A night at Nandi Hills

Here are some pictures of the trees and of the moth (?) that landed up at our hotel room doorstep from a night in November that we spent at Nandi Hills

 

New beginnings - in the Chennai garden Sept 2013

Chennai garden - July 2013

Every time I go home, I find something interesting in the garden. This time, aside from the usual lovely butterflies, there was this little mango sapling that had come out of a seed that my mother had sown after eating off the fruit.

Karanji Lake - Mysore

 

The Karanji lake was quite a delight to walk around. It was very well maintained and hosted many trees and plants along the pathway.

There was a 'bird exhibit' - a large area with a net that was quite high that housed many different types of peafowls. There were atleast 10 peacocks, many displaying their striking plumage. There were also some really elegant black swans.

 

 

We walked along the path and came to a viewing platform that gave a rather good view of the lake. It was interesting to just hang out there and gaze at the water surface, observing all the bird and fish activity.

There was an area devoted to flowering plants that would attract butterflies, and indeed we did see quite a few .. particularly the blue tiger, common Mormon and the striped tiger.

 

 

The water was full of hyacinths at a corner and we got to see the purple hyacinth flower.

 

 

 

Swarms of butterflies descend on the park

From 'The Hindu', March 25th 2013

From the outside, the Defence Colony Park in Indiranagar looks quite ordinary with cement chairs, cobbled stone paths and a number of flowering trees. However, the park is a visual treat inside, with large swarms of butterflies gathering as part of their migratory route.

The winged visitors are not immediately visible when you enter the park but you go a little further in, you will see the swarms of delicate wings flutter by.

The most common are the Dakhan Dark Blue Tiger (Tirumala septentrionis dravidarum) and the Double-Branded Black Crow (Euploea sylvester coreta).

The other species that have swarmed the park are the Oriental Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace exoticus) and Indian Common Crow (Euploea core core).

This pattern of migration is seen every year with a sudden increase in the number of butterflies seen in Bangalore around March. “This is for the first time that we are watching butterflies in the Defence Colony in such large numbers. They can be seen on ground in the morning and start flying higher up by afternoon,” said Rame Gowda, a resident here for the last 20 years.

According to Krushnamegh Kunte, professor at the National Centre of Biological Sciences (NCBS) here, this occurrence seen in parks and other densely foliaged areas all over Bangalore is because of the migratory patterns of butterflies.

These beautiful butterflies migrate from the plains of south India to the southern parts of the Western Ghats before the monsoon in October or November. They then breed in the mountains and the progeny migrate back to the plains post-monsoon in March and May.

Dr. Kunte’s group is studying the effects of monsoon on the population biology of the Dakhan Blue Tiger and the Double Branded Black Crow.

I came across this magnificent bee hive on one of the branches. It was truly amazing to see the intricate lattice pattern of this home. See if you can click on the picture and observe the details.

Butterfly in the garden

the common mormon

Trees, plants and more :-)

Indeed the Senmozhi Poonga had it all.. Here is the 'kalyana murukku' - erythrina indica with its interesting bark.






















Then there was the lac tree. It is not the tree itself that generates the lac, but an insect that is attracted to the tree.

I loved the patch of  jatropha duckfoot , it had butterflies flitting all over, just about as many as i saw in the butterfly garden in Bannerghatta.

Then there was the champa - plumeria/frangipani with its serene white flowers.

The lovely smelling lavender and the spectacular passionflower

This one i have not identified yet.

Caterpillar

This caterpillar on my ixora plant did not have a chance to grow out into a butterfly. It simply vanished one morning.. prey to the pigeons perhaps?

The common albatross?

Caterpillar

The detail on the body of this caterpillar was quite nice.. The white and red pattern leads me to think it is the caterpillar of the female common mormon butterfly, that mimics the crimson/common rose.