Thursday, May 25, 2017

Butterfly Chase

The first week of May was a self-declared holiday for me. I joined a group of Butterfly Watchers in the country called Philippine Lepidoptera. It was an informal Facebook Group of butterfly hobbyists trying to formally document all the Lepitoptera, meaning butterflies and moths, in the Philippines. The three administrative members invited me to join them to three locations, The Makiling Botanical Gardens in Laguna; Bangkong Kahoy in Dolores, Quezon; and Subic Bay in Zambales. All the three sites are also resort areas visited by local and foreign tourists. They also include protected forest domains.

This is the first time i personally met them, so photographing butterflies and moths in the wild also served as our bonding moments. We also have a guest member, whom we consider as the most professional entomologist in the group. His Masters and PhD degrees are on butterflies of the country, done in the US. In one of the places, another groups of enthusiasts joined us, the native trees group and some birders. I will be showing you some of my finds.

PART I: Makiling Botanical Gardens, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna

 Common Five Ring
 a moth found in the grasses


a skipper is considered a butterfly

LUZON GRASS DART
Taractrocera luzonensis luzonensis Stadnger 1889
Hesperiidae; Hesperiinae

ORANGE GULL 
Cepora aspasia olga Eschoscholtz 1821
Pieridae; Pierinae

BROWN PANSY or BROWN SOLDIER
Junonia hedonia ida Cramer 1775
Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Nymphaliini


TINY GRASS BLUE or GAIKA BLUE
Zizula hylax pygmaea Snellen 1876
Lycaenidae; Lycaeninae; Polyommatin

COMMON INE BLUE
Prosotas nora semperi Fruhstorfer 1916
Lycaenidae; Lycaeninae; Polyommatini



   COUNT

Tanaecia calliphorus calliphorus C.; R. Felder 1863
Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Limenitidini

 ABERRANT BUSHBLUE
Arhopala abseus amphea C. & R. Felder 1865
Lycaenidae; Lycaeninae; Theclini

FOREST QUAKER
Pithecops corvus corax Fruhstorfer 19919
Lycaenidae; Lycaeninae; Polyommatini


COMMON MAPWING
Cyrestis maenalis maenalis Erichson 1834
Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Cyrestini
GREEN DRAGONTAIL
Lamproptera meges decius C.; R. Felder 1862
Papilionidae; Papilioninae; Leptocirchini

We were all thrilled spotting the green dragontail, it is seen only mostly when there are brooks or creeks as they love to puddle in mud.  Some of my companions went down the creek, but i opted to stay in higher grounds. Fortunately, the dragontail privileged me to take its photo. It alighted near me on the bushes. 

I hope the butterfly enthusiasts will appreciate my posts. There are other finds that i was not able to photograph. I will continue the other finds from other areas in the next posts. 

Thank you so much!


17 comments:

  1. Beautiful butterflies! Great series of photos!

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  2. How wonderful to have such a group of like-minded friends to go looking for butterflies together! And, you certainly found a huge variety of the gorgeous creatures!

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  3. Wow! Great photos. I love the Dragon butterfly!

    Thanks for sharing.

    FlowerLady

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  4. Beautiful butterflies! How wonderful to vacation with like-minded persons!

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  5. i just wish magkakalapit lang tayo para palagi ang gala - mag butterfly watching o mothing o mag hanap ng mga kakaibang insekto haha :)

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    1. Oo nga masyado tayong mgkakalayo kaya hirap magbarkadahan!

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  6. What an opportunity, Andrea - and what finds! I love the rust-red markings of the Brown Pansy and the (obliging) Green Dragontail is truly spectacular. I wonder if you ever paint or sketch your finds? They are all so painterly...

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    1. Thanks Caroline, but painting is not one of my assets. Maybe someone would like to do them, I would say yes! I have a lawyer friend who paints, asking her to do one of my hoyas, but none yet.

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  7. What a collection! These are great shots and the post is so informative. Thank you for sharing.

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  8. Such an important task Andrea, to picture and document native butterflies - thank you for sharing them

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  9. Gorgeous group of photos, Andrea. I don't know much about Butterflies --but there are SO many and they all are unique and beautiful...

    I love that Green Dragontail. WOW..

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  10. Beautiful and awesome documentation. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. Hello Andrea, your butterfly images are just lovely. You found a great variety too. It must have been to be included in the group. The Green Dragontail is awesome! Beautiful post. Thank you so much for linking up and sharing your post. Enjoy your day and the new week ahead!

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  12. beautiful butterflies and moths!!! i have only been lucky enough to see this many in a butterfly house, not in the wild. it is nice to have a group of "like people" to share your love for nature with!!! you shared some really amazing images!!!

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  13. What a fantastic experience. I would love to go on a trip like that and see all the exotic butterflies occurring there. You have managed to get some great pictures. I look forward to hearing about what else you have seen.
    It has been a good year for butterflies here so far. However, even in the best of years I will never see more than 24 species here.

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  14. Oh you know I would love to join in with your group. You got some really great photos and that special one at the end. Thank you for sharing Andrea.... Michelle

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Your comments inspire me to post more, and our conversations make life and gardening more meaningful.

However, Anonymous comments and personal back links give me problems, so i don't publish them. Anonymous + back links = SPAM = DELETE

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