Re: Padfield
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:56 pm
We arrived in India last night. While the kids were sleeping off their jet-lag, I got up early this morning and wandered the streets of Mumbai looking for places where I might find a few butterflies. It was a glorious day and I had a magical time. Indians watched in fascination as I knelt down in the streets or muddy tracks and despite there being so many of them they were far more respectful than a lot of Swiss and didn't get in the way of my taking pictures. Along grassy tracks (Google Earth was essential to find such things within walking distance of the hotel) I was able to find several blues, including Zizeeria karsandra, Leptotes plinius and Euchrysops cnejus. These pictures (in that order) have only been processed on my iPad, which is all I brought - I'll reprocess when I get back to Switzerland.
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/karsandra1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/plinius1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/cnejus12001.jpg)
Common grass yellows, Eurema hecabe, were numerous:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/hecabe1201.jpg)
Beautiful yellow orange tips, Ixias pyrene, were conspicuous but I couldn't get a photo, and the Psyche, Leptosia nina, was everywhere but never seemed to stop. This butterfly is closely related to the wood white and has similar behaviour on the wing, dithering and almost settling, then settling a moment, then off... I got some poor pictures last time I was in India.
Common crows, Euploea core, were zooming all over the place and I never saw one stop. This is an unrelated mimic, Hypolimnas bolina, photographed with the phone at lunchtime through the hotel window ...
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/bolina1201.jpg)
Other things I did manage to photograph included a common albatross, Appias albina, a common castor, Ariadne merione and a Danaid eggfly, Hypolimnas misippus, mimicking a plain tiger, this last right in the busy streets of Mumbai. I risked my life for those pictures!
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/albina1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/merione1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/misippus1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/misippus1202.jpg)
In the afternoon we had a fascinating tour of the slums on foot, lasting about two and a half hours. We couldn't take cameras, quite properly, as a matter of privacy, but there were very few butterflies there anyway among that incredible density of humanity and industry.
I saw about fifteen species today in total - or at least, I identified about fifteen species - including, in addition to those above, several swallowtails, other Danaids and Catopsilia whites. Not huge - but not bad for downtown Mumbai.
Guy
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/karsandra1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/plinius1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/cnejus12001.jpg)
Common grass yellows, Eurema hecabe, were numerous:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/hecabe1201.jpg)
Beautiful yellow orange tips, Ixias pyrene, were conspicuous but I couldn't get a photo, and the Psyche, Leptosia nina, was everywhere but never seemed to stop. This butterfly is closely related to the wood white and has similar behaviour on the wing, dithering and almost settling, then settling a moment, then off... I got some poor pictures last time I was in India.
Common crows, Euploea core, were zooming all over the place and I never saw one stop. This is an unrelated mimic, Hypolimnas bolina, photographed with the phone at lunchtime through the hotel window ...
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/bolina1201.jpg)
Other things I did manage to photograph included a common albatross, Appias albina, a common castor, Ariadne merione and a Danaid eggfly, Hypolimnas misippus, mimicking a plain tiger, this last right in the busy streets of Mumbai. I risked my life for those pictures!
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/albina1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/merione1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/misippus1201.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/misippus1202.jpg)
In the afternoon we had a fascinating tour of the slums on foot, lasting about two and a half hours. We couldn't take cameras, quite properly, as a matter of privacy, but there were very few butterflies there anyway among that incredible density of humanity and industry.
I saw about fifteen species today in total - or at least, I identified about fifteen species - including, in addition to those above, several swallowtails, other Danaids and Catopsilia whites. Not huge - but not bad for downtown Mumbai.
Guy