The Brown-banded Skipper, Timochares ruptifasciata, is another new species for me as my collection continues to grow! It is found in the southern USA, Mexico and Jamaica and now I’m the first to report one from Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!
The Brown-banded Skipper, Timochares ruptifasciata, is another new species for me as my collection continues to grow! It is found in the southern USA, Mexico and Jamaica and now I’m the first to report one from Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!
Though the Rufous-tailed continues to dominate my garden and especially the feeders when I fill them, the other hummingbird that I still have in spite of the Rufous-tailed is the Canivet’s Emerald Hummingbird (linked to my gallery) and he is a less common hummingbird anywhere here in Costa Rica and is only found from Southern Mexico to Costa Rica. But it seems to occasionally show up and I appreciate her spunk in putting up with the rufous-tailed! Either a male or female has been in my garden from the beginning in 2015, one of the first species I photographed there. Here’s three different views of this female (back, side & front) or go to gallery for more . . .

Another new butterfly species for me, seen in June in my Cecropia Tree, the Tailed Cecropian, Historis acheronta (my gallery with 3 shots). A less seen species found from South Texas to Brazil and you can see other photos submitted on butterfliesandmoths. The great variety of butterflies here just continues to keep me searching! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!
In addition to a lot of Whites this week, I continue to see a lot of Yellows in my garden with the following three the most common . . .

For more photos, see my Pale Yellow Gallery.
Continue reading “3 Common Yellows this Week”The last two days I showed the two most active White Butterflies in my garden. Now here’s the other two I’ve seen this year, even if not as attractive nor as active in my garden . . .

Great Southern White link to my gallery for more photos. He is found from the southern states in the U.S. down through Central America.

Godart’s or Felder’s White link to my gallery for more photos. He is found in Costa Rica south to Columbia.
¡Pura Vida!
The second most common White in my garden this year is this new species for me: Howarth’s White – Ganyra howarthi (link to my gallery). Here’s one shot with more in the above gallery. It is easily identified by the one big black dot beside two lesser gray dots, 🙂

¡Pura Vida!
And tomorrow I will share the two other “Whites” that I’m seeing in my garden this year. A busy year for butterflies! 🙂
I’m back to sharing photos from my garden and this particular butterfly has been quite numerous the last few days. And more interesting than some of the many other Whites that I’m getting now. Here’s two shots from this week and you can see more in my White Angled-Sulphur Gallery. The scientific name is Anteos clorinde and they are residents from Argentina up to Mexico, putting Costa rica near the center. Here’s two shots . . .

I shake my head in amazement that I keep getting photos of new butterfly species in my own garden in the little coffee farming town of Atenas in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. But here is another one seen last week for the first time: White-striped Longtail, Chioides albofasciatus (linked to my gallery with more photos). And you can see on the butterfliesandmothsMAP that they’ve only been reported from the SW U.S. and Mexico until now, but they are know to appear as far south as Argentina.

I planted a Pagoda Flower, Clerodendrum paniculatum, in my yard last year after seeing several large shrubs with many flowers in two or more lodges. (They were introduced here from SE Asia.) Mine seems to be “just hanging on” with two stems shooting up, one flower each, but nothing like what I had hoped for. Maybe this year it will grow into a bush and give me more than just 2 flowers. 🙂 Here’s two shots from the other day . . .

The rainy season is the big time for Heliconia flowers and this year in my garden they are massing on one side for some reason. I thought I would share what I see when I look out of my kitchen window while washing dishes! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!