Pattampoochi Butterfly Magazine - Wings 4 Veins 2 - 2020

2020 Quarterly Magazine of The Nature and Butterfly Society Apr-Jun 2020

PATTAMPOOCHI

Q2

My best butterfly moment 2019 Participation in Salem Forest Division Birds & Butterfly Survey Participation in Shendurney WLS Faunal Survey In News From the Facebook Pages Back Issues

Danaid Eggfly - Hypolimnas misippus

Dear Butterfly Lovers,

PATTAMPOOCHI

வணக்கம் [Greetings].

Every new year brings new targets for naturalists, and they make a big wish list as much as possible to achieve, and in the process gather so many moments to cherish. We ask our online forum members to spell out their best moments end of year, and it was no different for the year 2019, where in many shared their little stories, best captures and the impression. Our thanks to their contribution. These are reproduced in the section, “ My Best Butterfly Moment 2019”. NGOs in association with Tamil Nadu Forest Department increasingly conduct surveys on lesser prioritised fauna like Birds and Butterflies, and Salem Nature Society in association Salem Forest Division conducted a survey and a Team from TNBS participated in the same and narrated their experience in a section titled “ Participation in Salem Forest Division Birds & Butterfly Survey”. In the next section “Participation in Shendurney WLS– Butterfly Survey”, a representative of participating team from TNBS narrates their experience of the survey and highlights findings.

This is followed by “In the News” section where the latest butterfly news related to TNBS, published in press is highlighted. The increasing attention given by press to butterflies is a welcome sign and will sure do its bit in the awareness and conservation. “From the Facebook Pages” section portrays the regular photo gallery picked up from Facebook postings during the quarter by members.

When this issue makes an appearance before your eyes, the invisible, tiny Coronavirus (COVID-19) had taught us a hard lesson across the globe. And reminded the human population, how intelligent and powerful they think they are, can be shaken by a primitive invisible life form. Let us respect the nature! Let us provide due spaces for all the species including the beautiful butterflies! Let them fly!

Editorial Team The Nature and Butterfly Society Pattampoochi– A quarterly magazine of The Nature and Butterfly Society Wings 4 Veins 2 Apr–Jun 2020. Issued on 01.04.2020 Issued from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

For Private Circulation Only. Copyright is with TNBS. Please write to us for getting permission to use any of the contents.

Editor: A Pavendhan Editorial Team: Balakrishnan R, Gopalakrishnan S, Nishanth CV, Theivaprakasham H , Viswanathan S and Ramanasaran H

Cover Page: Common Tinsel (Pavendhan A)

The Nature and Butterfly Society (259/2018) is registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975

Danaid Eggfly, Great Orange-tip (Pavendhan A)

Full Page Picture Credits:

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My Best Butterfly Moment 2019

#Mybestbutterflymoment2019 The Tamil Nadu Butterflies FB Forum ran a “Mybestbutterflymoment� for the 5th consecutive year in running. The idea is to recollect the best moment an individual can remember and share with all members as a way of saying good bye to the year end. All in all, 16 responses were there and it was quite interesting to go through all of them. And we have reproduced the same here for everyone to go through!

Elavarasan Malaiyappan Though there are many best butterfly moments to me in 2019, I am mentioning here some of the most delightful moments. Sighting of 1.Tarucus balkanicus ( Black Spotted Pierrot) 2.Silverstreak Blue 3.Tarucus indica (Transparent Pierrot) 4.Common Onyx ( All from Salem) Successful completion of the lifecycle of both T. balkanicus and T. indica .

Observation of Butterflies migration for the first time.

Able to prepare checklists of butterflies based on families.

Thanks to Tamilnadu Butterflies for being a learning platform and also for the Knowledge dissemination and Documentation of Butterflies. Happy to be a member of TNBS.

H Byju Having seen many scribble the exciting and fruitful year spend with butterflies, I too thought of sharing some of my experience into the highlights of the year. Many thanks to Pavendhan Appavu for sending me to Idukki Butterfly survey where I met two beautiful Awlkings and Kalesh Sadasivan Doctor too. This was followed by a beautiful watch of vanadevatha (Malabar Tree Nymph) slow gliding for almost an hour.

The end of the year was followed by the sighting of Common Onyx from Sathyamangalam Survey by our team.

Thanks for all the many friends like Shravan, Nishanth and Hari for the help during different visits. Hope the next year also to contribute more in learning and understanding nature through butterflies .

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My Best Butterfly Moment 2019

Vishwa Nathan Blue Oakleaf (Kallima horsfieldi). October 19 Coimbatore dist. Record shot. பல வருடங்களாகத் தேடிக்ககாண்டிருந்ே பட்டாம்பூச்சி தகாவவமாவட்டம் பாலமவலக்கு மவலதேற்றம் கசன்றதபாது முேல் முவறோகக் காணக்கிவடத்ேது, கபருமகிழ்ச்சி! சுமார் நூறடி உேரத்ேில் பறந்து ககாண்தட இருந்ே​ே​ோல் நிழற்படம் எடுப்பது மிகவும் சவாலாக இருந்ேது!. கிவடத்ே சில வாய்ப்புகளிலில் எடுத்ே படம்.

Prakash Gururajan During the Forest Department Survey conducted by Coimbatore Forest Division for birds and butterflies in November 2019, we 3 in our team (Myself, Mr. Soundararaj Subbian and Ms. Vinithashri Gautam visited one of the foothills of Coimbatore and taken some good photos of birds and butterflies. One butterfly looked little different even when we spotted it in the field which turned to be the rare and first photographic record for Coimbatore. It's none other than Sinhalese Five-ring and it stands the best butterfly moment of the year for me and of course for our team. Thanks to the organisers and forest department.

Special Thanks to Mr. Pavendhan Appavu, Mr. Theivaprakasham Hari and Mr. Soundararaj Subbian for his camera.

Ramanasaran Hari I had many moments this year, but the mass migration of Painted Lady Butterflies in my college was one of my most memorable moment. It was known for its Distinct Migration Behaviour. It is a surprise to see the phenomenon in Coimbatore as there are very few butterflies of the Painted Lady reported in the districts of Tamilnadu. The migration pattern of the Painted Lady in India yet to be scientifically studied . Wishing to unravel the more mysteries of butterflies in the years ahead.

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My Best Butterfly Moment 2019

Darshan M Trivedi The year 2019 begins for me with first sighting of Common Evening Brown DSF and Ends is still holding secret.

In 2019, all Butterfly walks along with TNBS and CNS were very special and i crossed more than 160 butterfly species counts as per my personal record under the kind guidance of Pavendhan sir and other seniors. Many memorable moments are there. I participated in STR survey and Birds & Butterfly Survey organised by TNBS and CNS by coordinating with Forest Department and WWF India. My memorable moment is very commonly uncommon.

As i am daily taking one round near by my home and surrounding for butterfly activities, on 08-09-2019 morning i am in a search of butterfies in my home garden and suddenly blue flashing lights crossed me. When the butterfly landed in bushes it seems that its from any "Royal Family" . Without wasting time I took my position and i got few shots. Suddenly it flew away.

Still its unknown to me and Iclicked picture of camera frame and sent to Pavendhan sir.

With my great surprise Pavendhan sir confirmed me that it is "Silver Royal" which I never seen before during my 6 years butterfly walk. It is unique lifer for me at my home during 2019.

Another memorable moment is During Recent Butterfly walk on 22-12-2019 my self and Pavendhan sir got chance to Click "PLANE" with Close wing and Open wing pose. It was also LIFER moment for the year 2019.

Sadheeskumar K In the beginning of 2019, i was assuming that whatever flying small with colorful wings are butterflies. Whenever i take a photo of such species, i search in the internet or ask in forums or ask some friends to get its name. In the mid of June, i learnt that there are different groups called butterflies, moths and odonates. In july, observed more butterflies, got curious to know more about them and photograph them. Interestingly, I bumped into Pavendhan sir by end of July, without knowing that he is a master in butterfly.

Then I got a chance for my first ever survey (through Pavendhan sir) in Nov for CFD, where my real learning about butterfly started, followed by STR survey and Shendurney survey. I got a chance to spend time with amazing people like Byju anna, Jothi, Ramana, Saravanan, Shaheer and lot more people. I come across the word called "lifer" from many people, during survey. For me, everything is lifer. I take this chance to thank all who supported me directly or indirectly.

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My Best Butterfly Moment 2019

Pavendhan A The year 2019 was full of moments and could not single out one moment which would be unfair to other moments. Every one of them is close to my heart. So, this will be a kind of quick re-cap to what I have personally got involved with and blessed to carry out many of those under TNBS banner.

We continue to focus on the magazines, third year in the running, which is primarily aimed at registering all that is significant about butterflies, with reference to Tamil Nadu. My thanks to all the contributors and the editorial team, with special reference to Theivaprakasham and others. We had great opportunities in conducting first ever integrated survey of birds and butterflies in Coimbatore Forest Division, and repeat survey at Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve. My sincere thanks to DFO of CFD, CCF & FD of STR, DFO of STR and all other officers for the faith they had in us. My thanks to TNBS team, CNS team and WWF team and all other participants of this survey. My special thanks to D Boominathan of WWF and PR Selvaraj of CNS.I also had the fortune of authoring along with STR senior management, a book on Birds and Butterflies of STR, in both English and Tamil. This is very economically priced to reach everyone. My thanks to Kadu magazine team in bringing out couple of articles on butterflies (an introduction article and a Western Ghats butterfly special) written by me. Also, thanks to The Hindu for bringing out a special write-up on the Coimbatore Formation Day. And to Vinayan, in accommodating a section on Butterflies in Tamil, in the Butterflies of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve book. We were happy to be part of dissemination exercises for school children, college students, field level people. Also participated in seminars. My thanks to those who has invited us to do this.

And to the main business of chasing butterflies, thanks to the close-knit team of Sravan Kumar, Nishanth, Ramanasaran and Darshan, we had fun-filled and fruitful Sundays, whenever it was possible. I also made a visit to NE India for the annual NEBM. It was held at Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, this year. Kudos to Minom, Roshan, Kamalji and others for the wonderful meet. I was also particularly happy that we brought out Kallar-200, a report on long term study of Kallar, which yielded 200 butterfly species. We also had our moments following the migration of Danainae butterflies, Emigrants and Painted Ladies. My thanks to Thenkoodu organisers for selecting me for an award in recognition of the butterfly related works. Special thanks to Mr Balakrishnan in recommending my case. And my sincere thanks to the TNBS core team, Gopalakrishnan, Viswa Nathan, Bala Krishnan, Nishanth, Theivaprakasham, Ramana and Sravan for the continuous encouragement and being part of all the exercises that I was involved with. It is all teamwork, end of the day! And thanks to all other members, friends and wellwishers for a successful year for TNBS and for me personally. Looking forward to 2020, where there are some exciting things waiting to happen and need to fulfil some big responsibilities entrusted upon!

And to those wonderful 209 butterfly species which were kind enough to show up during the year, from Painted Sawtooth to Wax Dart, a big thanks note! They are the reasons for this little long note.

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My Best Butterfly Moment 2019

Bhanu Mathi My most memorable moment for the year 2019 was launch of my book `Butterflies of Agasty' on 24th September 2019 at the Agastya International Foundation's Gudivankka campus, Chittore, Andhra Pradesh The book was part of my 15 months documentation project in the 172 acre Agastya campus . The documentation was purely a voluntary work and later presented my work in the form of a book to the rural school children. This was possible due to the encouragement and support of Agasty team. This colourful hand guide book will help teachers and students to create awareness on butterflies, understand the life history and their role in nature.

Following the launch next memorable moment a return gift from the butterfly community was my first sighting (lifer) of Lilac silverline (Apharitis lilacinus) in the Agastya campus. This butterfly was not seen during my entire project period and also during subsequent visits. I am happy to record this species in the campus for the first time for Chittore district and Andhra Pradesh State. This is indeed a historical record and appreciated by experts from the scientific community.

This year I could not make many field visits around Tamil Nadu forests and wilderness locations. However, Palni Fritillary in Bodimettu is my lifer and a memorable one.

CV Nishanth Dear Friends !

It was a difficult task to select my best butterfly moment of 2019 as all the moments were wonderful. Added many lifers and rarities to my kitty. Thanks to all the members for their wonderful support and guidance.

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My Best Butterfly Moment 2019

Naveen 1st half of 2019 is a wonderful year for me in terms of wildlife sightings as i went to Madhav NP, Kuno Palpur WLS in MP, Sulnatpur NP in Haryana, Surajpur Wetlands and Okhla BS in Delhi. All these trips were meant for birding and i not used to observe butterflies much. They were like vandha laabam varlaina nastam illa feeling.

But My butterfly experience started only after i got my posting to Tinsukia, Assam. The home which I have take for rented accommodation here alone has 45 butterfly species including Nawab, Grey count, Red Based Jezebel, spotted and common palmfly, sailors, lascar, sergeant, Cerulean, grass blues, Browns, ypthimia etc. I started loving butterfly also here only. But butterfly as a hobby and passion took of only after visiting Bherijan forest patch in 8.9.2019 where I sighted Oriental map, Constable, Sullied Sailor, Dragon tail, Yeomans, fluffy tit, Metallic Cerulean, Punchinello and few more. From then my butterfly moment had no end card so far. Then my visit to Northeast butterfly meet held at Namdhapa also gave good knowledge on butterflies of Northeast Biome. There i met Pavendhan sir and Nishanth. Getting accustomed with them also gave knowledge on activity of major butterfly species and their respective sighting periods. Post NEB meet, me and my wife started exploring Bherijan and Borajan forest twice or thrice a week. These walks never disappointed us as we used to sight one or two new species from this area regularly. Few will be lifers and others which I sighted at Namdhapa. I would like to mention about Pavendhan sir who is like Messiah of butterflies for me. He used to identify every butterfly species i send him through whatsapp and continuously helped me to gain some basic knowledge on butterflies.

I would like to thank Theivaprakasham also whose life cycle documentation and black background images of butterfly gave the initial momentum towards butterflying. Now its been very long since I went for birding. Even got 105mm macro for butterflying and kept my 500mm sigma aside in cupboard.

Now me and my wife recorded 136 species in small forest patches of Tinsukia alone without visiting Dehing Patkai WLS (Major butterfly hotspot in tinsukia district). Even today (Jan 02, 2019) sighted an injured pallid nawab in my home. Unfortunately, it died sooner in my home itself as it got lost its legs and couldn't fly. Since hunting and being hunted is part of food web, i didn't think today's incident as sad one.

To promote awareness on buttefly diveristy in tinsukia district , i created a Facebook group in the name Tinsukia Nature forum recently and inviting locals to be a part of it. It is only 10 days old. Planning to conduct walks for school and college students also here. Let 2020 be the landmark year for me in this aspect.

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My Best Butterfly Moment 2019

Rama Neelamegam 2019 will always be known as the year of painted lady (it was like everywhere both national and international) and Spot Sword tail to me!

This year also had one of the biggest emigrant (of all forms and sizes and species) bloom here in Chennai in the months of Jul-Aug. Literally all the trees and puddles in IIT-campus as well as near home was swarming with emigrants that even a seasoned butterfly person like Theivaprakasham Hari was stunned when he came to the campus !

The butterfly walk with him around the campus has been one of my most cherished butterflying moment this year as well as till date!

Theivaprakasham Hari showed me how the cattie crawls under leaf litter to pupate and we also actually saw a fresh butterfly eclosing, drying its wings and mating all in wild! Was exhilarating to say the least! There was even one near my entrance door at home which I managed to latch on to my finger and set it out free as it was in distress where it was! So yes, definitely a spot swordtail year it was!

The lifer for me this year has been baronet which I saw in Amirthi zoo along with Smitha in January! Hope that we see many more of such butterfly blooms in years to come!

Saravana Saran Year 2019 presented me with plenty of interesting sightings and lifers!

The team i was a part of in the Birds and Butterflies Survey in STR recorded 'Common Onyx'. I missed to sight it!

Fortunate enough, soon after a few days i got to see it laying eggs in 'Gmelina arborea' in the Butterfly Survey in Silent Valley National Park.

The team i was a part of was in the right place in the right time. Common Onyx came to the plant Gmelina arborea, laid eggs, and flew off immediately, escaping our sight forever!

Kishore Kumaran #Mybutterflymoment2019, is Coimbatore Forest Division Birds and Butterfly Survey. Since, I am a beginner in butterfly I saw and learnt new names. It was a new experience for me. Thanks to my survey team members for teaching me in field. Sorry, I didn't take my DSLR during the survey walk so no clicks. Special thanks to Selvaraj sir - CNS and Pavendhan sir - TNBS for giving me the opportunity. Looking forward to learn a lot about butterfly in 2020 with the beautiful team.

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My Best Butterfly Moment 2019

Sravan Kumar K Action packed weekends.

Maintaining balance between personal work, official work and nature activities is one challenging act. Somehow managed to balance all without compromising one another. 2019 is one of most memorable in terms of weekend trips. Kallar and TNAU Botanical garden kept me busy with long outings once a month.

Kallar 200 species is a landmark. Kallar never disappoints.

Choosing one best moment of the 52 weekend is like doing injustice to other outings. Every outings has its own WOW moments and disappointments. Its the blend which keeps us on the hunt for more. Pick of the sightings are silver streak blue and Silver streak Acacia blue from Kallar, NIlgiris grass yellow from Siruvani, Blue oak leaf from Nelliampathy, Nilgiris tit ( first record) , Painted Courtesan and Yptima singala ( once considered rare, now seen in very good numbers )from STR, and the list continues.

More than the species and rarities, spending time with winged beauties is a feeling which cannot be expressed by words, it's like yoga one has to feel it to know it. This year was packed with Surveys and migration. Special thanks to Nishant and Ramana, mentor Mr Pavendhan for his selfless support, and thanks to all others who were part of my walks.

With my elder son Bhargava started showing interest in the winged beauties, it was a challenge for me to keep his spirit up by constantly engaging him without affecting his academics. Happy to note that he sighted Painted Lady in my backyard before officially reported it in Coimbatore.

Staying close to nature is my motto and butterflying is the vehicle which drives me closer to that. Still a week to go and Shendurney survey in the last week, keeping fingers crossed. Happy butterflying.

Madhan Kumar It had been a challenging trip - 2 days and ~700 KM of driving had yielded only plenty of disappointments, thx to the unreliable and extreme monsoon. As a last resort, decided on kallar. Straight away landed the prized Silver streak acacia blue. As we wound up in the afternoon, there was disappointment having not sighted the Nilgiri tit. Out of desperation, one of the members walked from car park to the gate and there he was- a perfect specimen that cooperated for all imaginable poses for an hour!

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Participation in Salem Forest Division– Butterfly Survey Pavendhan A pave67620@yahoo.co.in

Salem Nature Society along with Salem Forest Division, Tamil Nadu Forest Department had conducted a Birds and Butterfly Survey in all ranges of SFD between February 14th and 16th, 2020. We have learnt that this is a second such exercise, with the last one was held in 2018.

From Coimbatore, our team comprising of Mr. Soundararaj S, Mr. Nagaraj T, Mr. Krishnamoorthy R (who works in Yercaud) and I was assigned to Yercaud Range. We were one of the two teams assigned to the range. After the opening meeting held at Salem, we reached the Yercaud Hills on the evening and stayed in the facility provided by the Forest Department.

Yercaud is a Hill station in Salem District, in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located in the Shevaroys range of hills in the Eastern Ghats.

It is situated at an altitude of 1515 metres (4970 ft) above sea level, and the highest point in Yercaud is the Servarayan temple, at 5,326 feet (1,623 m). (Source: WIKI). The hills are part of the Eastern Ghats complex.

On Day 1, we had started our survey on time, and since it is a combined survey of birds and butterflies, our initial focus was on birds until light sufficiently improved for the butterflies to be active. In fact as late as 9 AM, we could not sight a single butterfly. The morning hours were spent on a long winding road stretching about 15 Km through coffee estates and habitation, and we could notice only some spots are active with birds with long inactive stretches.

Once the Sun was sufficiently out, we decided to explore the reserved forest through the trekking road. The forest is of deciduous in nature with rocky exposures. This place returned butterflies like Common Four-ring, Common Five-ring, Common Pierrot, Oriental Grass Jewel and Pansies of all types except Grey. The bamboo shoots around the place ensured, we had a few species which were dependent on bamboos like Indian Dartlet and Tamil Treebrown. Once the trekking path ended, we could not proceed due to dense growth. We decided to end this segment here and took the long walk back to the main road.

The species count at this time was in twenties and many higher elevation species were missing. We decided to explore areas where streams could be potentially present and drove for a few kilometers before we could spot a few places with accessible stream and nectar plants. This place turned out to be the highlight of our 2 days survey.

In a short span of time, we could see Small Grass Yellows and Spotless Grass Yellows making a visit to the mud-puddling spot.

Other species which were sighted here include Great Eggfly, Commander, Transparent Six-Lineblue, Opaque Six-Lineblue, White Hedge Blue, White-disc Hedge Blue, Rustic and Common Nawab. There were also other regular common butterflies here.

This is also the place, where we were lucky to spot the rare Common Tinsel butterfly. It flew down and sat on top of a leaf for a while before flying off. This was a surprise sighting for us as the butterfly is traditionally known to occur only in the Western Ghats of Peninsular India. Of course the butterfly has large distribution from Sri Lanka to North-east India and beyond. However, this is the known first record from the Eastern Ghats hills of Tamil Nadu.

We have to now take a break for lunch and begin the second session after some rest. We have scheduled to take a falls in the afternoon and as soon as we reached the place, we were treated with a Black Prince. The butterfly played a hide and seek game with us for a while but allowed us to take a record shot. All other species here noted are of common species. We ended the day one with 70 + species and made a well earned rest.

On Day 2, we drove to a riverine patch, where as usual, the activities of birds were observed and once sufficient daylight turned up, the birds activities got reduced and butterfly activities gained momentum. In this walk through the stream, we could add a few more important and interesting sightings like Large Oakblue, Beak species, Common Mime, Common Silverline, etc.

We ended the session around noon in order to return to Salem to submit our observations and data, which we did promptly on time.

Common Tinsel - Catapaecilma major

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Participation in Salem Forest Division– Butterfly Survey

Commander

Common Nawab

Black Prince

Spotless Grass Yellow

Plain Hedge Blue

Large Oakblue

A total of 90 species have been recorded from our camp, 11 from Papilionidae, 14 from Pieridae, 33 from Nymphalidae, 24 from Lycaenidae, 8 from Hesperiidae. It was heartening to note this species count, for a relatively dry season. Sighting of species like Common Tinsel from the Shevaroy hills necessitate the need for a proper exploration with respect to butterfly species richness across different seasons; this will be a great step in protecting them from becoming rarer or vanishing especially since their habitation is under constant threat. Our thanks are due to the Salem Forest Division and the members of Salem Nature Society.

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Participation in Shendurney WLS– Butterfly Survey Pavendhan A pave67620@yahoo.co.in

Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary, situated in Kerala, conducted a faunal survey, especially on Birds, Butterflies and Odonates between 27th and 29th of December 2019. We have participated in the last survey held here in the year 2017 too. This time too a team from Coimbatore, comprising Nishanth CV, Ramanasaran H, Saravanan, Sravan Kumar K and I decided to participate.

We have left Coimbatore on the night of 26th Dec and reached Tenkasi on the 27th morning. After a bit of refreshing, took the bus to Shendurney via Senkottah. We reached the Shendurney WLS office on time. The opening meeting was held on the usual efficient manner and luckily all of us from Coimbatore were assigned on the same camp and three more lady participants too were added to our camp and team. We all left by the Sanctuary bus transport to reach our indented camp (the camp name is withheld to maintain confidentiality as requested).

We have reached our camp and after a while, the team decided to explore the area nearby, and we decided to take a walk on the eastern side with a forest department official. The birding activities were comparatively less. However, the butterfly activities were good for the evening and we could tick 43 species in an hour’s time before the sunset. Rested for the day early in anticipation for the tough days ahead.

On the next day morning, we spent some time on the nearby areas of camp, especially on the tall trees, looking for some notable birding activities. Malabar Trogon and Malabar Pied Hornbills are the birds to note. We then left to have our breakfast before setting up for the morning session of survey by 730 AM. The habitat was showing signs of a clear dry season and we feared it will have an impact on our species count. Added to this is not much of fruiting and flowering trees/ shrubs around.

We walked on the same road as we went on the previous day’s evening. Scheduled coverage of distance is about 3 Km. But we had a good long walk of about 5 Km on one way and on the return the same distance. By the time we reached our camp, it was 2 PM in the AN. With the dried up look of the forest, we were desperately looking for stream with running water where we hoped to capture mud-puddling species. Unfortunately, all streams too dried up. The day ended with an overall tally of just above 70.

On the final day, we need to cover only the morning session, as the concluding meeting was on the AN of the day. We had now taken an opposite direction through a plantation, and then to long walk through core forests, especially through many bamboo thickets. We were lucky to spot an evergreen patch and it was just a joy that we had suddenly hit some 10 species or so of importance and interests. Our maximum time was spent here and then took a short, but a untidy path back to the camp. The total had swelled to 80 plus species.

Common Rose, Common Mormon and Blue Mormon were the easily visible and abundant swallowtails. All other species were represented by only a very few specimens. Other notable species from this family include Malabar Rose, Commo Mime and Malabar Banded Swallowtail.

Common Grass Yellow, Common Emigrant, Common Albatross, Common Jezebel and Psyche were easily the most visible of Pieridae species. Other species were just a few. Unfortunately, our search for the rare Nilgiri Grass Yellow could not be met with success.

The dominant family was easily the Nymphalidae. Chocolate Pansy were every where followed by Common Four-ring and Rustic. The other Ypthima species Common Five-ring was just a few only in numbers.

Lemon Pansy, Glassy Tiger and Common Crow too were well represented.

Other important species spotted include Tamil Lacewing, Blue Admiral, Grey Count, Clipper, Black-vein Sergeant, Commander, Small Leopard and Malabar Tree Nymph.

The blues were definite disappointment but our sighting of Oriental Grass Jewel was the first for the sanctuary. Important species include Dingy Lineblue, Monkey Puzzle, Common Imperial, Yamfly and Indigo Flash.

Skippers were the least represented among the families with just handful of sightings and those included Dusky Partwing, Common Small Flat and Rounded Palm Redeye.

Indian Cupid - Everus lacturnus

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Participation in Shendurney WLS– Butterfly Survey

Blackvein Sergeant

Dusky Partwing

Dingy Lineblue

Glassy Tiger

Grey Count

Monkey Puzzle

A total of 81 species have been recorded from our camp, 11 from Papilionidae, 13 from Pieridae, 31 from Nymphalidae, 17 from Lycaenidae, 9 from Hesperiidae. Although the count is reasonably good for a relatively dry season, going by the past records of the camp, we were slightly disappointed that we could not get many rarity to the list. We strongly feel that a survey may be held during peak season when the species diversity is maximum. Our thanks are due to the Shendurney WLS, Kerala Forest Department, and TNHS members especially to Dr. Kalesh Sadasivan and Ramesh Iyer. We are looking forward to a repeat visit gain during a peak season.

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In News Review of 2019 Tamil Nadu Butterfly Activities

The Hindu Metroplus, on January 20, published a story titled “Why 2019 was a good year for butterflies in Tamil Nadu” highlighting significant events on butterflies, contributed by TNBS and others. It was also ended up as a review for the year 2019. Our sincere thanks to K Jeshi of The Hindu.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-andenvironment/2019-was-a-good-year-forbutterflies-in-tamil-nadu/article30606125.ece

Common Tinsel in Yercaud Hills

Team from TNBS has participated in the Birds and Butterflies Survey of Salem Forest Division during February 2020, and recorded Common Tinsel– a Lycaenid which is usually sighted from the Western Ghats. This significant find was one of the highlights of the survey with respect to butterfly, and is well represented in the Survey news published by papers and on-line media.

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In News Seminar on Birds and Butterflies. PSG CAS Eco-club. Coimbatore

Eco club of PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore has organised a two day seminar on Birds and Butterflies to their members and other students along with CNS. Mr. A Pavendhan from TNBS has presented the topic on Butterflies as well as on the biodiversity of Coimbatore district.

The two days program was well received.

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From the Facebook Pages...

Malayan by Nagaraj Latha

Dark Pierrot by Devika Devi

Medus Brown by Sadheeskumar K

Common Jay by Mithun Kumar

Monkey Puzzle by Rohini Ramalingam

Silverstreak Blue by Prakash Gururajan

Common Sailer by Amol Mande

Banded Royal by Vinod Sadasivan PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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From the Facebook Pages...

Dark Grass Blue by Subraja Narasimhan

Common Evening Brown by Darshan M Trivedi

Wax Dart by Madhan Kumar

Commander by Rajesh Ramnarayan

Nilgiri Clouded Yellow by Jee Jeevith

Dark Ceylon Six-Lineblue by Theivaprakasham H

Yellow Pansy by Madhu Jagadish

Fulvous Pied Flat by Pavendhan A PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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From the Facebook Pages...

Dark Palm-Dart by Sundara Manickam

Common Lineblue by Vishwa Nathan

Lemon Pansy by Edward Gnanaraj

Forget-me-not by Gopal Krishnan

Common Baron by Muthalagan Dev

Pointed Ciliate Blue by Kalmadi Rajiv

Plains Cupid by Rasiga Mani

Common Sailer by Sekaran Sridhar PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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From the Facebook Pages...

Nilgiri Clouded Yellow by Yashwanth

Yellow Pansy by Ravi Raj

Blank Swift by Elavarasan Malaiyappan

Small Branded Swift by Prawin Ap

White Four-ring by Bhupathi Vignesh

Common Silverline by Balaji Vijay

Dark Cerulean by CV Nishanth

Peacock Pansy by Vijay Rj PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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From the Facebook Pages...

Monkey Puzzle by Hema Mohandas

Commo Castor by Gokul Vadivel

Tawny Coster by Balaji Balachandran

Small Branded Swift by Merlin Selvan

Chocolate Albatross by Vijayakumar Ramamoorthy

Red Pierrot by Um Vi

Forget-me-not by NV Thirumoorthy

Common Baron by Ramamurthy Ram PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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From the Facebook Pages...

Common Banded Peacock by Muniraj Palanisamy

Common Evening Brown by Syed Kaleel

Malabar Tree Nymph by Tejaswini Mankar

Striped Tiger by Sathya K Selvam

Chestnut Angle by Samson Kirubakaran

Common Jezebel by Arun Kumar

Common Pierrot by Sun Raja

Tawny Coster by Vignesh Kalirajan PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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From the Facebook Pages...

Transparent Pierrot by Murugesh Nateshan

Common Pierrot by Sekar Ps

Pea Blue by Subhash Jeyan

Rama Neelamegam by Danaid Eggfly

Spot Swordtail by Aravind Aathi

Common Evening Brown by Navin Joseph

Common Mormon by Chetan H Joshi

Crimson Rose by Soundar Ells PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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From the Facebook Pages...

Large Oakblue by Hari

Chestnut-streaked Sailer by Ramanasaran Hari

Gram Blue by Ramesh Thiyagarajan

Monkey Puzzle by Pamela Sai

Madras Ace by Sravan Kumar K

Common Jezebel by Gandhi Sankar

Silverstreak Blue by Lakshmi Kumar

Common Map by Kovai Sathishkumar Krishnamoorthy PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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From the Facebook Pages...

Danaid Eggfly by Geetha Mani

Common Tinsel by Franklin Sukumar

Chestnut Angle by H Byju

Tamil Yeoman by Nedya S

Malabar Flash by Vinod Sadasivan

Red-disc Bushbrown by Kalmadi Rajiv

Plane by Franklin Sukumar

Tree Fitter by Makesh Kumar PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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Back Issues

Back Issues From the first issue released on Jan 1, 2017, we have released 14 issues so far including current issue, every quarter, and all the back volumes may be found in the following link: https://sites.google.com/view/tamilnadubutterflies/

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Great Orange-tip - Hebomoia glaucippe PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 4 VEINS 2

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