Butterflies and Blossoms Near La Fortuna Waterfall
After a morning spent admiring La Fortuna Waterfall, Bob and I trudged back up the 500 steps to the top of the valley. By that time, we were ready for lunch. Read more
The World Through Our Lens
After a morning spent admiring La Fortuna Waterfall, Bob and I trudged back up the 500 steps to the top of the valley. By that time, we were ready for lunch. Read more
We were really struck by the beauty of the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterflies that we observed in Toronto. This is a species that we had never seen before. Read more
Day 2 in Costa Rica had us first completing a very early morning guided bird hike. After breakfast back at Hotel Kokoro, Bob and I headed to Ecocentro Danaus on the edge of La Fortuna. It is a private reserve with a butterfly conservatory where Bob and I hoped to see some of Costa Rica’s tiny winged jewels. Read more
Having left Cerro de San Juan Ecological Reserve behind us in Tepic, Bob determined that there were still sufficient daylight hours to make a stop and go hiking near La Bajada. The coffee and banana plantations in that area promised good birding habitat, and it wouldn’t be too far off our route back to San Blas. Read more
It was enjoyable making our way through the sand dunes at Muriwai on the North Island of New Zealand. The observation deck looking over the Gannet colony was our destination, but delights awaited us along the way such as this pretty Rauparaha’s Copper Butterfly. Read more
The morning following our arrival in Tuscany at first looked like it would be dreary and wet. A light sprinkle of rain dampened the patio stones as we ate breakfast, but by the time we finished our fruit and cereal, warm September sunshine cast shadows of the tall trees surrounding our farmhouse, so we set off to explore the vineyard. Butterflies and moths were everywhere in our dooryard, on the wildflowers and clinging to bushes and vines. Read more
Bob and I had not entertained our youngest son and his wife for quite some time, so in early August, we got together to catch up on all the news. Not being ones to sit around and visit ad infinitum, after passing a couple of hours on our backyard deck, I suggested a bit of a walk to work up an appetite for dinner. Cedar Trail at Rouge National Urban Park is close by, and we promised that we would not stand around for hours photographing birds, but the chance sighting of a Question Mark Butterfly did hold us up for several minutes with no complaints from our company. Read more
This past summer found Bob and me in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, in search of Black Bears. The blueberry patch at the old airstrip near Mew Lake Campground was a magnet for two families of Black Bears a year ago, so we were hoping that some of them might have returned in search of this year’s crop. Instead, the only visitors to the blueberry patch were countless Atlantis Fritillary Butterflies. Read more
I relocated some Coneflowers in my Toronto garden last fall, and was blessed with the gift of a few more from a friend, and the plants seem to be flourishing in their new location. Bob and I have monitored them closely since they are said to attract butterflies, and late one afternoon, we spotted this beauty, a Black Swallowtail Butterfly tasting the nectar from one particularly tall specimen. Read more