Photos of 350 Species!

I just published what is probably the largest Costa Rica Butterfly & Moth book available anywhere. Click the front cover below or go to this bookstore link for a free preview of all 86 pages! https://www.blurb.com/b/12881815-350-costa-rica-butterflies-and-moths

CLICK above cover image to go to a free preview of all pages.

This will probably be my last butterfly book, so I encourage you to get one now or at least go look at it. Every species includes the available English & Spanish Common Names plus the Latin Scientific Name which is available for all, while a few species don’t have “common names.” 🙂 There are three rare butterfly species included that are rarely ever seen.

And for you neighbors of mine in Residential Roca Verde, don’t forget that I have a smaller 7×7 inches book of just Roca Verde Butterflies with 180 species photographed here, mostly in my garden.

¡Pura Vida!

An Old Regular is Back!

This Banded Peacock (my gallery link) was back in my garden yesterday for the first time in a while. I’ve also seen a couple of species of Sulphurs and the Yellow that flies around high up in the trees. But the only regular continues to be the Polydamas Swallowtail which seems to handle the wind easier than the other. The wind is lessening some now, but there is still wind and those gusts which are difficult for butterflies. I’m trying to be patient. 🙂 And oh yes, another big rain yesterday afternoon! So maybe the rainy season has started early this year! 🙂

Banded Peacock on a Lantana flower (Lantana camara ), Atenas, Alajuela

¡Pura Vida!

And I hope that any readers who live in Residential Roca Verde will check out my new photo book: Roca Verde Butterflies with 180 species photographed in Roca Verde. Click that link for a free preview of every page! Roca Verde seems to be a significant haven for butterflies! Including a couple of species rarely seen according to iNaturalist.

🙂

CLICK the above book cover for a free preview of all pages.

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”

Fading Flowers & Butterflies

Banded Peacock on Fading Zinnia, Atenas, Costa Rica

The little Zinnia Patch in my uphill garden is fading just as are the number and type of butterflies with the Banded Peacock being the most numerous butterflies now, along with the less-noticed Skippers and a few Yellows that seldom land. Below is a slide show of my images of the fading Zinnias and Banded Peacocks in front of my “Bird & Butterfly Bench” as I will now be more focused on the birds than butterflies for a while, though we do have some butterflies year around in our “forever Spring!” 🙂 Rainy Season has pretty much ended with only a few straggler showers in December and it’s Dry Season from now until May when things turn back to green and are covered in butterflies! While dry season has us covered in tourists! 🙂

Continue reading “Fading Flowers & Butterflies”

5 “Lifer” Butterflies

I got only half as many butterfly species this October as I did in September of last year at Hotel Banana Azul (16 vs 33), but even then I photographed 5 new species for me, all kind of plain and brownish, and all but 1 Skippers. But they still add to my butterfly photo collection with now about 305 species in my Butterflies & Moths of Costa Rica Gallery. Here’s those 5 new species from my recent Caribe trip . . .

Gold-bordered Hairstreak (Rekoa palegon),
Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
Continue reading “5 “Lifer” Butterflies”

3 New Species Today!

And another lovely sunrise! The two new birds are called “lifers” by birders, while the one new butterfly species is just generally called a new species! 🙂 And it is my favorite! The two new birds were identified by Merlin for the sake of any birders reading. 🙂 After I submit them to eBird, they will be reviewed and someone will notify me if they think misidentified. 🙂 The markings on both of these two birds are similar though their body builds are different and a tan color with white wing stripes is common to many species as is the white eye ring, but I’m trusting Merlin on these. 🙂 I’m now up to 10 bird species on this trip and 6 butterfly species, with there simply not being as many butterflies here this year or in October compared to my usual September trip. But I’m happy with what I’m getting and the sunrises alone are worth the trip, though I do miss hiking in Gandoca-Manzanillo & Cahuita! “Being old is not for sissies!” 🙂

Gold-bordered Hairstreak – Rekoa palegon, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica
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Maquenque Butterflies 2024 GALLERY

Fewer than birds which is expected at my best birding location, but of these 14, 3 are new to me! 🙂 Click the first page image below or go to this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2024-July-4-9-Maquenque-Eco-Lodge/BUTTERFLIES

CLICK above image to go to the gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

2 Days of Butterflies

These 6 photos of 6 species were made on April 18 & 20, processed a week later and being ahead on my blog posts, they just now make it to you! 🙂 I was really photographing a lot during the weeks before my Arenal trip and now my photos and thus blog posts are sort of backed up. But I will catch up and maybe slow down a little or be more selective in which photos I share. Sorry, but I want to share all of them! 🙂 I will put these 6 butterflies in a little gallery below this one introductory shot.

Dina Yellow, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Continue reading “2 Days of Butterflies”

Arenal Butterfly Gallery Complete

and with 3 new moth species for me and at least one new butterfly species. First, to see them all in the sub-gallery of my developing trip gallery, go to Arenal ’24 Butterflies & Moths Gallery with 15 species . . .

Click Image of 1st page of Gallery to see gallery.

Since I did a post on most of these from Arenal, I will let you look for the last minute photos in the gallery! 🙂 Though one is the featured image at top of post of a Hecale Longwing shot on my last morning there. And the birds gallery may take much longer with a lot more photos to sort through! And I think that I’m just getting slower at everything I do now. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!