Tag: Costa Rica

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Athis inca moth – A Rare Find!

One of my unidentified photos from Arenal just got identified by an authority with butterfliesandmoths.org and it is another one of those rare finds and mine is the first one ever submitted to butterfliesandmoths. 🙂 Wikipedia says “Athis inca is a moth of the Castniidae family. It is found from Mexico to Costa Rica.” You can see this photo of mine posted on butterfliesandmoths or in my gallery. And to learn more, the website that seemed to have the most information was GBIF (linked). And Project Noah (linked) has several nice photos, including different subspecies. I’m proud of my find and so glad that J. Wiley Rains of BAMONA identified it for me! Costa Rica is just full of “rare finds!” 🙂 And it is wonderful to be “Retired in Costa Rica,” the name of my blog! 🙂

Athis inca Moth, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Costa Rica

On this same trip I also found another semi-rare moth which you can see in my gallery, the Feigeria herilia, an equally interesting and different moth! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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2 Less Often Seen Birds

Both in the shadows of my Cecropia Tree, thus not great photos, but part of my purpose is to document what seen, when and where, which with eBird helps scientific research like also with my butterflies on butterfliesandmoths. Great photos or works of art come occasionally as an extra treat! 🙂

You can see more in my galleries linked below for these two bird species photographed all over Costa Rica:

Hoffman’s Woodpecker, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Swainson’s Thrush, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

And all my Costa Rica Birds GALLERIES.

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Megarus Scrub-Hairstreak

This is my second time to see this rare butterfly, with the other time being in the south of the country near Golfito at Playa Cativo Lodge on Golfo Dulce at Piedras Blancas National Park AND I am the only person to have submitted any photos of it to butterfliesandmoths.org (Link to their page for this butterfly.) Or you can see the same photos in my gallery for the Megarus Scrub-Hairstreak, Strymon megarus. 🙂 Here’s four shots from a recent sighting in my garden . . .

Male Megarus Scrub-Hairstreak, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Arenal 2024 Photo Gallery

Finally, I have processed all the photos and organized them into another fun gallery representative of Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails inside the Arenal Volcano National Park of Costa Rica. And the blog will be back to my little creatures and fun nature from my little garden. You can click the first page of the gallery below or if preferred, this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2024-May-6-11-Arenal-Observatory-Lodge-Trails

CLICK this image of the first page of gallery to go there.

And to visit there, see the Arenal Observatory Lodge WEBSITE.

¡Pura Vida!

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28 Bird Species at Arenal

Both birds and butterflies are the two groups of photos from a forest trip that take me a long time to process the literal thousands of photos and this time I did the butterflies earlier and finally I have finished the birds with 28 species photographed and only 1 is unidentified. Click the first page of the bird gallery below to see it or you can go to this web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2024-May-6-11-Arenal-Observatory-Lodge-Trails/BIRDS

CLICK this image of the first page of the gallery to go there.

Plus I have added the better photos from this trip gallery to my Costa Rica Birds by Species galleries, so they are found in both places. 🙂 And now I will more quickly finish the entire “Trip Gallery!” 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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The “Other” Hummingbird at Arenal

Like in my garden and some other places visited in Costa Rica, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails seemed dominated by the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and when I finally get my Arenal ’24 Birds Gallery finished, you will see a lot of Rufous-tailed Hummingbird photos as without-a-doubt my most seen hummingbird, though I place this Violet-headed Hummingbird (eBird link) as number 2 seen by me while at Arenal and as the only other hummingbird I got useable photos of on this trip, though I’m pretty sure I saw a Cinnamon Hummingbird but without a useable photo of him/her. So here’s one shot of the Violet-headed Hummingbird plus the featured photo at top and in my Big Costa Rica Birds Gallery, my Violet-headed Hummingbird Gallery has more photos from this trip plus shots from 3 other locations earlier in Costa Rica! So check it out for another beautiful Hummingbird here! The Violet-headed Hummingbird is found only in Central America and the northern fringes of South America, exactly like the seemingly more dominant Rufous-tailed Hummingbird.

Violet-headed Hummingbird, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

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Curassows on the Trails

The Great Curassow, Crax rubra (eBird link) with more information about this big bird, usually a little bit larger than the Crested Guan shown yesterday. But unlike the guan, the female curassow is more colorful than the male, unusual for birds. Though the male of this species has a bright yellow bump above his beak in great contrast to his all-black body, which I guess is to attract females and may be considered brighter to them. 🙂 See more of my photos of this Central-America-only species in my Great Curassow Gallery. I did not see as many of these on the trails but there were more of them at the fruit feeder by the restaurant deck, which is not my prefered place to photograph. These 3 photos were made on a trail.

Female Great Curassow, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
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Guans on the Trails

One of the largest and most seen birds on my morning walks on the trails of Arenal Observatory Lodge was the Crested Guan, Penelope purpurascens (eBird link) for more info on this large turkey-sized Central American bird found from parts of Mexico to parts of northern South America and all over every Central American country. For more of my photos, see my Crested Guan Gallery. The male & female look alike and are difficult to differentiate with both being either all black or sometimes brownish. 🙂

Yes, you can see some of these at the Observatory feeder by the restaurant deck, but I prefer to find them in the wild and did on almost every one of the Arenal Observatory trails where all of these photos were made. Unlike the other large bird at Arenal, the Great Curassow, they fly a lot and spend as much time in trees as on the ground, foraging for food of fruit, berries, seeds, insects and small invertebrates. While the Curassow spends most of his time on the ground and doesn’t seem to be able to fly as well. I’ll try to do a post on the Curassow tomorrow since I’m a long way from finishing my Arenal ’24 Birds Gallery! 🙂 And I’m no longer doing blog posts a week ahead, but day by day! 🙂 Below this introductory photo is a gallery of 6 more Crested Guans I photographed in the rainforest on Arenal Observatory Trails.

Crested Guan, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Costa Rica
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