Butterflies and Dragonflies

 
Costa Rica has many butterfly parks where you can go to see butterflies of all colors and shapes. The most beautiful I think is the blue morpho, which isn’t actually blue, but grey. The blue
color on its wings comes from very fine lines which make a diffraction grating, creating an electric blue color that looks very fairy-like. I’ve been told that there are many types of blue morphos, the largest in Costa Rica is in the Osa Peninsula.

I haven’t been very successful in photographing butterflies, because many types seldom stay still and I don’t want to net or kill them for a photo. Also, many of them, such as the blue morpho, fold their wings with they do sit still.

Medium sized blue morpho with folded, torn wings. Good luck getting a photo of its wings showing blue without catching or killing it!	Large yellow butterfly found in Delicias, Montezuma.	A brown butterfly with orange bars. This one was dead when I found it.

This is a typical orange butterfly, commonly seen fluttering around flowers in the garden.	This was the prettiest butterfly I’ve seen in Costa Rica. It looked like a faerie or sprite, and was eating mangoes.	A brown butterfly that landed on my hand while I was holding the camera.

A common butterfly in Montezuma – black with yellow, red, and white spots.	A metallic green butterfly with a long tail – these move very quickly.	A common orange and black butterfly.

This butterfly is mostly black, with red/pink markings on the tail.

 
Dragonflies

Dragonflies are usually a great blessing to have near your home because many types eat mosquitos. At our house, they
show up every day around dusk, then disappear shortly afterwards. I’ve often wondered where they go during the rest of the day.

This part of Costa Rica has a huge variety of dragonflies. I’ve seen nearly every color of the rainbow within a few kilometers of Montezuma.

A group of electric blue dragonflies live in the Quebrada Buena Vista, near a waterfall. I’ve often seen dragonflies at waterfalls, not just in Costa Rica, but in other countries. I wonder if the water stirs up something that they like to eat.	This beautiful fuscia dragonfly lives just a few meters behind the beach in Santa Teresa / Playa Hermosa.	This black dragonfly’s winds are only partially transparent, making it look very strange when it flies, almost like a miniature helicopter.

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