe (my gallery link) which is one that I’ve seen in my garden in Atenas and in 5 other locations in Costa Rica. I got home yesterday afternoon with laundry job #1 and watering plants job #2. 🙂 As I prepared this last night, I decided to get back on my usual schedule of early morning releases, so here it is on the Sunday after Christmas, an angel-like butterfly! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
I was the only guest to take the birding walk the other morning and Pablo & I had this skunk to cross our path in front of us! (Ideal for a photo!) Though there are several species of skunks, I’m reasonably certain that this one is the Striped Hog-nosed Skunk – Conepatus semistriatus (linked to my gallery with 3 other photos of this, my first sighting of a skunk in Costa Rica). 🙂
Today, Friday, 26 December is my last day at Punta Leona. Tomorrow at noon, one of Walter’s drivers, Alex, will pick me up and return me home where I will again have decent internet service and will share a lot more nature photos from this visit and in one post will give the pros and cons of this unique place and explain why I may not return. Tomorrow’s post may also be done in the afternoon, then I will get back to my morning posts.
¡Pura Vida!
The usually slow internet was completely down yesterday, so late on this post. The Scarlet Macaw (my gallery link), or Lapas Roja en español, is kind of a signature bird for Punta Leona since they have nesting boxes with continuous video coverage online of several of the boxes where you can watch the babies grow up and leave their nest. But the birds are all over the property and this shot was made about one block from my hotel room.
¡Pura Vida!
My one photo today through the very slow internet here is probably my favorite from the 6:15 am birding hike today.
The bird was eating banana plant flowers and interestingly at breakfast this morning a monkey got in and stole a banana of a man’s plate. 🙂
Tomorrow I will share one butterfly shot from the 9:30 am butterfly hike, during which I was not feeling great and will definitely slow down the rest of my time here! By 10 it is almost unbearably hot & humid and I was exhausted, coming back to the room for a nap and then this afternoon another nap. 🙂 I guess I’m an older man than I want to admit. 🙂
Tonight will be the hotel’s “special” Christmas Dinner. Tomorrow I will focus on the beach on Christmas Day with shore birds early morning, maybe a tidepool effort at low tide, and maybe a sunset reflection on the ocean, since the sun sets here now behind the land with the coast at an angle. 🙂 The better sunset place here is at Villa Coleta up the hills from Punta Leona.
Merry Christmas to all the faithful readers!
¡Pura Vida!
Another migrant from up north I think. The northern version males & females look like this while the “Resident Yellow Warbler” here has a female that is also the same while the resident male has a reddish-brown cap. In my gallery I just keep them all together in the Yellow Warbler Gallery. 🙂 And there I have only one photo of a resident male, seen on Rio Tarcoles.
¡Pura Vida!
More photos from outside Atenas in this category because I always see more wildlife at the parks, reserves and lodges than at home, which may be best. 🙂 And with less travel this year there were fewer exotic animals, but here’s a few that are pretty interesting 🙂 . . .
And in 2025 I got multiple new species, mostly in my Garden as are most of these photos! This is just a sampling with my effort to not show 2 of the same species . . .
