Moth, Boat-billed Heron, Mushrooms

Costa Rica moth
There are so many unusual creatures in Costa Rica. I'm still amazed every time I see something new. The picture above is a bug we saw outside the front of our house. It was less than half an inch long. The colors and transparent wings were stunning.
 
The other day Spencer and I were walking through the far end of our property when I spotted three large birds in a tree. The birds seemed as curious about Spencer and me as I was of them. I thought I had seen all of the unusual, larger sized birds in our area but I was wrong. What I saw was the Boat-billed Heron. Seeing these strange looking birds inspired me to become more serious about bird watching and recording my findings. So far I have identified more than 40 different types of birds on our property.

two large mushrooms
Some rather large mushrooms sprouted in one of the garden beds. They started out looking like small baseballs and a few days later the caps opened. They spent several days looking as they do in the picture above before starting to slowly decompose.