Sunday, November 9, 2014

Butterfly Paradise at Chiang Dao (Northern Thailand) Part 4

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In the early afternoon on 14 Oct, Antonio drove up the hill and parked the car at a spot where it was seen to be safe for us to walk around and hunt for butterflies.

Thanks to Les's sharp eyes, he spotted a Brown Prince (Rohana parvata burmana) along the roadside. We kept chasing it until we snapped some pictures of its upper and undersides.





Sad to say, about 10 minutes later Khew witnessed how this poor chap was knocked by a car, depriving Sunny and Antonio their chance of getting their pluses. In order to meet the Prince again, we came to the same spot on 16 Oct - this time there were quite a number Princes there to welcome us. 
Its "cousin", the Black Prince (Rohana parisatis siamensis) was spotted at the foothill though. The 
uppersides of the male are really dark and uninteresting.
But his undersides are slightly more attractive.
There were at least two Intermediate Maplets (Chersonesia intermedia intermedia) fluttering skittishly and puddling intermittently on the ground.
One Common Map (Cyrestis thyodamas thyodamas) appeared on our 2nd day (16 Oct). At one moment it stayed rather still, sipping nnutrient solutions from the soil.
I spotted only one Club Beak (Libythea myrrha sanguinalis) near the entrance barricade. It remained on the ground for awhile.
The Banded Dandy (Laringa horsfieldi glaucescens) is a small Nymphalid. This guy really enjoyed its food from the soil,  puddling on the ground and changing its poses. 
 It also showed us its undersides occasionally.
A solitary Lemon Pansy (Junonia lemonias lemonias) was enjoying its quiet moment on some wild flowers. I could see that it was not the main shooting target for others, I decided to take a few shots.  
Being rather active and sensitive to my movement, this Vagrans sinha sinha (Vagrant) made me work hard to snap a quick underside shot when it decided to stop flapping its wings for a few seconds.
The Lethe confusa confusa (The Banded Treebrown) was shot on a grass patch at the edge of the puddling ground.
I remember I shot a Red Lacewing (Cethosia biblis biblis) rather hastily when we were just about to dive up the mountain.  
Later in the day, a record open-winged shot of another Red Lacewing was taken opposite where our car was parked. 
While walking up-and-down along a stretch of road up in the mountain, we saw some dead butterflies lying on the road. They might have been knocked down or run over by vehicles. 

This guy which looks like the Melanitis phedima ganapati (Dark Evening Brown) flew across the road and landed on the ground.
There were quite a few Yythima species flitting around but only these two presented me with shooting opportunities. Though not a very pristine specimen, this Y. confusa with two prominent eyespots attracted my attention.
 This Pallid Fivering (Ypthima savara savara) was found resting on the roadside.

I will show some skippers and lycaenids in my next post.

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