Costa Rica Revisited
Costa Rica Revisited
PART 1
Last December my wife and I spent an amazing two weeks out in Costa Rica. It was our first trip out of Europe, and we had an incredible time getting to know the local wildlife, countryside and culture of the Guanacaste province. Butterflies were of course my main interest, and I posted a report on here showing many of the species that we encountered.
I spent several weeks earlier this year trying to persuade my wife that we should make a return trip this year, and eventually she agreed that we could afford to return, but realistically we could only afford to go for one week. We booked a week in mid November, several weeks earlier than last year, at the end of the rainy season, as this was the cheapest week to stay.
Was it worth the tedium of an eleven hour flight for just one week out there? Would the end of the rainy season be any good for butterflies? And as we were staying in exactly the same location as previously, would we actually see anything different?
The answers to these questions would reveal themselves over the next seven days...
We arrived at our hotel at sunset on Monday 18th November, and awoke early the next morning, eager to explore the local habitat. Our hotel was surrounded by tropical forest, and our first walk around the local forest tracks found us re-acquainting ourselves with familiar old friends from last year's visit.
Hotel, surrounded by tropical forest, with a wetland area in the foreground.
The first butterfly that we saw was the lovely Elf. These were very common this year, much more so than during our December visit last year, and this was true of many of the other species flying in the immediate area. The Elf - Microtia elva
Theona Checkerspots were once again also a familiar sight, as was the Pale-banded Crescent. Theona Checkerspot - Chlosyne theona Pale-banded Crescent - Phycoides tulcis
Tropical Buckeyes were out in excellent numbers, and some of them were immaculately fresh. I was happy to get the following photographs! Tropical Buckeye - Junonia genoveva
The stunning Malachite was another species that was much commoner than last year, and one or two posed close enough to be photographed. Malachite - Siproeta stelenes
The Black Patch was frequently encountered, not just along the forest tracks, but also often in the hotel grounds. Black Patch - Chlosyne melanarge
The Ceraunus Blues and Carolina Satyrs appeared to be just emerging; low in numbers but very fresh. Ceraunus Blue - Hemiargus ceraunus Carolina Satyr - Hermeuptychia sosybius
Amongst the many skippers, we soon saw two familiar ones. Lavinia White Skipper - Heliopetes lavinia Dark-spotted Polythrix - Polythrix asine
The Cracker butterflies were about in good numbers, and again, many of them were very fresh, like this Guatamalan Cracker below: Guatamalan Cracker - Hamadryas guatamalena
And finally, to end Part One of this report, a huge personal favourite of mine. This is a tiny butterfly, no larger than a small blue. It is one of the metalmarks, the Bright Scintillant, and I find the colour and patterning to be just sublime.I was very happy to see this species again, and to get a rather better photo than I managed last year. Bright Scintillant - Calephesis sp
This was a great start! We were to spend the first three full days of our week staying local, and over the course of these three days, several new species appeared on the wing which we hadn't seen last year. Details to follow in part 2.
Last December my wife and I spent an amazing two weeks out in Costa Rica. It was our first trip out of Europe, and we had an incredible time getting to know the local wildlife, countryside and culture of the Guanacaste province. Butterflies were of course my main interest, and I posted a report on here showing many of the species that we encountered.
I spent several weeks earlier this year trying to persuade my wife that we should make a return trip this year, and eventually she agreed that we could afford to return, but realistically we could only afford to go for one week. We booked a week in mid November, several weeks earlier than last year, at the end of the rainy season, as this was the cheapest week to stay.
Was it worth the tedium of an eleven hour flight for just one week out there? Would the end of the rainy season be any good for butterflies? And as we were staying in exactly the same location as previously, would we actually see anything different?
The answers to these questions would reveal themselves over the next seven days...
We arrived at our hotel at sunset on Monday 18th November, and awoke early the next morning, eager to explore the local habitat. Our hotel was surrounded by tropical forest, and our first walk around the local forest tracks found us re-acquainting ourselves with familiar old friends from last year's visit.
Hotel, surrounded by tropical forest, with a wetland area in the foreground.
The first butterfly that we saw was the lovely Elf. These were very common this year, much more so than during our December visit last year, and this was true of many of the other species flying in the immediate area. The Elf - Microtia elva
Theona Checkerspots were once again also a familiar sight, as was the Pale-banded Crescent. Theona Checkerspot - Chlosyne theona Pale-banded Crescent - Phycoides tulcis
Tropical Buckeyes were out in excellent numbers, and some of them were immaculately fresh. I was happy to get the following photographs! Tropical Buckeye - Junonia genoveva
The stunning Malachite was another species that was much commoner than last year, and one or two posed close enough to be photographed. Malachite - Siproeta stelenes
The Black Patch was frequently encountered, not just along the forest tracks, but also often in the hotel grounds. Black Patch - Chlosyne melanarge
The Ceraunus Blues and Carolina Satyrs appeared to be just emerging; low in numbers but very fresh. Ceraunus Blue - Hemiargus ceraunus Carolina Satyr - Hermeuptychia sosybius
Amongst the many skippers, we soon saw two familiar ones. Lavinia White Skipper - Heliopetes lavinia Dark-spotted Polythrix - Polythrix asine
The Cracker butterflies were about in good numbers, and again, many of them were very fresh, like this Guatamalan Cracker below: Guatamalan Cracker - Hamadryas guatamalena
And finally, to end Part One of this report, a huge personal favourite of mine. This is a tiny butterfly, no larger than a small blue. It is one of the metalmarks, the Bright Scintillant, and I find the colour and patterning to be just sublime.I was very happy to see this species again, and to get a rather better photo than I managed last year. Bright Scintillant - Calephesis sp
This was a great start! We were to spend the first three full days of our week staying local, and over the course of these three days, several new species appeared on the wing which we hadn't seen last year. Details to follow in part 2.
Last edited by petesmith on Fri Nov 29, 2019 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Hi Pete,
Wonderful pictures and species. I look forward to part 2 ….
Sylvie
Wonderful pictures and species. I look forward to part 2 ….
Sylvie
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Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Looking forward to part 2 Pete. Costa Rica is No 1 on my list of places to visit. However, I will need to find a nice coastal resort to keep my wife happy, while I go off looking for butterflies!
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Thanks Sylvie and Nick!
PART 2
Over the next few days several species appeared on the wing which were completely new to us. Given that Costa Rica has more Hesperiidae than any other family of butterflies, it was perhaps not surprising that most of the local "newbies" would be skippers.
Below are a selection of these: Aztec Scallopwing - Staphylus azteca
Dorantes Longtail - Urbanus dorantes
Evan's Skipper - Panoquina fusina
Five-banded Skipper - Timochares trifasciata
Guardpost Sedge Skipper - Euphyes penia
Purplish Black Skipper - Nisoniades rubescens
Variegated Skipper - Gorgythion begga
?Chocolate Skipperling - Piruna brunnea
Amongst the Cracker butterflies we noticed some that looked very different from the Guatamalan Crackers. It turns out these were Glaucous Crackers, and strangely, unlike the Guatamalans, when males of the Glaucous Crackers interacted, there was none of the loud ""cracking" sounds. I wonder if this species is a "silent" or "mute" Cracker species, or whether the noise is just of a different frequency that cannot be heard by ageing human ears?
Glaucous Cracker - Hamadryas glauconome
Another new species to show up was the lovely Bordered Patch. This particular individual was slightly worn, but we saw it every day in exactly the same spot - clearly a highly territorial individual.
Bordered Patch - Chlosyne lacinia
Another rather worn butterfly, but again a first sighting, was this Zebra Heliconian, also highly territorial and found in exactly the same spot day after day, but very reluctant to settle anywhere but high up, hence I only managed a poor ful zoom and crop photo:
Zebra Heliconian - Heliconius charithonia
And to end Part 2, another personal favourite. We were walking back from breakfast early one morning towards our hotel room when I spotted a freshly emerged hairstreak drying its wings in the hotel grounds. Leaving my long-suffering but ever-tolerant wife to stand guard over it, I rushed back to the room to grab my cameras, hoping that it would still be there when I returned. As it had not yet fully dried its wings, I was hopeful...
Marius Hairstreak with pupal case above
Marius Hairstreak - Rekoa marius
In Part 3 we leave behind the sanctuary of the hotel area and set off on a two hour drive across Costa Rica into the volcanically active rainforests of the Rincon de la Vieja National Park...
PART 2
Over the next few days several species appeared on the wing which were completely new to us. Given that Costa Rica has more Hesperiidae than any other family of butterflies, it was perhaps not surprising that most of the local "newbies" would be skippers.
Below are a selection of these: Aztec Scallopwing - Staphylus azteca
Dorantes Longtail - Urbanus dorantes
Evan's Skipper - Panoquina fusina
Five-banded Skipper - Timochares trifasciata
Guardpost Sedge Skipper - Euphyes penia
Purplish Black Skipper - Nisoniades rubescens
Variegated Skipper - Gorgythion begga
?Chocolate Skipperling - Piruna brunnea
Amongst the Cracker butterflies we noticed some that looked very different from the Guatamalan Crackers. It turns out these were Glaucous Crackers, and strangely, unlike the Guatamalans, when males of the Glaucous Crackers interacted, there was none of the loud ""cracking" sounds. I wonder if this species is a "silent" or "mute" Cracker species, or whether the noise is just of a different frequency that cannot be heard by ageing human ears?
Glaucous Cracker - Hamadryas glauconome
Another new species to show up was the lovely Bordered Patch. This particular individual was slightly worn, but we saw it every day in exactly the same spot - clearly a highly territorial individual.
Bordered Patch - Chlosyne lacinia
Another rather worn butterfly, but again a first sighting, was this Zebra Heliconian, also highly territorial and found in exactly the same spot day after day, but very reluctant to settle anywhere but high up, hence I only managed a poor ful zoom and crop photo:
Zebra Heliconian - Heliconius charithonia
And to end Part 2, another personal favourite. We were walking back from breakfast early one morning towards our hotel room when I spotted a freshly emerged hairstreak drying its wings in the hotel grounds. Leaving my long-suffering but ever-tolerant wife to stand guard over it, I rushed back to the room to grab my cameras, hoping that it would still be there when I returned. As it had not yet fully dried its wings, I was hopeful...
Marius Hairstreak with pupal case above
Marius Hairstreak - Rekoa marius
In Part 3 we leave behind the sanctuary of the hotel area and set off on a two hour drive across Costa Rica into the volcanically active rainforests of the Rincon de la Vieja National Park...
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
PART 3
During our two week holiday last year, we went on two organised excursions, a one day tour to see Sloths and other wildlife, and a two day tour with overnight accommodation in a separate hotel during which we toured extensively to take in the sights of the Arenal Volcano, Monteverde Cloud Forest and several other attractions. These tours were great, and we thoroughly enjoyed them, but I am not generally a big fan of organised trips where you are tied to a schedule, so during this visit we decided to hire a car for two days and do our own excursions.
Friday 22nd November turned out to be a bit of a red letter day!
We ordered a very early room service breakfast, and by 6am we were on the road in a Suzuki Grand Vitara 4x4, heading inland towards the volcanic ridge, on the way to the Rincon de la Vieja National Park. We arrived just before 8am and set off into the rainforest. This area is actively volcanic, and there are several areas of fumaroles where sulphurous gases emerge into the atmosphere in amongst the rainforest. Some of these are lakes of boiling mud - very dramatic!
We did a slow three hour trek through the rainforest. Common Morpho butterflies were, well, common! We saw several dozen of them during our walk. They are truly magical; huge, slow floppy flight with vivid electric blue flashes as they open their wings, but today they were not settling to be photographed. We reached a small clearing, and here were good numbers of Heliconius butterflies. Other than the Zebra Heliconian near the hotel, I had never seen any of this group of butterflies before, so I was in absolute paradise watching a range of these beauties flying around us. They didn't want to be photographed, but perseverance eventually got me a few shots of these stunning creatures:
Julia Heliconian - Dryas julia
Juno Heliconian - Dione juno
Isabella's Heliconian - Eueides isabella
Nonpassionate Heliconian - Eueides procula
Tiger Heliconian - Heliconius ismenius
In amongst these Heliconians was another delightful butterfly, the Four-spotted Sailor.
Four-spotted Sailor - Dynamine postverta
Our trail opened out into more sparsely vegetated scrubby areas, where we witnessed more volcanic activity, and almost inevitably, a couple of new skippers!
The Orange Skipperling is by far the smallest skipper I have ever seen, probably just over half the size of a Lulworth Skipper.
Orange Skipperling - Copaeodes aurantiacus
Spineless Silverdrop - Epargyreus aspina
As we returned close to the car park, we walked off along another trail leading off to a waterfall. Here was a fantastic nectar-rich forest edge scrubland, alive with all sorts of butterflies. several Swallowtails were flying around but refusing to settle or even come close to us; there were hundreds of whites and yellows everywhere, hairstreaks up in the tree tops, it was fantastic, possibly the most memorable butterflying experience of my life.
A Large Orange Sulphur finally decided to settle long enough for me to get a quick photo:
Large Orange Sulphur - Phoebis agarithe
Sadly, I didn't get anywhere near the hairstreaks, but two delightful metalmarks made up for that!
The Red-bordered Pixie was a really beautiful butterfly to see in flight, but had the frustrating habit of always landing on the underside of a leaf, making it difficult to approach, and even harder to photograph against the backlit sky. And as for the White-spotted Tanmark - what a fabulously marked butterfly, and what an underside!
Red-bordered Pixie - Melanis pixe
White-spotted Tanmark - Emesis aurimna
This was a fantastic day, and it was hard to leave the Rincon de la Vieja behind and head back to our hotel, via an interesting trip into Liberia to refuel the car.
In Part 4 I shall draw conclusions to the questions that I posed near the beginning of Part 1, although you can probably guess the answers already!
During our two week holiday last year, we went on two organised excursions, a one day tour to see Sloths and other wildlife, and a two day tour with overnight accommodation in a separate hotel during which we toured extensively to take in the sights of the Arenal Volcano, Monteverde Cloud Forest and several other attractions. These tours were great, and we thoroughly enjoyed them, but I am not generally a big fan of organised trips where you are tied to a schedule, so during this visit we decided to hire a car for two days and do our own excursions.
Friday 22nd November turned out to be a bit of a red letter day!
We ordered a very early room service breakfast, and by 6am we were on the road in a Suzuki Grand Vitara 4x4, heading inland towards the volcanic ridge, on the way to the Rincon de la Vieja National Park. We arrived just before 8am and set off into the rainforest. This area is actively volcanic, and there are several areas of fumaroles where sulphurous gases emerge into the atmosphere in amongst the rainforest. Some of these are lakes of boiling mud - very dramatic!
We did a slow three hour trek through the rainforest. Common Morpho butterflies were, well, common! We saw several dozen of them during our walk. They are truly magical; huge, slow floppy flight with vivid electric blue flashes as they open their wings, but today they were not settling to be photographed. We reached a small clearing, and here were good numbers of Heliconius butterflies. Other than the Zebra Heliconian near the hotel, I had never seen any of this group of butterflies before, so I was in absolute paradise watching a range of these beauties flying around us. They didn't want to be photographed, but perseverance eventually got me a few shots of these stunning creatures:
Julia Heliconian - Dryas julia
Juno Heliconian - Dione juno
Isabella's Heliconian - Eueides isabella
Nonpassionate Heliconian - Eueides procula
Tiger Heliconian - Heliconius ismenius
In amongst these Heliconians was another delightful butterfly, the Four-spotted Sailor.
Four-spotted Sailor - Dynamine postverta
Our trail opened out into more sparsely vegetated scrubby areas, where we witnessed more volcanic activity, and almost inevitably, a couple of new skippers!
The Orange Skipperling is by far the smallest skipper I have ever seen, probably just over half the size of a Lulworth Skipper.
Orange Skipperling - Copaeodes aurantiacus
Spineless Silverdrop - Epargyreus aspina
As we returned close to the car park, we walked off along another trail leading off to a waterfall. Here was a fantastic nectar-rich forest edge scrubland, alive with all sorts of butterflies. several Swallowtails were flying around but refusing to settle or even come close to us; there were hundreds of whites and yellows everywhere, hairstreaks up in the tree tops, it was fantastic, possibly the most memorable butterflying experience of my life.
A Large Orange Sulphur finally decided to settle long enough for me to get a quick photo:
Large Orange Sulphur - Phoebis agarithe
Sadly, I didn't get anywhere near the hairstreaks, but two delightful metalmarks made up for that!
The Red-bordered Pixie was a really beautiful butterfly to see in flight, but had the frustrating habit of always landing on the underside of a leaf, making it difficult to approach, and even harder to photograph against the backlit sky. And as for the White-spotted Tanmark - what a fabulously marked butterfly, and what an underside!
Red-bordered Pixie - Melanis pixe
White-spotted Tanmark - Emesis aurimna
This was a fantastic day, and it was hard to leave the Rincon de la Vieja behind and head back to our hotel, via an interesting trip into Liberia to refuel the car.
In Part 4 I shall draw conclusions to the questions that I posed near the beginning of Part 1, although you can probably guess the answers already!
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
PART 4
On the Saturday we drove south from our hotel to the Santa Rosa National Park, an area of dry tropical forest. This wasn't as rich in terms of butterflies as the rainforest had been, but it was the only place that we found the Wedge-spotted Cattleheart. Beautiful, but one of those butterflies that constantly flutters its wings. I only managed a couple of slightly blurred pics:
Wedge-spotted Cattleheart - Parides panares
We took the 4x4 down a very rough forest track to a viewpoint where we could see out over the forest to the pacific coast.
It was extremely hot today and after a few hours of meandering, we headed back to the hotel to return the hire car and head for the pool to cool down with a couple of pina coladas and a swim.
Our last day was again spent locally.
Here are two more local species:
Dusted Spurwing - Antigonus erosus
Split-banded Owlet - Opsiphanes cassina
So, was it worth the long haul flight to visit for a week? It's an absolutely resounding yes! We saw many new species, and it seems that going a little earlier in the year meant that many species were around in much higher numbers than later in December when the dry season has started. I would love to go back again one day...
All species identifications are my own and apply with varying degrees of confidence. I used Jeffrey Glassberg's "A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America" as a first point of call in identifying, backed up with reference to http://www.tropicleps.ch and a couple of other online resources.
However, I am more than happy to be challenged or corrected on any of my IDs by anyone with more experience of Central American butterflies, and I would also be grateful if any such persons are able to assist with IDs on the following skippers: Skipper 1 Skipper 2 Skipper 3 Skipper 4
That's it folks! A brilliant trip, made even more welcome after what seems to have been a near solid three months of rain and flooding in central Lincolnshire.
For anyone contemplating a trip to Costa Rica, don't hesitate. It is paradise out there.
On the Saturday we drove south from our hotel to the Santa Rosa National Park, an area of dry tropical forest. This wasn't as rich in terms of butterflies as the rainforest had been, but it was the only place that we found the Wedge-spotted Cattleheart. Beautiful, but one of those butterflies that constantly flutters its wings. I only managed a couple of slightly blurred pics:
Wedge-spotted Cattleheart - Parides panares
We took the 4x4 down a very rough forest track to a viewpoint where we could see out over the forest to the pacific coast.
It was extremely hot today and after a few hours of meandering, we headed back to the hotel to return the hire car and head for the pool to cool down with a couple of pina coladas and a swim.
Our last day was again spent locally.
Here are two more local species:
Dusted Spurwing - Antigonus erosus
Split-banded Owlet - Opsiphanes cassina
So, was it worth the long haul flight to visit for a week? It's an absolutely resounding yes! We saw many new species, and it seems that going a little earlier in the year meant that many species were around in much higher numbers than later in December when the dry season has started. I would love to go back again one day...
All species identifications are my own and apply with varying degrees of confidence. I used Jeffrey Glassberg's "A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America" as a first point of call in identifying, backed up with reference to http://www.tropicleps.ch and a couple of other online resources.
However, I am more than happy to be challenged or corrected on any of my IDs by anyone with more experience of Central American butterflies, and I would also be grateful if any such persons are able to assist with IDs on the following skippers: Skipper 1 Skipper 2 Skipper 3 Skipper 4
That's it folks! A brilliant trip, made even more welcome after what seems to have been a near solid three months of rain and flooding in central Lincolnshire.
For anyone contemplating a trip to Costa Rica, don't hesitate. It is paradise out there.
- Tony Moore
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- Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:37 pm
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Terrific report, Pete - made me remember our trip a couple of years ago. Did you have trouble photographing the 'Crackers'? I found that they tended to land on the shady side of a tree, and when I used a flash the pre-flash caused them to flip their wings and spoil the shot. But CR is certainly a butterfly sweet shop!
Tony M.
Tony M.
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Hi Tony,
You are right - the Crackers always seem to land on the shady side of trees, and always facing head down. I was fortunate that the trees they were using was in a quite lightly wooded area, and I was able to photograph them without using flash, with my Panasonic Lumix fz150 on full zoom. But I agree that they can be twitchy if approached too closely. I tried getting up close a couple of times with my Canon DSLR + macro, and the sound of the shutter release caused them to flick their wings in the manner you describe.
There was one particular multi-trunked tree that harboured about a dozen Crackers at one time - quite phenomenal to experience groups of this size fighting over the best trunks, and as you can imagine, very noisy! Also a great opportunity to compare the Guatamalan and the Glaucous, as both were using this "master" tree.
As you say - CR is a complete butterfly sweet shop!
You are right - the Crackers always seem to land on the shady side of trees, and always facing head down. I was fortunate that the trees they were using was in a quite lightly wooded area, and I was able to photograph them without using flash, with my Panasonic Lumix fz150 on full zoom. But I agree that they can be twitchy if approached too closely. I tried getting up close a couple of times with my Canon DSLR + macro, and the sound of the shutter release caused them to flick their wings in the manner you describe.
There was one particular multi-trunked tree that harboured about a dozen Crackers at one time - quite phenomenal to experience groups of this size fighting over the best trunks, and as you can imagine, very noisy! Also a great opportunity to compare the Guatamalan and the Glaucous, as both were using this "master" tree.
As you say - CR is a complete butterfly sweet shop!
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Some stunning images +what sounds like a great trip.
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Great report and photos.
My wife and I were in CR in November last year on a trip to meet the Fair Trade producers. I saw more birds than butterflies but you may like to view some of my photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/lepreskil ... 5834/page1
Identifying the species is quite difficult as there as so many different skippers etc.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Identifying the species is quite difficult as there as so many different skippers etc.
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Thanks aeshna and Ian.
It is a fabulous place to visit.
Ian - some familiar images on your Flickr pages - certainly recognised a lot of the views (Arenal/Monteverde etc.) and some of the birds, and butterflies of course! Great stuff.
It is a fabulous place to visit.
Ian - some familiar images on your Flickr pages - certainly recognised a lot of the views (Arenal/Monteverde etc.) and some of the birds, and butterflies of course! Great stuff.
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Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Amazing record of an amazing trip. I've really enjoyed this report.
Without pretending to be an expert, I think your last skipper is Sostrata bifasciata. The first one looks strongly like Erynnis sp. but I can't pin it down to one found in Costa Rica. The other two I leave to the real experts! I don't feel there's enough information visible.
Guy
Without pretending to be an expert, I think your last skipper is Sostrata bifasciata. The first one looks strongly like Erynnis sp. but I can't pin it down to one found in Costa Rica. The other two I leave to the real experts! I don't feel there's enough information visible.
Guy
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
You tipped me off about this trip some while back, Pete, and I've been living it vicariously since your first post,
What a fabulous way to cast off a small part of a UK late autumn.
I must get round to it myself one day.
What a fabulous way to cast off a small part of a UK late autumn.
I must get round to it myself one day.
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Guy - many thanks for your comments, and yes I agree with your determination of skipper 4 as Sostrata bifasciata, the Blue-studded Skipper.
Also, yes, skippers 2 and 3 probably don't have enough detail for a definitive ID, although skipper 3 was so small that I thought it would be easy to find...it was photographed in the Santa Rosa National Park; there were two of them flying in a small sunny clearing along a shady track at around 200m asl in dry tropical forest habitat. Maybe someone out there will have an idea.
Skipper 1 looks like it should be as easy ID, but like yourself I cannot find anything convincingly close, although I am considering Gesta gesta, the False Dusky Wing, as a possibility...
David - you would be in heaven out there! Hope you get the chance to make a trip there in the not too distant future.
Also, yes, skippers 2 and 3 probably don't have enough detail for a definitive ID, although skipper 3 was so small that I thought it would be easy to find...it was photographed in the Santa Rosa National Park; there were two of them flying in a small sunny clearing along a shady track at around 200m asl in dry tropical forest habitat. Maybe someone out there will have an idea.
Skipper 1 looks like it should be as easy ID, but like yourself I cannot find anything convincingly close, although I am considering Gesta gesta, the False Dusky Wing, as a possibility...
David - you would be in heaven out there! Hope you get the chance to make a trip there in the not too distant future.
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Gesta gesta looks like a good fit on this website, Might find the others if you have a spare half hour to browse
http://www.tropicleps.ch/?page=4&list=5&fam=hesp
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
http://www.tropicleps.ch/?page=4&list=5&fam=hesp
Some addictions are good for the soul!
Re: Costa Rica Revisited
Thanks bugboy - having had a closer look at your web link and again reviewing the image in Glassberg, I am pretty happy with Gesta gesta, the False Duskywing, for Skipper 1.
I am also considering Virga xantho, Xantho Skipper, for Skipper 3.
Skipper 2 is still causing me a headache!
I am also considering Virga xantho, Xantho Skipper, for Skipper 3.
Skipper 2 is still causing me a headache!