Thursday, July 20, 2017

Chasing Butterflies in Between Takes

We were out of town for Review and Evaluation of our funded research projects. It is scheduled for a 3-day stay in Tagaytay City, a few hours from our city office. This is a lovely tourist area specifically because of the colder temperatures, proximity to Manila, and the beautiful views of Taal Volcano and Taal Lake. In the last few years, the area expanded catering to the tourists and visitors; including hotels, lodging houses, restaurants, malls and rising condo units. At least our venue is at the back of the more congested areas.

In the morning before breakfast, i go out early to look for anything that might be nice with the camera. But my main purpose is actually to photograph butterflies. I entered a subdivision with more grasses and flowering grasses on the side street. There are butterflies, but as usual they are so flighty, and do not cooperate with me. Here are some of my camera loot.

The sky that morning is almost clear, that the sun is shining brightly,  and at 7 a.m. the heat is already a bit biting to our melanized skin. 

The banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa) flowers are in full bloom, somehow i expected insects and butterflies nectaring on them, but i didn't see any. I just realized it is not attractive for them. 

This striped albatross (STRIPED ALBATROSS  (Appias olferna peducaea) is wandering inside the thick grasses, it seldom leaves the thicket, but i was able to get a better shot.

 TINY GRASS BLUE
Zizula hylax pygmaea Snellen 1876, Lycaenidae; Lycaeninae; Polyommatini

WASP MOTH, Amata s.

The above butterflies are seen in the morning on the open areas. The next are moths which are seen at night around the terrace of the hotel. When most people are already resting, while a few are in the bar getting some drinks, i was trying to capture the moths and other insects with my camera. 

Atteva sp. Yponomeutoidea: Attevidae
The above moth i posted in the Philippine Lepidoptera site in FB and an authority identified it, with further information that it is not illustrated yet among the 8 species in the country, so its species is not yet known, or probably known but not yet illustrated.

Aloa cardinalis Butler 1875 (syn. Amsacta cardinalis)  Arctiidae; Arctiinae 

 TUSSOCK MOTH

TUSSOCK MOTH

 PLUME MOTH

























Left: lacewing; Right: moth

12 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. haha, it's just a newly revived one. When i dealt into butterflies i am like groping in the dark as there still are no human resources to ask for IDs. Now that there is a formal group of Philippine Lepidoptera, aside from the IDs i still got companions to go out and chase them. So maybe this will stay.

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  2. Great shots of butterflies. Nice variety.

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  3. Hello Andrea, chasing butterflies sounds like fun! I love all the butterflies and moths. Great finds and photos. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend.

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  4. These are great shots! It's so interesting to see moth and butterfly species from locations around the world. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. Great macros. I'd guess that your cooler weather would probably seem hot to me!

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  6. What a variety - great shots! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Such pretty creatures! Lovely photos of them, too.

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  8. I love that you included moths...lovely photos..You asked about how I was doing...The unusual heat and humidity with all the rain makes me feel dizzy and ill because of my health issues. But today is cooler, so I hope to be outside for a while...hugs...Michelle

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  9. Hello, butterfly/moth stalker! Who or what will you be stalking next? Lol! Enjoy!

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

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