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!

Outdoor Wednesday

Wednesday Around The World

Camera Critters

Saturday Critters

Nature Notes

South Luzon Expressway

Going home to the province is always an exciting moment. I go home twice a month, and it is like an answered prayer when it coincides a long weekend. That means I can eat more home cooked food, organic vegetables from the property, fresh fish and whatever fruits are in season. Moreover, i can always be on the lookout shooting insects, spiders, larvae, plants, flowers, and whatever comes in front of me. It has been my preoccupation these past few weekends to search for small insects and spiders, as i mostly post in my other blogsite. It is timely, as butterflies don't seem to emerge these days. And most special among all these, is breathing freshly produced oxygen from our natural and plentiful oxygen generators. I hope the pollution in the city dwelling in my lungs can be displaced by the newly manufactured oxygen, fresh from the factory!

This is the decoration in front of the bus driver, together with the round mirror, and the view of the road. Maybe some of you recalls my previous post a few months back, when i also posted the decoration inside the bus. This time the bus has angels,  although the biggest angel is not fully shown in the photo. But the mirror easily shows the driver, the standing conductor and someone sitting near the driver, for lack of available seat. 

 The South Luzon Expressway is now continuous from Metro Manila to the Batangas International Port. It takes more or less two hours to drive this route, depending on the traffic situation or the weather condition. Rains surely slows down travel time. This highway brings you to the south of the Philippines if you prefer the land route. There are what we call "ro-ro vessels" (roll on-roll off) at the pier that takes your car in it, so you can drive your own car to the other islands and provinces south of the Philippines. There are also buses which do the same. The passengers get off from the buses while on the ship and board their bus again upon reaching land. This SLEX can even bridge your trip to Mindanao: Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon, etc, as well as Visayas: Tagbilaran, Tacloban, Cebu, etc. But most of the travelers are tourists to Puerto Galera, Mindoro; Romblon; Anilao, Mabini, Batangas at the least.

 I love looking at those white grass flowers swaying with the wind. Even the sugarcane fields produce the same kind of flowers and beauty.

 The greens on both sides of the highway and all throughout the journey is so relaxing for the eyes. I never sleep on the journey at all times, and I never tire looking at the beautiful scenery.

 The view of Mt Makiling is very special, as it seldom allows full view. Clouds normally cover its top. This mountain has a very special meaning for me, as our university where i studied and worked for sometime is at the foot of this on the other side. I also have reached the peak four times in the past when i was still in the university campus. It is still heavily forested because it is a national park and forest reserve. It contains a lot of representative biodiversity species of flora and fauna in the country, and some endemic species are found only here! I am sorry for the haze affected by the glass windows of the bus.

The smoke you see at the middle of the valley is from a factory in between the big mountain and the low hills in the foreground. And i would like to inform you this is a dormant volcano, only not erupting because of so many energy outlets at the foot. A big hot and boiling mudspring at the other side gets wider through time.

This tropical rainforest always reinforce its name, because it often rains at this part of the highway, even if other areas are very dry. When it is as clear as this, i always bring out the camera to try shooting even inside  the running bus. You can see the movement on the grasses in the foreground. I always savor this special uncommon scene of our beloved mountain, Mt Makiling.