Costa Rica Butterflies November 2024 - Part 5

Continued from my previous post.

I noticed the odd Satyr among the vegetation in the shadier spots and I assumed they were Hermes Satyrs, like I had seen at the hotel a few metres away. However, when I was looking at my photographs I noticed that they were a bit different and they turned out to be One-pupil Satyrs, Cissia similis.

A couple of days later I discovered that some of them were Two-pupil Satyrs, Cissia themis! It just showed the value of taking pictures of every butterfly I saw.

One day when I was walking along the track I heard a crashing in the trees above me and I was thrilled to see a troop of Spider Monkeys proving that it is less easy to spot wildlife when the trees are in leaf!

We saw much better views of Spider Monkeys on our day trip to Nicaragua.

Back to the track where there was a bush with red flowers, possibly Aphelandra, which proved to be a real magnet for hummingbirds and butterflies.

It seemed particularly attractive to yellow butterflies, such as the Cloudless Sulphur, Phoebis marcellina,

the Orange-barred Sulphur, Phoebis philea,

and the Large Orange Sulphur, Phoebis agarithe.

All along the track I saw Banded Peacocks, Anartia fatima, the most common butterfly in Costa Rica and Central America. It is found in open areas and roadsides and is said to benefit from the weeds that grow in areas disturbed by humans. 

I am not sure what this bird is that I saw in a grass field near the hotel. (Thank you David for identifying it as a Double-striped Thick-knee, Burhinus bistriatus)

Continued on my next post.

Costa Rica Butterflies November 2024 - Part 4

Opposite the main entrance to the hotel was a track heading into the “dry Forest”. It didn’t look very tropical and actually reminded me a little of Scotland! There were trees scattered around with short, lush vegetation under them.

Higher up the track there was a lot more scrub where I found cattle grazing! 

I am told that in the dry season most of the trees lose their leaves and I imagine the vegetation on the ground will die back. I also hear that the dry season is much better for viewing wildlife because of the lack of leaves, but I have been told that there are a lot fewer butterflies flying then.

This certainly proved to be a fantastic place to look for butterflies when we were there. I have never been anywhere where there were so many butterflies and such a great variety. 

As soon as I crossed the road I spotted a white butterfly feeding on some small flowers in the verge. This was a White Peacock, Anartia jatrophae – a butterfly that I would see most days at the hotel or along the track.

Within a few feet of it I saw a little blue butterfly that turned out to be a Ceraunus Blue, Hemiargus ceraunus. This has recently been separated from the identical-looking Hanno Blue, Hemiargus hanno. This was the only blue, or in fact the only Lycaenidae I saw in Costa Rica. I would tend to see one or two of them each time I walked along this track.

And right next to it was my favourite butterfly of the trip, an Elf, Microtia elva. These beautiful little butterflies are the only species in the Microtia genus. Their wing length is only about 15mm and they drift around with a very rapid wing beat, typical of tropical long-wing butterflies.

They turned out to be really common along that track, but were quite difficult to spot sometimes, as they drifted into my field of vision like floaters in my eyes!

I was lucky enough to see this one laying eggs and after it finished I turned the leaf over to see the eggs.

I had seen these three species along with two species of Skipper within about six feet of the road and hadn’t even started walking along the track!

Next, a few feet further along was this beautiful Malachite, Siproeta stelenes. These turned out to be quite a common butterfly along the track and in the hotel grounds. I had always wanted to see them in the wild, having previously seen them in tropical butterfly houses.

One of the most common butterflies along the track was the Theona Checkerspot, Chlosyne theona. I probably saw over 100 of these beautiful butterflies each time I walked there.

I was delighted to see some more beautiful little Pale-banded Crescents, Phyciodes tulcis.

I will have to continue this over a couple more posts, as there is a limit on how many labels I can attach to each post.

Costa Rica Butterflies November 2024 - Part 3

Continuing from my previous post.

Other butterflies seen around the grounds, but which didn’t stop for long enough to photograph included the Apricot Sulphur, Phoebis argante, Broad-banded Swallowtail, Heraclides pallas, the Zebra Heliconian, Heliconius charithonia and the Julia Heliconian, Dryas iulia. Although I would have loved to have managed to photograph these species, it was fantastic just seeing them.

Of course there were so many more butterflies that I saw flying past, but had absolutely no idea what they were!

On the first morning I walked down to the beach and saw an enormous yellow butterfly flying around the trees and landing on the sand. It took a lot of stalking, but eventually I managed to get a photograph by waiting next to one particular spot it kept returning to. The pictures allowed me to confirm that it was an Orange-barred Sulphur, Phoebis philea. I soon learned to recognise these as they flew past with their rapid flight and orange mark on the upper forewing.

There were also a couple of skippers down there, but I will save skippers for a separate post!

In a dark, shady area of the resort there were three Lyside Sulphurs, Kircogonia lyside, laying eggs on a couple of spindly shrubs. I struggled to get a picture because of a lack of light and they hardly stopped moving.

I also saw these on the track opposite the hotel where I was able to get a better picture.

The lovely little Black Patch, Chlosyne lacinia, was regularly seen flying around the hotel grounds. It had a very slow flight, with rapid shallow wing beats, that made it look as though it was floating. Unfortunately it always landed high up in the trees, but I managed to snap this distant shot from the balcony.

Two other interesting butterflies that I saw high in the trees from my balcony were both Metalmarks. Unfortunately they are only just identifiable from the pictures. This one is a Curved-winged Metalmark, Emesis emesiaq.

The other was the Rusty Metalmark, Synargis mycone.

I saw quite a number of Malachites, Siproeta stelenes, flying around the hotel grounds. All those that landed were quite worn, so I didn't take any pictures, because I had photographed a lovely one on the track outside the hotel. Actually, I did see a lovely fresh Malachite at the hotel, but of course this was when I was swimming in the pool!

Most days, if there was sun, I would usually see two or three White Peacocks, Anartia jatrophae, at the hotel. I saw one of these a few years ago in St Lucia, but it had a chunk missing from its wings, so I was pleased to see so many here.

In my next post I will talk about the butterflies I saw on the track opposite the hotel.

Costa Rica Butterflies November 2024 - Part 2

It is difficult to know where to start with the butterflies I saw on this trip. As I said previously the weather was far from ideal for butterfly watching and we were unable to travel inland because the national parks were all closed and many of the roads were impassable because of flooding.

The hotel grounds were lovely, with about 25 acres of tropical gardens with swimming pools meandering through the site. There were quite a few mature trees in the grounds creating a variety of habitats.

We were very lucky with our room, having a corner balcony at the side of the resort, meaning that we were up amongst the trees. Not only did this mean that we had regular visits from Capuchin monkeys, but it gave me a great vantage point to look for butterflies!

On the first morning we were up at sunrise and within an hour I had seen ten different species of butterflies fly past. Not that I could actually identify them at that stage.

The first I saw was a Confusing Sister, Adelpha iphicleola. This had a really rapid flight and always tended to land high in the vegetation, just out of view! Over the holiday I saw quite a few of these and many of them were missing chunks from their hind winds, presumably from birds or lizards taking a bite out of them!

Next up was the Cloudless Sulphur, Phoebis marcellina. I had seen quite a few medium-sized bright yellow butterflies flying around the resort and it was a few days into our holiday before one landed and allowed me to confirm its identification. This one is a male that I snapped on my phone from the pool!

These used to be thought to be a subspecies of Phoebis sennae, but were separated in 2020 following DNA barcode studies. Phoebis marcellina occurs from California to Argentina and sennae occurs from Florida across the Caribbean islands. The picture below is of a female.

I had also noticed another enormous white butterfly with a yellow flash on its wing flying around. It turned out to be the White Angled Sulphur, Anteos clorinde. This was one of the most common butterflies at the hotel and they would often be seen feeding high up on flowering trees and shrubs. They reminded me of a super-sized Brimstone!

I kept seeing a little brown butterfly flying around the shrubs and flower beds. They tended to be very active and easily disturbed. However, I did manage a few distant shots which allowed me to identify them. These were the Hermes Satyr, Hermeuptychia sosybuis. A species that was separated from the Carolina Satyr, Hermeuptychia intricata, in 2014. The former species is considered to be a South American butterfly and the latter North American.

Apparently the most common butterfly in Costa Rica is the Banded Peacock, Anartia fatima. It certainly seemed quite common around the resort and surrounding area.

I was really delighted on my first morning to see a Pale-banded Crescent, Phyciodes tulcis. These were a lot smaller than I had imagined when I had seen pictures of them, only having a wingspan of about 30 to 35mm.

I had read a lot in the past about Cracker butterflies. Something I had considered to be such an exciting tropical butterfly. I had heard that they make a cracking sound when two males are flying around disputing territories. In fact the first I knew of them was hearing a sort of electrical sparking sound above my head as I walked through some trees. They usually land on a favourite sunny tree trunk, usually head facing down. It wasn’t long before I learned which were their favourite trees that they returned to day after day. All of those I saw at the hotel were the Guatemalan Cracker, Hamadryas guatemalena.

As I said in my previous post you really need to take photographs of the butterflies in order to positively identify them, as there are so many similar species. Because there were so many butterflies flying during the sunny spells while we were there it isn’t surprising that I spotted a lot while I was swimming in the pools! With no time to rush back to get my camera, I had to try to study any butterflies I saw in order to try to remember any identifying features. It was interesting that it was quite easy to approach them, as I would be low in the water and they were often just above head height on the tropical plants surrounding the pools. Amongst those that I was able to remember well enough to positively identify were Thoas Swallowtail, Papilio thoas. This is very similar to the Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes, but it can be separated by the number of dots on the trailing edge of the fore wing. I also saw a Pink-spotted Cattleheart, Parides photinus, and my favourite the Queen, Danaus gilippus, which was like a less stripy Monarch, but with a more intense background colour.

I will continue with more butterflies from the hotel grounds in my next post.

Costa Rica Butterflies November 2024 - Part 1

Where to start with our trip to Costa Rica last November? It wasn't exactly the holiday of a lifetime that we expected, but it was a fantastic experience nonetheless.

We should have realised when the pilot informed us that our flight would be landing a little later than expected because we would have to fly around Tropical Cyclone Sara. I never imagined that the deep depression over the Gulf of Mexico, which slowly moved west and north, would have such an impact on the weather in western Costa Rica. We didn't get much wind at all, but what we did get was rain! Lots of rain! The first few mornings were cloudy with occasional sunny spells turning to rain by about 11am which would continue for much of the day.

We visited Nicaragua on the fourth day of our holiday where the weather was reasonably dry, but on our drive back our guide informed us that it had rained all day in Costa Rica and that the road back to our hotel was flooded. Luckily the water had reduced enough by the time we passed to allow us to get back safely.

For the next three days the rain just didn't stop. We were told that in that time as much rain had fallen as would normally fall in a whole year in that area. There were mud slides and flooding causing great damage to the roads and airport. The weather slowly improved after that, but there wasn't a day without some rain and it was only on the last day of our two-week holiday that we had a sunny morning with cloudless skies!

I say two-week holiday, but the rain caused damage to the runway at the airport, so many flights in and out were cancelled. Luckily the airport opened the day after our flight was due, so we were only delayed by one day.

We were staying right up in the north west of Costa Rica, very close to the Nicaraguan border. This is a coastal area of "dry forest" - mostly deciduous trees. We were there right at the end of the rainy season and should have expected a heavy shower maybe every second afternoon.

Unfortunately, the weather also meant that the national parks were all closed, so we didn't have an opportunity to venture into the cloud forest or any other parts of Costa Rica. Therefore, butterfly viewings were restricted to what I saw in the mornings at the resort, or along a track opposite the entrance to the hotel.

However, the few sunny spells we had really showed the potential for butterflies. I was amazed that after a day or two of non-stop rain, as soon as the sun came out butterflies would take to the air. They must be expert at finding good sheltered spots. I also noticed that about ten minutes before the rain started all the butterflies disappeared, so they seemed to know when the rain was about to come.

In the mornings, when it wasn't raining there were almost always butterflies in view. The hotel had enormous grounds with meandering swimming pools surrounded by tropical gardens. It was mostly various shades of yellow, or white butterflies that were flying around there interspersed with all sorts of other shapes, colours and sizes. By the afternoon there were fewer butterflies around.

There was also an amazing variety of other wildlife that frequented the hotel grounds and surrounding forest. The air was always full of bird song and other strange noises, including the roar of Howler Monkeys. White-faced Capuchin Monkeys paid regular visits to the hotel and its grounds and I saw Spider Monkeys just outside the hotel. There were several other mammals and also various Iguanas, Lizards and Skinks all around.

Despite the weather and limited search area, I still managed to identify 68 different species of butterflies and I saw many more fly past that were impossible to identify. Given that over 1,800 species of butterflies have been recorded in Costa Rica along with over 12,000 moths, it is understandable that butterflies need to be clearly photographed in order to identify them. Further complication is added by the enormous number of mimic species of both butterflies and moths and that a number of species have wet and dry season forms and males and females that look completely different!

On that final sunny morning I couldn't believe the number of butterflies flying everywhere and I saw several species that I hadn't seen in the previous two weeks. And on the drive to the airport there were all sorts of amazing butterflies flying along the edges of the roads. I can hardly imagine how many more species I would have been able to see had the weather been better and we could have travelled to different areas of the country.

Over the next few posts I will show the butterflies I managed to photograph.