butterflies

This is butterfly season; you must have noticed these beautiful creatures fluttering past you, in the gardens and even on the roads, everywhere in the city. If you observe them carefully, you will find many moments of drama and tension! One lesser-known fact about butterflies is that they hatch out of the pupa (it's called eclosing) as fully mature adults; something I had to think about and accept, being only used to a progression of living beings from infanthood onwards to adulthood. Because of this fact, sometimes, male butterflies try to mate with a female as soon as she's emerged…

Since all of us are becoming so polarized by caste these days, I thought I would take a tongue-in-cheek look at the four varnas, or castes, into which I can categorize the living beings around us. No offence meant, this is a light-hearted classification, intended to drive home the point that dividing ourselves by "caste" is not a good thing to do! The Brahmins of the "upper caste" is easily represented as there are several creatures with the word in their name. Here is the Brahminy Kite: See the beauty of the Brahminy Skink: There is also the Brahminy Myna…

Birds know no borders; the ones that we go to see in Karnataka fly off and can be seen once we cross over into Kerala! So when the birders of Kasargod announced the second Kidoor Bird Fest, to celebrate both the first sighting of the Orange-breasted Green Pigeon Photo credit: Sarala Jeevanthi Gamage and the birthday of Dr Salim Ali, the noted ornithologist, it was clear that this would be a productive birding weekend. The participants and the organizers. The festival was a bigger event than it was in 2017, because this time, birders from all over Karnataka (see featured…

I was about to write something about this event for my blog, and realized my official report for the Karnataka Forest Dept would do just as well! The founder-members of Bangalore Butterfly Club (BBC), from Nagraj's slide presentation: The Karwar Swift, not very common. The second Butterfly Festival at Doresanipalya Forest Research Station, celebrated on 17th November, 2018, was very successful. These ladies, making the rangoli, brought as much of colour as the butterflies did, to the event. Though limitations on the space available at the venue, in terms of the hall for presentations, resulted in the event not being…

When we talk of conservation, we often think of trees, water, mammals and birds. However, Rohit Girotra, who, in the past few years, has popularized  butterfly walks, and indeed, has discovered several species of butterflies in and around Bangalore, writes: Bangalore is surrounded by beautiful spots for watching butterflies. Camp Gee Dee in Shivanahalli, is one of these havens. Camp Gee Dee is home to a host of birds, reptiles, mammals and butterflies. At last count we had recorded around 100 butterfly species in the Camp Gee Dee grounds. What makes Camp Gee Dee special is its proximity to Bannerghatta…

Email to the bngbirds egroup: It was very pleasant to be able to go to Kaikondrahalli Kere after a long time and find that, apart from the dumping and levelling going on down one side of it, the lake is generally still well-maintained. An ambling walk of a couple of hours was very productive from the birding point of view, and we watched the nesting behaviour of the Great Cormorants, and the fishing by almost all of the waterfowl. Several juvenile Brahminy Kites, swooping at the surface of the water now and then, provided the raptor touch. The flock of…

A butterfly hunter in Lalbagh, 20th December 2013   Vinyasa U writes:"Suhas S Sapthagiri has noticed a person (a foreigner by the looks of him)  killing butterflies in Lalbagh, Bangalore, on 20th December 2013.Whatever  the reason  may be (perhaps he wants to collect butterflies)... killing butterflies can not be accepted; India is no longer`Butterfly collectors' paradise' as almost all Indian butterflies are under threat, and some are critically endangered."

With so many butterflies flocking to our Puttenahalli lake of late, it seems appropriate to get experts to identify them and take good pix of these fleeting, flighty beauties.      In June came Ms. Chinmayi, a lepidopterist from Banashankari and she photographed and identified quite a few of the butterflies. Read about her visit here.   Last week Dr. Kunal Angola and Naveen, research scholars from the Butterfly Park at Bannerghatta spent a good two hours at the lake. Their visit opened our eyes to more of these pretties.    Butterflies don't really need exotic plants. The common weed Tridax (Coat…

Try this – Close your eyes and describe the image that comes to mind on hearing the word 'garden'. I tried this with my family while writing this piece and was surprised to hear the different responses that emerged. For my 6-year-old it was all about brightly coloured flowers and toys, her father spoke of cobbled pathways, birds chirping and greenery all around. For me, the word 'garden' always brings to mind an image of butterflies flitting around lots of plants in bright sunshine! Caterpillar basking in the sun. Pic: Vinita Squirrel scrambles up the nearest tree. Pic: Vinita ant…

  Here are some of the common butterflies that one can see around us, right now. One of the good places I look for them is the Reserve Forest in the MICO Arikere Layout; but quite often, I find these beauties in the gardens nearby, too!SNOW FLATLEMON PANSYCOMMON ROSEBARONETBARONET closed wingCOMMON CASTORTAWNY COSTERPALMFLYCOMMON PIERROTPLUM JUDY:CRIMSON ROSE mating:And, just to wind up, a beautiful beetle, too.JEWEL BUGI keep looking around me as I walk in the residential lanes of our city....these lovely creatures provide spots of colour and beauty to my day. ⊕