Those shorebirds that have spots only during the breeding season. See more in my gallery Spotted Sandpiper (linked) and/or read more about them on eBird.
¡Pura Vida!
Spotted Sandpiper
Tabacón
For those familiar with the Arenal Volcano area of Costa Rica, you know that name as the name of a Hot Springs Resort there, but did you know that it was named after a plant, Anthurium upalaense (Tabacón) (Research Gate article link)? It is much larger than the anthuriums in my garden and is found on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica with some also overlapping into nearby Nicaragua and Panama. The large leaves of the plant collect small dead leaves falling from other plants where they rot to feed the anthurium. That long red spadix is not a flower but contains many many tiny little flowers that are pollinated by insects and turn into many berries that are eaten by birds. Another amazing new discovery in nature for me! 🙂 And almost exclusive to Caribbean Costa Rica!
¡Pura Vida!
Blue Morning
I was out on the beach early yesterday morning with hopes of a brilliant sunrise. Instead, God gave me a rich blue sky, quickly followed by a nourishing rain in this tropical forest. This year’s more extreme weather promises some more extreme experiences! 🙂
And as the light increased from the above first sight, see the changing blues added to other colors in the next three shots . . .
Continue reading “Blue Morning”Rough Water
The combination of global warming and the “Super Nino” this year has made where I live on the Pacific Slope hotter and drier this year with not much of a rainy season. While the other sided of Costa Rica, the Caribbean (Atlantic) is wetter with more rain, but also hotter and thus more humid than usual. And the ocean seems rougher and high tide is higher. One photo shows a whole tree on the beach that probably blew down somewhere else and washed up here OR was washed away here by high tide and high winds and just hasn’t made it out to sea yet. I don’t know.
I didn’t get here until the afternoon with a good flight through the clouds and I’m settled in my room and made a walk down the beach road looking for nature. More tomorrow with hopes of a good sunrise and some butterflies!
¡Pura Vida!
See more of this side of Costa Rica in my gallery Caribbean Beaches. And tonight I go to sleep with the sound of the surf and a little heavier surf than in the past.
Banana Azul this Week
Hotel Banana Azul on Playa Negra in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limon Province has been my South Caribbean getaway for years now and one of my best places for butterflies along with the Caribbean birds, Sloths, monkeys and other wildlife that I photograph at the hotel and the nearby Cahuita National Park and Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge every year with other visits to three different Indigenous Bribri villages, the Endangered Green Macaw Sanctuary, Sloth Rescue Center, Jaguar Wildlife Rescue and even an organic farm!
Two or three years ago the hotel changed owners with the overall atmosphere not seeming the same, so last year I chose instead Tortuguero in the North Caribbean of Costa Rica. Both are on the Atlantic Coast of what is officially the Caribbean Sea and in Limon Province. I guess I will decide after this trip if Banana Azul still has its “magic” for me or if I will let Tortuguero be my Caribbean spot now and this trip will help me see if my age (86) still allows this adventure to continue the good memories from the last 11 years (see links below to my previous 7 trips to Banana Azul + 2 others to South Caribe.)
My Photo Books on Caribe South (with free online viewing)
These are solely about Caribe South, with other books of mine having some photos from the Caribe South.
- Hotel Banana Azul Butterflies (2nd edition, late 2023) 61 species!
- Sunrise Banana Azul (2023) brilliant sunrises on 2-page spreads of a lay-flat book
- Hotel Banana Azul Butterflies (1st edition, early 2023) 28 species
- Tranquilo Banana Azul (2019)
- Caribe Tuanis – ¡Puerto Viejo Pura Vida! (2018)
- Costa Rica’s South Caribbean (2017)
My Photo Galleries on Caribe South Trips
- 2024 October 1-6 — Hotel Banana Azul, Caribe Sur
- 2023 September 18-24 – South Caribbean Costa Rica
- 2022 September 19-25 – Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón
- 2021 September 13-20 – Banana Azul, Caribe South
- 2019-August–Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo
- 2018-Sept-6-11–Caribe South, Puerto Viejo
- 2017 Sept 4-8 — Caribe Banana Azul Puerto Viejo
- 2016 September 16-20 – Manzanillo Tent Hotel Almonds & Corals
- 2015 Aug 21-24 – Bribri Yorkin Reserve
- 2015 Aug 20-21 – Puerto Viejo de Talamanca (Pre-Yorkin @ Cariblue)
Because this is the least developed area for tourists (no chain hotels), the poorest and blackest province of Costa Rica, with the fewest roads (all 2 lanes); it just doesn’t have the visitors or the expat residents or the money that is developing other parts of Costa Rica, BUT, I think it has some of the best nature and cultural experiences of the country and I’m the only expat I know that comes here regularly. But at 86 I’m getting older and slower and probably will limit all of my future travel, so yes, this could be my last trip to the South Caribbean of Costa Rica, but I hope not! 🙂 It is just one of many places that make me glad I moved to Costa Rica back in 2014!
And what about the North Caribbean? Well, it is pretty much totally a wilderness in the Tortuguero National Park, with no roads, making access only by boat or small plane. The many lodges have excellent guides and boat captains that help immerse you into the wilderness sometimes called “The Amazon of Costa Rica.” It is a different world with many choices of lodges having similar activities from birding and wildlife watching to seeing sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach as I did last year or watch the baby turtles go to the ocean at other times of the year. It doesn’t have the Caribbean/Jamaican culture/feel of South Caribe, but plenty of nature which is my main thing! 🙂 As I get older, I will undoubtably travel less to anywhere, but when a do, I will probably continue to divide my time between two mountain areas, the South Pacific Coast and the two areas of the Caribbean Coast. Who knows? I may still be making these trips at age 100! 🙂
AND THIS WEEK I WILL ENJOY THE SOUTH CARIBBEAN WITH ITS JAMAICAN CULTURE, DIFFERENT WILDLIFE, AND BEAUTIFUL SUNRISES! 🙂 Banana Azul!
¡Pura Vida!
And with so much nostalgia of my previous visits, I just had to add a few more photos as a slideshow here . . .
Banana Azul 
Banana Azul 
Banana Azul 
Banana Azul Sunrise 
Banana Azul 
Banana Azul 
Banana Azul Sunrise 
Banana Azul 
Banana Azul Beach Road 
Banana Azul Sunrise 
Banana Azul Sunrise 
Whimbrel on Banana Azul Beach 
Great Green Macaw, Caribe South 
Poison Dart Frog, Gandoca-Manzanillo 
Slaty-tailed Trogon, Gandoca-Manzanillo 
Yellow-throated Toucan, Cahuita NP 
Banana Azul Sunrise 
Gray-cowled Wood-Rail at Banana Azul 
Bribri boy at Watsi Volio Waterfall 
White-faced Capuchin Monkey, Cahuita NP 
Green Basilisk, Banana Azul 
Brown Noddy, Banana Azul Beach 
Sunrise Banana Azul 
Brown Pelican, Banana Azul Beach 
Father-Son canoeing at Banana Azul Sunrise 
Caribe South Coast, Gandoca-Manzanillo 
Surfer, Cocles Beach
Fridericus Spreadwing
I hope that I’m identifying this new species for me correctly, Fridericus Spreadwing, Quadrus fridericus (iNaturalist Costa Rica link). Both photos were made on the same day, but I think they are two different individuals. And of course I’ve started a gallery for Fridericus Spreadwing (linked) with one more photo than these.
¡Pura Vida!
Florida White
Found in many more places than the U.S. state of Florida, this butterfly is throughout tropical America from Brazil north to the Florida peninsula and South Texas including the Caribbean islands and all of Central America. I see him frequently in my garden as you can see in my gallery Florida White (linked). In the gallery, the ones with large swatches of dark brown (black) trim are females in the wet season only.
¡Pura Vida!
Florida “Blizzard?”
From Google: “In coastal Florida often tell modern “nature stories” about the massive, sudden irruptions or migrations of these butterflies. During peak population explosions, millions of Florida Whites hatch simultaneously. Residents describe looking out their windows and thinking they are seeing a “beachside blizzard” or “flying white ashes” blowing down the highway. It creates an ethereal, temporary winter wonderland in a tropical climate. [1]” Click that footnote “1” for a video of that “blizzard.” 🙂
Melwhite on Milkweed
Is it a contrast or a harmony of colors? Either way, I like these photos of the Common Melwhite (my gallery link) on the Tropical Milkweed flowers (NaturalistaCR link).
¡Pura Vida!
How do I get that mottled green background? (Someone asked.) Simply by using my 600mm lens from a distance of 6 feet or more. The long lens automatically puts my focus point in focus and everything else blurry. In this case, my “jungle-like” garden is mostly greens with only occasional flowers, thus the mottled green background. When I shoot up, with the sky as background (often with birds), the background can be anything from bright blue to gray to white, depending on the weather, and more rarely golds to oranges. I’ve tried a close-up lens for both flowers and insects and it just doesn’t work for me (for multiple reasons). 🙂
Mexican Fritillary
This colorful orange butterfly lives throughout Mexico and Central America, the West Indies and a few strays along the Southwestern U.S. border. See more photos in my gallery: Mexican Fritillary (linked). A bit of interesting indigenous history that includes this butterfly from Google Search:
The “Flower World” (Xochitl): In early Classic Teotihuacan and Postclassic Aztec culture, orange butterflies symbolized fire, rebirth, and a floral spiritual paradise. [1, 2] ~Google (Click the two footnote numbers for more information from their sources.)
¡Pura Vida!
Listen. Wonder. Belong.
A local friend just shared a free online article titled “The Voices of Birds and the Language of Belonging” by David G. Haskell (linked) that is partly technical and partly inspirational.
It reminded me of the Tropical Screech Owl that often sings to me during the night hours from my Higueron Tree, singing me to sleep (never got a photo of it). The article also reminded me of how I prepared for works presented by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra (15 years ago) by going an hour early for a 30 minute discussion of what we were about to hear. It’s amazing how much more you hear and experience when you prepare to listen! 🙂 That was back when Giancarlo Guerrero (from Costa Rica) was the Music Director. But, back to the article whose author said in the last line . . .
Let’s answer the birds’ invitation, stepping outside to give them the simple gift of our attention. Listen. Wonder. Belong. ~David G. Haskell
Here’s one of several YouTube videos of the Tropical Screech Owl singing . . .
Or if really into it, you can listen to archived audio recordings and calls of the Tropical Screech Owl (Megascops choliba) through the Xeno-canto Tropical Screech Owl Database, which features hundreds of field recordings.
Or read about them and see their distribution map on eBird. And thanks to Judith LaBelle for the article on listening to birds! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Listen. Wonder. Belong.
And the featured photo of a Tropical Screech Owl in Costa Rica was copied off the internet and not my photo. I am yet to photograph one. The one I hear singing at night is in the dark and I don’t have the equipment to photograph at night and when I got up and looked for him once, I never even saw him. BUT, I do have photos of 6 other owls here in Costa Rica that I photographed in daylight . . .
And my favorite is probably that last one, the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, though I like them all! 🙂