Danaid Eggfly Two Males

Mornig I saw a huge butterfly, looking like Crow. I guess it was a female of Great Eggfly. I have seen this butterfly around few weeks back.

Today I spent only 15 minutes in the empty plot.

I saw two Danaid Eggfly Males (Hypolimnas misippus Linnaeus) today.

I saw Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona Fabricius) laying eggs on Cassia species. I will get the plant identified soon.

Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe Linnaeus) was laying eggs on a small herb. I got a picture of the egg.

Other butterflies recorded were:

• Tawny Coster (Acraea violae Fabricius)
• Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus Linnaeus)
• Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace Cramer)
• Unidentified Blues
  

The moth which attacked Centella asiatica in our office (I mentioned on 9th November 2004) imerged today. I need to take pictures and need to identify that.

Danaid Eggfly 

Emigrants

At around 1:00pm I saw a Mormon () Butterfly flittering around a Citrus plant. I am not sure if it has laid eggs on it.

At around 2:00pm I went to the empty plot next to my office. It was clear sky and the weather was sunny and hot. Wind was moderate.

On a samll Cassia plant there were numarous eggs of Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona Fabricius). And there were few more butterflied flittering aroung. There were a few copurting pairs too. I tried taking some pictures, but could not get any good ones.

Other butterflies I observed were:

• Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe Linnaeus)
• Common Cerulian ()

Balcony Butterfly Watching

Today at around 2:30pm I was just standing in the balcony of my home. There is somewhat empty land behind my house and I was just watching butterflies in that. Due to the distance from the butterflies some of them I could not identify clearly.

I saw few Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe Linnaeus) and two unidentified Blues.

There was a Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona Fabricius) on feeding on lantana. The color of this butterfly was yellow. It was nearing the color of a Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe Linnaeus).

I saw a two Crimson Rose() and a Common Rose() flying arounf Lantana bushes. I also notices two Blue Tigers (Dark ?) (Tirumala limniace Cramer) and a Common Indian Crow (Euploea core Crammer) flying somewhat East to West direction. But I just saw 3 of these in half an hour, so may not be migration.

Other butterflies observer were:

• Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus Linnaeus)
• Common Lime ()
• Common Gull / Pioneer - Could not distingwish from the distance
  

Blue on Rose again

Today at around 1:30pm I again went to check the Blue on the rose plant. It was there and still was laying eggs. I wonder how many eggs there tiny Butterflies lay!

I also saw a Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe Linnaeus).

Only 5-10 minues of Butterflying today.

In the nieghbourhood

Today being a holiday I was at home. On the way to market, while waiting for others to join me, I was standing watching butterflies.

I saw a Blue, unidentified again, laying eggs on a Rose plant. With few snaps I took, I hope to identify it soon.

I also saw a Common Jay butterfly flittring around a Ashoka (Polyalthia longifolia) tree. I am not sure, but I guess it was laying eggs on that.

I also saw a Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe Linnaeus) and a Common Baron (Euthalia aconthea Cramer).

Blue Pansy

Today again the same plot from 1:35pm to 2:10pm. The weather was clear and sunny. Wind was moderate. Butterfly activity was good.

I saw a Blue Pansy (Junonia orithya Linnaeus) for the first time in this area. It was sitting on the ground and getting disturbed by insects passing bye. It will fly and again sit on the ground near bye, I could get few photographs.

I saw one skipper (Hesperiidae member) which I could not identify. I have a photograph, which is not very good but will help in identification I guess. I will try to identify that during this long weekend with other Blues.

Other butterflies observed were:

• Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe Linnaeus)
• Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus Linnaeus)
• Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona Fabricius)
• Tawny Coster (Acraea violae Fabricius)
• Common Lime ()
• Common Mormon ()
• Common Cerulean ()
• Danaid Eggfly (Hypolimnas misippus Linnaeus)

A friendly Danaid Eggfly

Morning on reaching office, I was called by a colleague to show how some moth caterpillars have attacked our garden. There was a small patch of Mandukaparni (Centella asiatica). It was totally eaten up by them and I could see many caterpillars and pupas on that. I have collected one pupa for observations. I also saw some parasite wasp’s pupae there. Hopefully the parasites will now control the moth caterpillars now.

A good day to watch butterflies today. I could spend almost half an hour today in the same patch today. The weather is cloudy and windy. It was between 1:30 and 2:10pm.

Today I did photography with a new camera Sony DCR-TRV38E. So I am not sure about the results, let us see.

I took few more pictures of Blues. Will try to identify tonight, if time permits. I saw a friendly Danaid Eggfly Male (Hypolimnas misippus Linnaeus) and could take good pictures.



I saw two moths, which were feeding, on flowers. I could take picture of one of them.

The butterflies observed today were:

• Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe Linnaeus)
• Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus Linnaeus)
• Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona Fabricius)
• Tawny Coster (Acraea violae Fabricius)
• Common Caster (Ariadne merione Cramer)
• Common Cerulean ()

Basking Butterflies

Today when I started my walk about 1:45pm it was drizzling. But in 5 minutes, it stopped up and the sky became clear.

I went to a plot, which had Eucalyptus plantation and was removed about 7-8 months back It has lot of herbs and shrubs growing there now.

I saw lot of butterflies basking in the sun. Most prominent was a Male Danaid Egg Fly (Hypolimnas misippus Linnaeus). Lot of blues ere basking too, but since I ran out of Camera Battery, I could not take many pictures. I will try to visit the same plot frequently and try to identify the Blues.

Other butterflies seen were:

• Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona Fabricius)
• Mottled Emigrant (?) (Catopsilia pyranthe Linnaeus)
• Tawny Coster (Acraea violae Fabricius)
• Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe Linnaeus)
• Common Cerulian ()
• Common Mormon ()
• Common Rose ()

First Day

I have been thinking for many days to record the butterflies I watch every day. Today with this blog tool, I thought let me give a try.

Today at around 11am while going from one building to another I saw Indian Sunbeam (Curatis thetis (Drury)) male. The bright orange red color on UP was really nice.

Today I could move for about 20 minutes. The weather was cloudy and windy. It was raining a bit too.

I could get some snaps of Blues today. But I am very week in identifying Blues in the field, so will poet the list later. I will try to post pictures on the Blog soon.

I also saw a Robber-Fly (?) feeding on a Blue Butterfly. I need to find out scientific name of the fly.

The blues I saw in the afternoon, I tried identifying in the evening using Krushnamegh’s book. I feel I saw Dark Grass Blue (Zizeeria karsandra Moore) and Plains Cupid (Chilades pandava Horsfield) today afternoon. I was fortunate to get both UP and UN photographs of these butterflies.