Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Butterflies @ Mae Jo and Doi Suthep Part 3

Continue from previous post.
On 19 March, we went to Mae Jo - about 40-minute drive from the hotel. Once we parked the cars at an open area, we went around a pond to look for butterflies, in particular, the Yellow Pansy. 

There were quite a number tattered  Arhopala lycaenids which I was not keen photographing them. Simon spotted this Copper Flash (Rapala pheretima petosiris) feeding on the Bidens flowers under the morning sun. 
At the same vicinity, I saw an open-winged lycaenid - its striking blue uppersides attracted my attention.
It turned out to be a Slate Flash (Rapala manea schistacea).
This skittish and small light brown skipper identified by Dr Seow as the Grass Bob (Suada swerga) was zipping around on a small patch of grassland full of Bidens flowers.
While some of us went further to search for the Yellow Pansy, a  few of us decided to follow Antonio's car back to the waterfall at Doi Suthep again. 

It wasn't a busy morning for us. While waiting for any surprises to come by, I noticed this Sailor hanging around a shrub. It looks like the Plain Sailor (Neptis cartica burmana).
Taking the underside shot will be useful for us to identify the species.
A skipper flying past me and hiding beneath a leaf. I approached it slowly and took a couple of shots from an awakard angle - it is a Yellow Flat (Mooreana trichoneura pralaya).
A Blue Tit (Hypolycaena kina kina) was puddling at a shady spot near the small waterfall.
When there was nothing special to shoot, an ordinary-looking Telicota skipper could become my model.
The Common Plum Judy (Abisara echerius paionea) was seen at a shady spot when I wandered around  
The "Duchess" that we were waiting for showed up at last but she refused to stay on the ground. Instead, the highlight of the day was this Hariy Angle (Darpa hanria). It had a tendency to feed on the same puddling spot whenever I walked away from that spot. In fact, it was nice to me as it perched (might be a different specimen) right in front of me when I was alone near the entrance of the trail.
This Red-tailed Forester (Lethe sinorix sinorix) was my last shot of the day at about 3 pm. It was skittish at first but it got used to our presence after a while. 
In my next post, I will feature some shots taken at Doi Pha Hom Pok.

No comments:

Post a Comment