Unexpectedly, I took the most butterfly photos of the trip during my time in San Jose. I started at the zoo where they didn't have a butterfly house but there were wild butterflies around.
I found this interesting (although ragged) Bumblebee Metalmark butterfly on the underside of a leaf. I was on the ground shooting photographs upwards when a couple walked by looking curious. I showed them the butterfly but I got the impression it didn't totally justify my antics to them.
I'm pretty sure this is a skipper but I'm not sure which one.
After the zoo, I noticed Spirogyra Butterfly Garden on Google Maps not far away. It turned out to be quite small but still a nice garden. By the time I got there it was the middle of the day and the butterflies seemed more interested in flying than posing so I didn't get a lot of photos. In North American butterfly gardens/houses you often see tropical butterflies that you wouldn't see in the wild. Here, the butterflies were mostly local so I saw many of them in the wild as well.
There were even a few Monarchs. I think of them in terms of their North American migration but they are also found in Central and northern South America (and other places like Australia).
The next day I thought I'd go to the National Museum - some history and culture for a change. The funny part was that immediately after you enter, you're in a large butterfly house! I had no idea it was there so I only had my all around lens on my camera. It was quite a bit larger than the butterfly garden the day before. And it was first thing in the morning so the butterflies were a little more cooperative.
The Owl butterflies are easy to confuse with the Blue Morphos. The difference is that the owl just has one main "eye" whereas the morphos have several.
I was lucky to see a Blue Morpho emerging from its chrysalis.
This one was almost ready to fly. The wings look so shiny and new compared to the ragged ones of the older butterflies.
After a couple of nights at the Gran Hotel in downtown San Jose I moved to the Hotel Bougainvillea (where the frogs were) It was in a suburb with not much around but that was ok because their large gardens gave me plenty to photograph while I was there.
This skipper only has a handful of observations on iNaturalist so it must not be very common. Love those bright red eyes!
On the other hand, these Hermes Satyrs were quite common.
Not counting repeats, I'd guess I photographed about 50 kinds of butterflies in the span of 4 or 5 days. I know I won't convince the birders but I find it just as rewarding finding and photographing butterflies (and other kinds of creatures).
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