Tropical Buckeye

Another favorite that is not seen every day in my garden is the Tropical buckeye, Junonia zonalis (my gallery link with better images). This first one seen since May this year and not as good photos as others in the gallery.

Tropical Buckeye, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Tropical Buckeye, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

¡Feliz Día de la Madre a las madres de Costa Rica!

This Julia reminds me of Juli

This brilliant orange butterfly, Julia Heliconian, Dryas julia (my gallery link) sometimes reminds me of my beaming special needs daughter, Juli, who died of kidney failure in 1997. She too was brilliant, hyper-active and unpredictable! 🙂 And only parents of other special needs children know what I mean. 🙂 She was the only true love in my life at that time and I will always miss her! Pura vida!

Julia Heliconian, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Julia Heliconian, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

My living room remembrance of Juli from “Compassionate Friends” support group.

Tropical Kingbird . . .

. . . is one of the many birds I loved discovering on that first trip to Costa Rica in 2009 and still smile every time I see one! This one sort of looks like a little guard watching over my garden! 🙂 See more of my photos of this charming CR bird in my GALLERY: Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus. Including that first one at Lookout Inn, Carate, Corcovado National Park and another one on that same trip in Puerto Jimenez. 🙂

Tropical Kingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Continue reading “Tropical Kingbird . . .”

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! 🙂

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!

Continue reading “Another New Species of Butterflies”

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!

Continue reading “Most Common Bird This Week . . .”

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.
Continue reading “Groove-billed Ani”

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! 🙂

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!