I agree, it's my parents who don't believe thatXDQuote:
Originally Posted by Commander
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I agree, it's my parents who don't believe thatXDQuote:
Originally Posted by Commander
Thanks very much, everyone, for the comments. Sorry for the delay in completing this post ... too much work at the moment! I will post details about costs and travel in Costa Rica at the end of this post. Costa Rica is an easy place to visit and is well worth it if you have the opportunity. It was not expensive from Los Angeles and the 12 day trip including flights from LAX cost only a little more than $1000 USD.
Khew, you are correct that things are better now in South America than they were 10 years back or so. It was not long ago when Colombia was very dangerous but the government seems to have made good progress against the rebels. Bird tours are now again visiting after many years of a no-go status. Peru also has greatly improved. I knew a couple of British birders in 1990 who visited and were captured and killed by the Shining Path rebels. Once the Shining Path leader was finally captured, the group seemed to loose momentum and the country has become much safer.
Here is another shot of an Eye-lash Viper from Rara Avis. Cindy found this one afternoon and took the shot with a little point-and-shoot camera. Eye-lash Vipers have a number of colour phases and these vary greatly. It is hard to believe that this is the same species as the bright yellow snake at La Selva.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...lashCindy2.jpg
VOLCAN ARENAL
After La Selva, we moved to the Observatory Lodge of Arenal. This was about a 3 hour ride. Arenal is in the lower mountains and supports patches of primary and secondary forest mixed with agricultural lands. We stayed at the Observatory Lodge and I highly recommend it to anyone travelling to this part of Costa Rica. The grounds of the lodge were enormous and it reminded me a little of walking at Fraser's Hill with paved walkways and manicured gardens. Many of the plants were flowering and butterflies were abundant.
Here are a couple of shots of the Volcano. It is active although it has become quiet since 2010. At the moment, it is just venting steam and other gases from the summit.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...canArenal2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...canArenal3.jpg
There were areas with primary forest within a km or two from the lodge. Here are shots of such areas. This was again a wet forest although not as wet as that of Rara Avis and Braulio Carillo NP.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/habitat2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/habitat7.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...nal/plant2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...icrophylls.jpg
Here is a shot of a waterfall in primary forest. This area was about a half-hour walk from our accommodation.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/habitat1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/habitat5.jpg
Colourful flower near the falls.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...nal/plant3.jpg
I saw this butterfly near the falls. Eresia ithomioides alsina (thanks, Aaron)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...iconius10C.jpg
I saw this nicely coloured butterfly a couple of times. This group is difficult but I think that it is an ithomiid, possibly a Mimic Tigerwing (Melinaea lilis). These species are so hard to identify.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...liconius1-.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...iconius10b.jpg
Another one of the hard-to-identify species. Its pattern resembles that of Tithorea tarricina
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...Helionius4.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...elionius4a.jpg
I saw Cydno Longwings (Heliconius cydno) a few times in the forest. They don't usually land low enough for photos.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...liconius20.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...liconius21.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...nal/plant1.jpg
I was pleased on this trip to see several Great Currasow. This female with two young were along the trail to the falls in primary forest. I watched her plucking and eating leaves. Back in 1980, this was a hard bird to see. They are big birds, about the size of a turkey and were often shot for food. I only saw a few at that time in the remote Corcovado NP.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...atCurrasow.jpg
Spotted Antbird. I saw these fairly often at Volcan Arenal. They usually fed at army ant swarms. A number of the new world birds have learned to feed with the army ants. They stay near the front of the swarm and drop down to catch invertebrates that are trying to escape from the ants. Here at Arenal, I saw birds like Carmiol's Tanagers, Plain Xenops, Sulphur-rumped Flycatchers, Slaty Antwrens, Spotted Woodcreepers and others at the swarms.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tedAntbird.jpg
Here is a shot of Ted and Cindy at the cabin where we stayed. We had a nice view of the surrounding garden and primary rainforest further down the slope. This place was said to be good for the gorgeous Lovely Cotinga but we were not lucky enough to see one. We did hear the incredible, metallic song of Three-wattled Bellbirds. Tanagers, euphonias and hummingbirds were abundant in the gardens. The second shot below is of a male Passerini or Scarlet-rumped Tanager.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...yatCasonas.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pedTanager.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/habitat6.jpg
Here is a shot of the primary forest below our cabin:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/habitat9.jpg
There were nice gardens near our cabin and near the headquarters. The flowering plants attracted many butterflies.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/habitat8.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../habitat10.jpg
Flashing Flat (Celaenorrhinus aegiochus). Isn't this skipper fantastic? It was one of my favourites and so brightly coloured when in good light. These were big skippers.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...egiochus7b.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper17.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper18.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper15.jpg
Here is another skipper without the white markings of the Flashing Flat. The body shape and size were the same but I assume that it must be a different species. I was not able to find anything like it on the butterfly website for North and Central America.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper12.jpg
Guava Skippers (Phocides polybius) were seen early every morning near our cabin. After that, they vanished.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/skipper1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper1c.jpg
Nigrescens Skipper (Phocides metrodorus) were stunning. These were huge and colourful skippers.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper24.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper25.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper23.jpg
Here is a shot of one of the swallow-tailed skippers (Chioides sp). Skippers with swallowtails seemed to be the norm at Volcan Arenal.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...hioidessp3.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper40.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper41.jpg
Long-tailed Skippers (Urbanus proteus) were nicely marked.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper50.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper51.jpg
I think that this must be another species since the wing spots are different from those of the Long-tailed Skipper above.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper52.jpg
Polythrix sp.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper30.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper31.jpg
Spineless Silverdrop (Epargyreus aspina). This was another large species of skipper. I only saw it twice.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../skipper60.jpg
... more tomorrow night
Swallowtails in the genus Parides were abundant. They were so hard to photograph since they rarely stayed at a flower for more than a second or two. The following species was the most abundant. I believe that it is a True Cattleheart (Parides eurimedes)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/Parides4.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/Parides3.jpg
Iphidamas Cattleheart (Parides iphidamas) were fairly common.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/Parides6.jpg
Green-celled Cattleheart (Parides childrenae) were very common. I attempted many photos but this was the best that I could come up with. They just don't stop moving and seem to bounce from flower to flower.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/Parides5.jpg
This Parides was tiny. I only saw a few of these from time to time.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/Parides8.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/Parides7.jpg
Doris Longwing (Heliconius doris) was a new species to me. I think that the Parides must be mimicing the colour pattern of this heliconiinae. I initially that that this was another Parides when I spotted it but thought it strange that the behaviour was so different. This one flew slowly and remainded for much longer at a flower than did the frenetic Parides Swallowtails.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...Helionius2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...Helionius1.jpg
Banded Peacock (Anartia fatima) was seen a few times.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...dedPeacock.jpg
Wide-banded Satyr (Pareuptychia metaleuca)?
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../satyrinae.jpg
I think that this was a Blue-gray Satyr (Magneuptychia libye):
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...satyrinae3.jpg
This Gold-stained Satyr (Cissia pseudoconfusa) was beautiful. I only encountered this single individual.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...satyrinae2.jpg
Pierids:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/sulphur1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...l/sulphur2.jpg
Looks and sounds like you had a fantastic vacation! William