Tag: Variegated squirrel

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Variegated Squirrel

This Central American squirrel is endemic to Costa Rica north to Southern Mexico and is the squirrel species that lives in my garden. In this photo he is dining on a portion of the Cecropia flower in the Cecropia Tree adjacent my terrace. He scurries through all the trees much more than the iguana and is a part of the garden wildlife that keep me entertained. See more of my photos of this guy from all over Costa Rica in the GALLERY: Variegated Squirrel or Ardilla Chiza (español), Sciurus variegatoides (scientific name). ¡Pura vida! 🙂

Variegated Squirrel, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

P.S. – Landslide blocks road yesterday!

One of the preferred routes between Atenas and Grecia . . .

COPY OF A WHATSAPP MESSAGE TO A GROUP I’M IN.

This happens on a lot of roads here, even the big highways, because to cut costs they did not cut the hills back far enough when constructing the road initially. Maybe its a case of “you get what you pay for!” 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Other Wildlife at Arenal

Okay, I thought I was nearly through with the birds gallery, but still needed to process these other wildlife and the trip gallery’s Other Wildlife Gallery (linked to it) or you can click the below image of the first page of that gallery to go there!

CLICK the first page image of the galley above to visit it.

The featured image at top of post is of a White-nosed Coati which is pretty common all over Costa Rica. The other 10 species are also fairly common and I really hate that I missed the three species of monkeys found at Arenal, but my favorite place to photograph them is from about halfway up “The Nest” bird-watching tower at about 4:30 to 5:00 each evening as they return through the trees from feeding to their bedding down location, and it was raining every afternoon I was there and I did not want to get out in the rain! Sorry!

In the past I’ve gotten some good photos of both Mantled Howler Monkeys and the Central American Spider Monkeys at Arenal. The two monkey names above are linked to my species galleries which include photos from Arenal. The third monkey in Arenal, the White-faced Capuchin, I have never seen there, but I’ve linked them to my species gallery also, which includes photos from other places in Costa Rica I’ve seen them. All three are fairly common all over Costa Rica and I’m sorry I did not make more of an effort to photograph this trip! 🙂

I will clean up a few more lodge photos and then announce this total trip gallery soon I hope! 🙂

The next big trip is for my July 4 birthday to Maquenque Eco Lodge which has been my favorite lodge in Costa Rica, even though I don’t stay in the tree houses any more, one of my reasons for loving it. Then another favorite lodge good for butterflies is Xandari near Alajuela and I’ve sneaked in a 2 nighter there the in the middle of June. 🙂 But I really am slowing down on the travel as I am physically tiring more now and after Maquenque, nada mas until my annual Caribe trip in September. And in the meantime, I’m actually starting a process to look at and compare senior adult living facilities nearby, which surprises even me! 🙂 I’ll keep you blog readers posted on that and of course any future travel along with photos from my garden!

¡Pura Vida!

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Sunning in My Cecropia Tree

This Variegated Squirrel (link to article on “Canopy Family” website) is the most common squirrel in Costa Rica and here he seemed to enjoy the warm sunshine in the branches of my Guarumo or Cecropia Tree one morning back before my Esquinas Trip. He is seen all over Costa Rica as my Variegated Squirrel Gallery shows. Here’s two more shots for my collection . . .

Variegated Squirrel, Atenas, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Sunning in My Cecropia Tree”
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Portraits of a Foraging Squirrel

In a tree alongside Calle Nueva I observed this Variegated Squirrel forage for food, in this case some kind of seed, nut or other fruit on this tree I cannot identify. He is almost an acrobat!  🙂

Variegated Squirrel Eating Breakfast on Calle Nueva, Atenas, Costa Rica.

Continue reading “Portraits of a Foraging Squirrel”

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Other Wildlife Arenal

There was more than this, but these are the ones I have useable photos of beyond the birds and butterflies already shown. All wildlife is so interesting and varied anywhere you go in Costa Rica. One pix for the email announcement and then a gallery of all 9 photos.

Masked Tree Frog

Continue reading “Other Wildlife Arenal”

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Squirrel Eats Green Fig

He’s the most common squirrel in Costa Rica, a Variegated Squirrel, and I managed to get these two shots of him looking for green figs on my Strangler Fig tree Sunday morning and he did eat that one he’s approaching in the second photo. The first photo would be my favorite if the leaf behind him wasn’t “sticking out of his head” like a Unicorn, but to remove it in Photoshop would mean removing some of his whiskers and I didn’t think that would look right either, so “this is the way it really was!” 🙂

Variegated Squirrel, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

In next photo he approaches the tiny green fig that he ultimately eats.

Continue reading “Squirrel Eats Green Fig”
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Waterfalls Day-Trip Gallery

The TRIP GALLERY for last week’s Waterfalls Day Trip is completed and I’m now focused on my middle of February trip for a 3rd stay in one of the Treehouses of Maquenque Eco-Lodge & Reserve in Boca Tapada. Click the gallery image below or go to: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2022-January-19-Waterfalls-Day-Trip

5 Small Sub-Galleries

¡Pura Vida!

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Squirrel and Vine Snake

At the same breakfast stop for the Macaws shown yesterday, I got a photo of this very common Variegated Squirrel. Then, while on the trail at Tenorio Volcano National Park, a shot of an immature or juvenile Brown Vine Snake. We could have seen more wildlife in that park had it been our target instead of waterfalls. 🙂 But I stayed focused on my target of the day! 🙂

Variegated Squirrel, Canas, Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
Immature Brown Vine Snake, Tenorio Volcano National Park, Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
And if you have trouble finding it , it runs from upper left corner to lower right corner.
Yellowish Brown.

¡Pura Vida!

This Trip arranged with Walter’s Taxi & Tours.

My Variegated Squirrel Gallery

My Brown Vine Snake Gallery (only 2)

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Variegated Squirrel

I’m back to sharing nature from my garden again for a while and this morning the first thing I saw from my terrace was this Variegated Squirrel (Sciurus variegatoides) is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus, the most common squirrel of the 4 or 5 species of squirrels found in Costa Rica. He can be seen at many elevations and is more numerous than any of the others and varies somewhat in looks and color combinations with black, white, gray and reds or oranges.

This Variegated one is found only in Central America from Southern Mexico to Panama and is the most common throughout Central America. For anyone really into squirrels, the 4 others said to be in Costa Rica are the Central American dwarf or pygmy squirrel,  Microsciurus alfari LR/lc; Deppe’s squirrel, Sciurus deppei LR/lc; Red-tailed squirrel, Sciurus granatensis LR/lc; and Bangs’s mountain squirrel, Syntheosciurus brochus LR/nt.

IN OTHER BLOG POSTS: Search Results For: Squirrel

And in MY PHOTO GALLERIES:

¡Pura Vida!

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Dragonfly & Squirrel

Dragonfly

This dragonfly and squirrel round out my photos of wildlife at Xandari, having already done posts on Birds and Butterflies. The latter giving me 4 new species! Dragonflies seem to interest everyone almost as if magical or “fairy-like” as butterflies, though the larger ones are easier to photograph than these tiny blue ones. See my separate photo galleries for Costa Rica Dragonflies and for Costa Rica Damselflies for more of this magic!

IMG_9526-A-WEB

 

Variegated Squirrel

IMG_9155-A-WEBAnd finally, every man’s pest, the squirrel, in this case the Variegated Squirrel, the most common in Costa Rica. But there are other species of squirrels and I have galleries on 3 of them:

 

An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.

~Martin Buber

 

¡Pura Vida!

Xandari Costa Rica