Andrea's Plants, Photos and Travels: June 2017

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Butterfly Chase Part III

I made this topic into 3 parts, delineating the area covered and the butterflies found in each area. Besides, every area has a lot of photos that will already be toxic to you, my blogger friends. In case you are here only now, the older posts are linked here too.

Part I

Part II

This third part is in the Nature Reserve of Subic. It is a mountainous area shared by 2 provinces of Bataan and Zambales. Subic has recently become well known attracting many tourists because of its development following the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, which is administered by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

Our Butterfly Chasing was at the trails going to El Kabayo Falls, Pamulaklakin Trail, Binictican Trail, and nearby vicinity mainly following the river. We left our homes on Saturday morning reaching Subic at lunchtime, so we had half-day of a Saturday and another half day of Sunday for our butterfly chasing and photography. We spent the night in one of the houses at the Forest Views Residences. Our generous benefactor also provided a van for our group's use, to-and-from the residence to the trails, as well as to the dining places in Olongapo City and SBMA. Aside from the dwelling, transport and food; he even joined us to the sites acting as our lookout-guard in case someone get lost in following a butterfly. We are so blessed!

Of course my first priority is the waterfalls, but i will be posting the falls later in another post. This post is relegated to butterflies. Now i will enumerate everything we saw and documented. I apologize as my collages look very disorganized.

Moths clockwise from top left: 1. Pingasa sp. (Geometridae; Geometrinae; Geometrini) 2. Cotachena pubescens (Crambidae; Spilomelinae) 3. Idea sp. 4. Pagyda salvalis (Carmbidae, Pyraustinae) 5. Cleora sp. 6. NOLID MOTH Risoba sp. (Nolidae; Risobinae) 7. Cotachena pubescens (Crambidae; Spilomelinae)

LESSER CRUISER

Vindula dejone dejone Erichson 1834

Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Heliconiini

Appias aegis illana (3) C. & R. Felder 1862 Pieridae; Pierinae, Catopsilia pomona pomona (1) Fabricius 1775, Appias lyncida lepidana (2) Fruhstorfer 1910, Catopsilia pomona pomona (2) Fabricius 1775, and Appias lyncida lepidana (2) Fruhstorfer 1910.

YELLOW BANDED AWL

Hasora schoenherr saida Hewitson, 1867

Hesperiidae; Coeliadinae

WALLACEAN

Zethera pimplea pimplea Erichson 1834
Nymphalidae; Satyrinae

COMMON TIT

Hypolycaena erylus timolus C. & R. Felder 1862
Lycaenidae; Lycaeninae; Theclini

SUNBEAM

Curetis tagalica tagalica C. & R. Felder 1862

Lycanidae; Curetinae

COMMON JAY

Arisbe doson nauta Tsukada and Nishiyama 1980

Papilionidae; Papilioninae; Leptocircini

RUSTIC

Cupha arias arias C. & R. Felder 1867

Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Heliconiini

Left and right are COMMON MIME, Chilasa clytia palephates (Westwood 1845, Papilionidae; Papilioninae; Papilionini), center is EUPHRATES SWORDTAIL, Arisbe decolor neozebraica Page 1987 (Papilionidae; Papilioninae; Leptocircini)

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday

Outdoor Wednesday

Friday, June 2, 2017

Butterfly Chase Part II

The previous post of this Butterfly Chase is posted HERE.

Part II location of our butterfly chasing and photography is in Bangkong Kahoy, Dolores, Quezon. It is about 2,158 masl or 7,080 fasl. Our group consists not only of butterfly hobbyists, but also birders, and native tree enthusiasts. The BK Valley is located in between two mountains, Mt Cristobal and Mt. Banahaw. Despite the intermittent drizzles, we also had long hours of walking and looking for moths and butterflies. Aside from seeing our intended targets, we enjoyed the fun, camaraderie and good laughter.

We left late in the afternoon back to the big city. Everyone had a fulfilled day and will have a good night sleep. Although one of our friends was still going a long way to the North, spend 6 hours of sleep in a bus and reach her home after midnight. The next days are spent reviewing our photos, posting them in FB group site, and appreciating everyone's documentation of what transpired that Saturday. We actually didn't only have lepidopterans, we had all the creatures we saw in that visit, including the lovely landscape.