Mariposas, Hummingbirds and Leaf Cutters

I stopped in on the Butterfly Garden yesterday to see what was flying around. It was a rainy, cloudy day and there were less than 30 butterflies in the air.
Evidently, these wonders only like to fly on a sunny day. That makes sense when I think back to my garden and remember when the monarchs and others were gathering strength from my flowers. In spite of that, I saw wonderful, wonderful "Mariposas"
everywhere I looked. This adorable couple was clinging to this host leaf. I believed they were hugging and when I asked the guide confirmed this mating ritual. Very unusual!      
Can you imagine making love while upside down, clinging to a leaf?

     This little beauty was everywhere on the impatiens. It's colors are black with yellow accents, a soft brown inside the wings and two red dots at the bottom of the wing.
According to the guide, the red is there to attract a mate. This butterfly stayed like this for over five minutes.  The butterfly garden is maintained by a not-for-profit group.
They also have an area with crocodiles and lizards and a place to learn about all the frogs that live in the rain forest here. I was limited on time and really just wanted to sit and observe the butterflies.  A great stress reducer!  My all time favorite butterfly of my entire life is a big, bold, blue beauty.  For several years a post card of her sat on my dresser in my bedroom.  When at rest, she looks like this:

As soon as she's ready to fly she opens her wings and the most glorious, shimmery
blue becomes visable.  What fun to watch this butterfly fly around, showing itself off!
It's called the Great Owl. Can you see why?
     I don't see many butterflies where I live but there are hummingbirds everywhere.
It's fun to see which little one flys to what kind of flower.  At first, I thought I would
be able to keep track but I quickly realized I would need to abandon Spanish and strictly concentrate on hummingbirds! Not a bad occupation if you majored in Life Science in
college. I don't have any good pictures of these beauties but will continue to try throughout the year to get at least one.  I met a guy yesterday in town who has a
tripod and several lenses. He even set up shop in the garden of his hotel this week to
try to catch a good picture. No luck.  If you're interested you can go to:
www.creagrus.home.montereybay.com/CostaRicaHumm.html
for a good reporting, with pictures, of the area hummingbirds. Did you know that some
of these little darlings beat their wings up to 90 flaps per second? I love the juxtaposition between the slower, graceful butterfly and the quickness and agility of the
hummingbird.
     The last fastinating creature for today's blog is the tiny leaf cutter ant.  Now I'm not normally interested much in ants but it's imperitive that one stays alert here in Costa Rica. There are these tiny black ants that look like specks of dirt without my glasses.
But BOY!  Can they bite. They were everywhere out on the farm camp and even with
shoes on it was important to be aware of where you stepped.  There are these small red ants that are making hill after hill in the grass of my new townhouse. Walk around barefoot to the pool or laundry and you'll wish you hadn't.  They are fast and they seem to love feet.  I call them vampire ants because they bite and it really hurts!.
     The leaf cutter ant is another story. They are vegetarians and are truly amazing!
I first saw them in the rain forest on a hike to go zip line.  These are larger ants, more like our picnic ants.  They walk single file to a plant, (they have currently devoured half of the hybiscus plant by my door), bite a small arc in the leaves of the plants, and carry the leaf on their backs, single file,  to the nest, or hill.  The nest I first saw was bigger than a twin sized bed and quite wide. Here by my door, they traveled along the step and porch of my neighbors, through the grass, to where the spot where the queen had chosen for her queendom. The grass now has a chunnel where all these ants, hundreds of them, have stomped it down.  Some of the ants are called cleaner ants and they ride on top of leaves that aren't healthy and spit on them to clean them. The carrier ant carries all of this on his back to the nest.  Once inside the nest, the ants take the leaves and other ants pat down all the leaves to make a comfortable place for the queen.

Be careful if you ever come across these little fellows. They bite like crazy!
Thanks for your patience with my nature blog. There will be more to come.
Let me know how you like them!.