Best Photo of 2007

Here are the Best Photo of 2007 by members of ButterflyIndia. Click on the image for full size.

Nelson Rodrigues
nelexl @ yahoo.com

I think i liked this picture of the twany rajah
shot at the butterfly india meet at AP the best.
Because generally the twany rajah is quite an elusive
butterfly in mumbai and i was fortunate to enjoy the
pleasure of its company on my left hand for more than
15 minutes.

Oranage Awlet - Tight Close up At Nagla 19th Aug 2007
Yuwaraj Gurjar
yuwarajg @ yahoo.com


Moorce Ace - on Canon 350D At Yeoor 2nd Sept 2007
Yuwaraj Gurjar
yuwarajg @ yahoo.com


Tawny Rajah at Yeoor on February 2007
Santosh Petkar
santosh_petkar1968 @ yahoo.com


Tailed Jay - Vikhroli, Mumbai 21st Oct 2007
Aruns hm
prarun_2 @ hotmail.com


Vidya Rao
vidyalovesnature @ gmail.com

This is my favourite for the year 2007.. Got this beauty in Eastern Ghats butterfly Meet . Papikonda WLS, Andhra Pradesh
This bfly was talk of the town in the meet. Every1 in the group got a full frame shot but Vijay missed it as he was shooting one very beautiful green damselfly just next to it.... We all were in knee deep stream clicking this beauty............
It made our day and we all returned bac quite contented


Amol Patwarshan
power_amol@yahoo.com
Leaf Blue Amblypodia anita at Phansad WLS, Raigad on 27 Jan 2007 I was actually waiting for Map to arrive but there was feast around. There were many butterflies, birds around.

Abhijit
abhijit.avalaskar@gmail.com
*Red-eye* - At Yeoor - 9th Sept 2007

Abhijit
abhijit.avalaskar@gmail.com
*Blue oakleaf - *At Yeoor - 9th Sept 2007

Abhijit
abhijit.avalaskar@gmail.com
*Common Baron - *At Matheran - 9th Nov 2007.


Arjan Basu Ray
naturemates@yahoo.com
This two are my most favourites for the year 2007.. Got these beauty in Eastern Ghats butterfly Meet . Papikonda WLS, Andhra Pradesh
the first one (Black Raja) we got in the day after the last day, when almost everybody were gone. me nelson rudra are the few lucky one to got this image beside a straem.

Arjan Basu Ray
naturemates@yahoo.com
the second one (Orange Oakleaf) was the same specimen that of vidya, her was open wing and mine the closed wing. we all were excited after getting this. on that day we were very lucky to get one stream glory also which Vidya mentioned in her story as Vijay's pick.


Santosh Gavali
sdgavali@yahoo.co.in

Santosh Gavali
sdgavali@yahoo.co.in


Santosh Gavali
sdgavali@yahoo.co.in



J.M. Garg
jmgarg1@gmail.com
Common Yellow Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) Though, it's difficult to point out which is the best in 2007, I am choosing this one. First, it has so much of details & is so beautiful. Second, it was really difficult to get a patient shot with this butterfly as it's very fast & constantly moving. Finally, because I saw a children's pictorial book at Oxford, devoted on this particular butterfly, illustrating all stages of a butterfly from egg-laying to its emergence, in brief. I was so thrilled to capture this beauty in all its details. Shot was taken in May'07 in Himachal during Sar Pass Trek.

Katie Bagli
katiebagli@yahoo.co.in

My best pic of 2007 is of the very common Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace). It was in the month of November, at the Swan Country Club near Yewoor, Thane. There were hundreds of milkweed butterflies, all scrambling in a frenzied manner to get as much of the coveted alkaloids as possible, from the Crotolaria plants.

It was really fascinating to watch them, all of them with their proboscis unfurled, gorging away.

Naseer Ommer
naseerommer@gmail.com
confused about which one to be added but this image is of importance because on a recent visit (Flickr Meet @ Vagamon) we witnessed an area , mostly marshy n full of tall trees n shrubs, full of this species, resting on tree tops. Don't know whether this is part of a migratory group. Vagamon is a high altitude area in Idukki district of Kerala (similiar to Munnar) n there were more than 5000 of them. Many of us fotographed the scene and many have better captures than self. can somebody educate me about this ??? a sort of migration or is it somethingelse???

Isaac Kehimkar
isaackehimkar@yahoo.co.in

REGAL APOLLO (Parnassius charltonius) Photographed in Ladakh at 12000 ft in Hemis National Park, Ladakh (J&K).

Krushnamegh Kunte
krushnamegh@mail.utexas.edu
after a trip to the NE this year it is impossible to pick one image (or 10 or even 100!) as my favourite. but i am sending one that has a story associated with it. check out rafeek, and an Orange Oakleaf (Kallima inachus) sitting on his hand. nice, eh? now check what's hovering over his head! i noticed this black & white butterfly in this picture just a few days ago. i was excited about this because this butterfly (pictures at the bottom), as it turns out, has a very strange pattern, nothing like anything in any books i have. my best guess is that if it is not an aberrant Blackvein Sergeant (Athyma ranga), then it is a new species. in any case, i think i took rafeek's picture before we were even aware of this butterfly. imagine if rafeek's picture had been the only evidence of its existence there! a fascinating thought!!


Kedat Bhat
kedarvbhat@yahoo.com
Paris peacock shot at Salim Ali bird sanctuary, Kerala



Avinash Sant
avinashsant@yahoo.com
One was made in early months of 07 where two Swordtails are mating & the third one is trying hard


Avinash Sant
avinashsant@yahoo.com
Was shot last Sunday at SGNP, the mating attempt of Common Jezibel




Rahul Natu
gogreenfull@gmail.com
Vagrant ( Issoria sinha sinha ) Clicked during Butterfly India meet in the Eastern Ghats near a stream


Rahul Natu
gogreenfull@gmail.com
image of 7 nawabs in a frame is my another good click during
the EG meet '07.
Balakrishnan Valappil
balakrishnan_valappil@yahoo.com

The attached picture,which I rate as my best butterfly picture,was shot at my houseand it was a newly emerged limebutterflyit was a heavily raining morning, no sunshine at allafter making some shots from the otherside of the plamleafi turned face to face with the butterfly and the moment I looked through the viewfinderit still haunts me

Anoop Anand A
anoop_anand@infosys.com
Orchid Tit at Maredumilli

Anoop Anand A
anoop_anand@infosys.com
Cupids in Love at Maredumilli



Rudraprasad Das
rudra_butterfly@yahoo.com
The photographs of Falcate Oakblue (Mahathala ameria) are my best from the lot. Although they are not very crispy one, but they gave me great pleasure when I photographed it. The photographs were taken from Jaipur area of Howrah District, West Bengal (3-4 m MSL).

K.Rafeek

k_rafeek66@yahoo.co.uk

I was at my favourite place in Kerala, Edamalayar during the past few days to capture my favourite picture!! So pls excuse my late response!!

The Malabar flash-Rapala lankana was on my look out for a long time ever since I saw it at Akkulam, Trivandrum a some years back.

Ravi Vaidyanathan ravi.vaidyanathan@gmail.com
This butterfly... a lifer for me... was seen on one of the very dense undergowth in Bhagwantgad in Konkan... on a trek

did not expect any lifers in this trip and hence it was a real surprise to get a new butterfly addition to the list......and too at the fag end of the year 2007



Ravi Vaidyanathan ravi.vaidyanathan@gmail.com
Caught this guy after a lot of patience at Phansad in January 2007,
nearly a year back..remains one of my faveriote butterflies


kalluri subramanyam kalluri_sub@yahoo.co.in
Lime Butterfly taken on 07-10-2007 at Narsapur forest 50km from Hyderabad while a group of about 10 are mud pudling arround 11.00 AM.





Sajeev TK isajeev@yahoo.com

Here are two best shots of 2007 from me. Both these were shot at Perumbalam an Island near Ernakulam. in Sptember. The Psyche was on Cleome gynandra pant probably the food palnt for its caterpillars. The Grass Yellow was on Ocimum sanctum.

In both the cases I saw the attempts of other males trying to dislodge the already mated male in vain. In both the cases the female had just emerged from the pupal case you can see it is still sitting on it.

ronu ad rohiniad@yahoo.com

It is African Mallow/ Marbled Skipper. I liked the shades of brown in this picture.

This was the last butterfly picture I took in 2007 :( After this the huge field next to my home which housed more than 50 species of butterflies was cleared to make way for basketball/football courts. Most of the pictures of butterflies that I have taken http://www.flickr.com/photos/rohiniad/sets/72157594219834398/ were from this place. This place in Bangalore city was a heaven for butterflies. It had more butterflies than the Bangalore's butterfly park!

Since I haven't been living in India since a few years now and I visit only on short break I didn't have a huge collection of Indian Butterfly pix for 2007 to pick from, nonetheless I decided to share this one as my favourite for the year gone by.

I chose to share this image because it portrays yet another aspect in the life cycle of these beautiful creatures - as someone's meal.

The image shows the Clytia form (mimicing the Common Crow) of the Common Mime Butterfly (Papilio (Chilasa) clytia) being devoured by a Praying Mantis.


Dr.Sangeeta Dhanuka drsangeeta.dhanuka@gmail.com
This was my best photo of the year, first because i have never been
able to click this species, so restless it is . Secondly, I clicked
this in the very low evening light. trying to use all kinds of
settings, but failing everytime, while the butterfly kept moving from
one branch to another. Final attempt proved to be successful.

Clicked this at the Crocodile park at Chennai, on the first leg of our
recent Andamans trip


Animish Mandrekar nightjar6@gmail.com
First snap is from Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh. I was amazed by seeing the beauty Popinjay. I think the designs and patterns on our attire must have been copies by mankind from these beautiful creatures.


Animish Mandrekar nightjar6@gmail.com
The second snaps is taken from my very own backyard Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Captured this mimic while resting on wall in the heart of the forest.

More to come .... Keep visiting.

How to reach North Bengal Meet Site

Note: This is draft document and may undergo many changes over coming weeks.

Where is Jayanti and Samsing?

These are located near Jalpaiguri district of Upper West Bengal.
Nearest Railway Station - New Jalpaiguri and New Alipurduar
Samsing is a 2 hrs drive from NJP and Jayanti an hour drive from New Alipurduar
Nearest Airhead - Kolkata and Baghdogra
From Kolkata NJP is a journey of 15 hrs and new alipurduar 18 hrs.
From Bagdogra NJP is an hour far and Jayanti is a drive of 6 hrs.

How to reach ?

All participants have to report at New Alipurduar @ 11.00 Hrs on 16th March 2008.

New Alipurdaur (NOQ ) is on Kolkata - Guwahati route. Kolkatta team will take Saraighata Express on 15 march 2008 @ 16.00 Hrs. So participants are encouraged to book in the same train for Kolkatta.

As New Alipurduar is not a common place to go from southern or western india, There are very few trains from Mumbai, Bangalore and Trivandram etc. Its better to come to Kolkata by train or air and board train from here. Train to Kolkata are available daily from all the metro cities.

From Kolkata the following trains are available :

2345up Saraighat Express Departure from Howrah daily at 4 p.m and will reach new Alipurduar on the next day morning at 5.00 AM arround

3141up Tistatorsha Express Departure from Sealdah daily at 1.35 p.m and will reach new Alipurduar on the next day morning at 8.00 AM around

5959up Kamrup Express Departure from Howrah daily at 5.35 p.m and will reach new Alipurduar on the next day morning at 10.00 AM arround

For the return journey

Darjeling mail fro New Jalpaigudi (NJP) to Kolkata(HWH) on 21st March 2007.

Train leaving from New Jalpaiguri in the evening and will reach Kolkata by the next day morning. you can avail any connecting train from Kolkata to your home town after 3.00pm on 22nd March safely, or you can fly from Kolkata by some evening flights.

Note

You are welcome to plan other trips (Jaldapara, Gorumara, Buxa, Neora Valley, Singalila, or even Sikkim) outside the schedule of the meet and hence can plan for a longer duration vacation in the North West Bengal.

Invitation : ButterflyIndia Meet 2008

I am happy to invite you all to "ButterflyIndia Meet 2008". This year the meet is planned at Jayanti and Samsing in Northern West Bengal (More details on how reach will be posted soon). The meet is scheduled between 16-21st March 2008. This meet will be organised by ButterflyIndia and Nature Mates, Kolkata.

Primary objective of this post is to get a number, which will help in better planning. More details on formal registration will be made available in the due course.

The agenda of the meet is going to be full of field sessions and interactive sessions on topics related to butterflies like identification, conservation etc.

Anyone interested in serious butterflying is welcome for this meet. We expect them to be members of ButterflyIndia Yahoogroup.

To express your interest in this meeting please click on the link ( http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ButterflyIndia/database?method=addRecord&tbl=12 ) and enter the detail in the Yahoogroups database (You need to log in using yahoo id), or send an email to me .

Regular updates on the meet will be available here.