Goldfish Plant
🔍 Goldfish Plant | Columnea sp. 🌺 📍 San Isidro de Grecia, Alajuela, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 Shaped like a curled goldfish, this epiphyte dangles from mossy branches, luring in hummingbirds with its fiery, speckled throat.
Tag: macro photography
Four O’Clock Flower
🔍 Four O’Clock Flower | Mirabilis jalapa 🌸 📍 Oreamuno, Cartago, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 This bloom only opens at dusk and wilts by dawn — a fleeting nightly show staged just for moths.
Wax Begonia
🔍 Wax Begonia | Begonia cucullata 🌸 📍 Alajuela, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 Wax begonias keep blooming almost non-stop — one plant can flower year-round in the right climate, which is exactly why they’re a garden favorite in Costa Rica.
Red Ginger
🔍 Red Ginger | Alpinia purpurata 🌺 📍 Orosi, Cartago, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 Those vivid red “petals” aren’t petals at all — they’re bracts, with the true flowers being tiny white blooms tucked between them.
White Buttercup
🔍 White Buttercup | Turnera subulata 🌼 📍 Sarapiquí, Heredia, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 This flower blooms for one morning only, closing by early afternoon — a fleeting show most people never catch up close.
Golden Silk Orb-weaver
🔍 Golden Silk Orb-weaver | Trichonephila clavipes 🕷️ 📍 Alajuela, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 This spider spins silk with a natural golden sheen so strong that researchers have woven it into experimental textiles — and a single female can build a web over a meter…
King Swallowtail
🔍 King Swallowtail | Papilio thoas 🦋 📍 Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 This giant of a butterfly is nearly a twin of the Giant Swallowtail — the two species are so alike that even lepidopterists rely on wing-spot counts and genitalia to tell…
Mountain White
🔍 Mountain White | Leptophobia aripa 🦋 📍 Grecia, Alajuela, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 Despite the “mountain” name and a home range above 2,000m, this butterfly happily wanders into city gardens and vacant lots — its caterpillars have a particular fondness for backyard cabbage patches.
House Sparrow (Female)
🔍 House Sparrow (Female) | Passer domesticus 🐦 📍 Alajuela, Alajuela, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 House Sparrows aren’t native to the Americas — they were introduced from Europe in the 1850s and have since become one of the most widespread birds on the planet.
Rubyspot Damselfly
🔍 Rubyspot Damselfly | Hetaerina sp. 🌿 📍 Grecia, Alajuela, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 Damselflies rest with their wings folded together above the body — the easiest way to tell them apart from their dragonfly cousins, which hold wings flat out to the sides.
Domestic Chicken (Chick)
🔍 Domestic Chicken (Chick) | Gallus gallus domesticus 🐣 📍 Grecia, Alajuela, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 💬 A chick’s fluffy down isn’t just for cuteness — it’s a poor insulator on its own, which is why chicks huddle together and rely on external heat sources until…