Dacnis cayana

On a more joyous note... Providing that it's not pouring down with rain, the LCO garden is filled with the sounds and colors of so many birds right now, with the highlight being at around 7am. The Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) also known as the blue honeycreeper, and locally known as "Mielero azulejo" is one such jewel that is visiting currently. The bird in the image was documented drinking from the liquid-filled inflorescences of Heliconia latispatha. A clear example of the benifits that planting native species has for local wildlife!

Heliconia irrasa

Just so it's clear that we do have a hand in with plants (and not just with reptiles and amphibians!) here is a recent shot of Heliconia irrasa (Heliconiaceae), a small growing (to ca. 70cm tall) member of this much-loved and highly ornamental genus. This species is flowering currently in the LCO native plants garden and throughout its natural range on the Osa Peninsula.

On the road to San Juan

Back to the year 2002. I was pregnant with Nilo, so stayed home (at that time home was a very civilized second floor apartment in Santo Domingo de Heredia) whilst Reinaldo was in the field in Osa for 3 weeks. During that trip, whilst he was on the road for San Juan (arriba), he spotted Heliconia irrasa (a small, attractive understory forest species, which happens to be in flower currently in the LCO native plants garden and elsewhere on the peninsula). The red arrow in this image shows the position of the individual plant in question, on a steep roadside embankment ....

Heliconia longiflora

This image shows an inflorescence of the highly ornamental Heliconia longiflora (Heliconiaceae), which is flowering right now in the LCO native plants garden, as well as in its natural environment throughout the Osa Peninsula.