Best Photo of 2008

Here are the Best Photo of 2008 by members of ButterflyIndia. Click on the image for full size.

Two Common Mime (Papilio clytia) butterflies are on the Jatropha pandurifolia.Photographed at B.Garden/Howrah, West Bengal
PARTHA PRATIM SAHA [parthapratim.sh@gmail.com]

A Common Silverline is resting on a leaf against dark background. I like its wing texture. Shot at Howrah.
PARTHA PRATIM SAHA [parthapratim.sh@gmail.com]

Pea Blue on buds. The blurred background makes it perfect. Shot at Kolkata.
PARTHA PRATIM SAHA [parthapratim.sh@gmail.com]

This butterfly picture was taken in "Bauxa tiger reserve forest". I enjoyed the company of this punchinello for some minutes when it sits on my finger. One of the most beautiful MOMENT.
apollo hell frost [apollohellfrost@yahoo.co.in]

This one is taken in late afternoon in "Bauxa tiger reserve forest".
apollo hell frost [apollohellfrost@yahoo.co.in]

This spotted swordtail I shot near Vihar Lake, SGNP-Mumbai.
During the hot season of summer, when the B.flies gather for mud puddling, this beauty was seen sitting at the same place for quite long time. But, while sucking the minerals from the dump soil, it was discharging a kind of liquid from its vent. That is the query I have, along with proposing it as the photo of the year.
Rajesh Sachdev [leopardguy@gmail.com]

This was clicked in this monsoon at Yeoor
Yuwaraj Gurjar. [yuwarajg@yahoo.com]

Shot this at SGNP in the month of Oct.The day was gloomy but at this perticular moment sun peeped out from coluds an allowed me to get this shot.
Nikon D50, Sigma 70-300 apo macro.
avinash sant [avinashsant@yahoo.com]

Got this rare butterfly in Sikkim's Butterfly Park [under construction] at Rangrang. Protected under the Wildlife Protection Act [1972] on Scheule 1, this dainty butterfly enjoys the same status as the Tiger or Elephant.

Usha Lachungpa was there when we almost overlooked this butterfly perched motionless, despite so many BNHS Members flocking to see this rare find.

Isaac Kehimkar [isaackehimkar@yahoo.co.in]


This Butterfly is very known to you all, (Spot Swordtail). This photo was taken in Mumbai SGNP.

Special about it is------- This is first Butterfly I photographed by my First Digital camera (SAMSUNG S630 6mpx 3X) which I purchased this year only.

While capturing it---------- I got fascinated as I saw it, and ran after it to capture photo... it was afternoon time and the sword was flanking in air very flexibly. I was really chasing it like mad. I had tried to go very slowly, I jumped, I ran, I waited and many more after long period of trials I finally got a shot of this butterfly seating 10 feets away from me, and with my handycam I was unable to zoom to get clear and closer picture. So finally I satisfied my self with a distant photo in which butterfly was not recognisable easily. Nearly after 1hr and 1.5 km (approx.) of I got tired and started walking towards gate to search other things.

God's Grace ------ And What a surprise! Swortail was seating right in front of me with open winged posture. And that was the time I Clicked it patiently for my more surprise the butterfly was there for 2-3 minutes. I clicked First Butterfly Photo Very Clearly in My Life.

So I would like to present it as MY PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2008

Sachin Chorge [sachinvch@gmail.com]

My interest in Lepidoptera is very recent and certainly I do not have as big a collection of images as you all do. Partha, those are some stunning images! I must say. Here's one image of the Emigrant that has found a special place in my heart.

Lavannya [lgoradia@yahoo.co.uk]


Here is my 2nd best and favourite picture of 2008.
This picture is close to me as it captures for me the moment when I first came across butterflies roosting together. They were hanging from the shrub like leaves from a branch! And despite their strong colour, these butterflies had perfectly blended into the background. I noticed them while I was photographing a Lycaenid nearby. This was shot early morning in early winter of this year in the 'wasteland' near my home.
I took this shot at some distance as I did not want to disturb the butterflies. This image has been cropped and auto adjusted-mainly to compensate for the low light conditions.

JANAKI TURAGA [janakituraga@yahoo.com]

2008 was a great year for me as far as shooting of butterflies is concerned as I made it to Duars Butterfly meet with lots of new species along with coming to Hyderabad on transfer & exploring many new areas. It was a year when I really took to shooting of Butterflies.
Seen here is Tiny Grass Blue (Zizula gaika) with Preying Mantis on Croton bonplandianus in Hyderabad, AP on 13/9/08. What's interesting I couldn't see the Preying Mantis even though taking many shots. I realised it only after I saw it on my computer. Preying Mantis is yet to be identified.

J.M. Garg [jmgarg1@gmail.com]


Here is my contribution which is simply amaturish.
Firstly i am learning both - butterflys and photography as well !
This picture was taken at Bhimashanker and it was so amusing
to myself only running after this Danaid Eggfly to settle------
and at last managed to capture it.My first butterfly picture.

bindu kapadia [bindukapadia@yahoo.co.in]


Vindhyan bob Arnetta vindhiana Wet Season Form.
Clicked at SGNP, Mumbai on 30 Aug 08.

amol patwardhan [power_amol@yahoo.com]

As we climbed down the Tikona fort hill, balancing with the tripod in one hand and the photography equipment, we came near small water stream.
Under the trees, close to the stream, this lovely butterfly was sitting on the Sonki flower in the sun. The golden light transformed this butterfly into a beautiful ornament.
I threw my tripod aside and held the camera and lens as tight as possible to reduce the shake and took the 5 images with manual focus till the butterfly allowed.
The butterfly is Leptosia Nina (Psyche).

Vivek Kale [vivekkale_pune@yahoo.co.in]


The image of this beautiful tiny butterfly was taken near the backwaters of Chasskaman dam near Bhimashankar. This time I got the ample time to use my tripod and remote.
One of my very few images of butterflies taken using tripod and remote.(Angled Pierrot Caleta Caleta). The image was taken using Canon EOS 350 D with Sigma 150 mm macro lens.

Vivek Kale [vivekkale_pune@yahoo.co.in]

Clicked this at Jayanti ( Buxa Tiger Reserve ) during WB_Butterflyindia meet in March 2008.
This was my 1st click of the meet with my new camera ( bought just before the BF_Meet )
Panasonic DMC FZ18 hence a special one for me !

Rahul Natu [gogreenfull@gmail.com]

Common grass yellow maiting.
Shot it at Kotdwar. Last month at a National Photography competetion 2008, this photo was selected as best in butterfly/insect category.

bhumesh bharti [bhumeshbharti@yahoo.com]

A couple of my shots that i took, during the Chakrata Meet.

Photo 1: A punch caught by a crab spider. Taken at the Forest guest house in Chakrata. Sorry about the use of flash, i hate it, but then this photo required it.

Mihir Chhatre [cmihirhere@gmail.com]

Photo 2: A white bordered copper. Very beautiful.

Mihir Chhatre [cmihirhere@gmail.com]

Rajib Rudra Tariang [rajibento@yahoo.co.in]

Rajib Rudra Tariang [rajibento@yahoo.co.in]

Rajib Rudra Tariang [rajibento@yahoo.co.in]

This was taken on 4th day of the ButterflyIndia Meet 2008, West Bengal. It was in the stream near Sunthanekhola. After a long walk we reached the stream, and we were to break for lunch. While exploring the stream boulders I saw this small butterfly, for a distance of about 10 feet and thought looks something interesting. I tried approaching it and it flew off and settled about 25-30 feet. Again I tried approaching and the same thing happened. After about 12-14 times, I was also not willing to leave it, since it looks different and something I have not see. Finally either the Butterfly got tired or I got better in approaching, but I could get a close up of this butterfly and later identified it as Blue Tit (Chliaria kina).

Vijay Barve [vijay.barve@gmail.com]


It was almost 2 years I was searching Black Rajah. I visit Yeoor in Thane numerous times for Black Rajah and Tawny Rajah. But every time i was unlucky. and couldnt photographed the Rajahs. Im september this year during Ganesh Festival I was staying in my Grandpas village. Two days before that it was raining quit heavily there. But on that day to my surprise i found bright sunshine. and to add to my surprise near my Grandpas House I watched 3-4 Black Rajahs and 4-5 Common Nawabs along with 1 Silverstreak Blue.I was almost speechless watching those beauties. I havd searched for them for almost 2 years and when there thaought was not in my mind i got lots of them at one place. and i got very good snaps of them with outstanding background.

Rohan Lovalekar [lovalekar.rohan@yahoo.in]


Day was really special because i saw some strange behaviour from Black Rajah. It was throwing out some thing from its mouth parts. I domy know what that thing exactly was. I was able to photographed that. But couldnt found what exactly butterfly was doing.

Rohan Lovalekar [lovalekar.rohan@yahoo.in]


Photo 003
On same day at same place I photographed Common Nawab from below and got one memorable image of it. The day was indeed one of the best in my Butterflying days.

Rohan Lovalekar [lovalekar.rohan@yahoo.in]


Tree Nimph from Koodaranhi, kerala
(See more shots http://www.flickr.com/photos/baby_kunnikulangara/)

baby [babykunnikulangara@gmail.com]


Redspot from Karuvarakundu, Kerala

baby [babykunnikulangara@gmail.com]

African Babul Blue Mating-2:
Taken at Vanastalipuram Deer park Hyderabad on 13-09-08, 10.20am thst day lot
of mating activity of Common leopards, Emigrants, Grass yellows, plain tigers
being observed

kalluri subramanyam [kalluri_sub@yahoo.co.in]

Common Leopard-DN_1:
Shot at Anantagiri forest 100 km away from Hyderabad on 20-04-08 arround 12.15
pm

kalluri subramanyam [kalluri_sub@yahoo.co.in]

Gram Blue_UP-1:
Shot at Agricultual University-Hyderabad on 20-07-08 arround 8.30 am.

all are take with Panasonic DMC FZ50

kalluri subramanyam [kalluri_sub@yahoo.co.in]

This year,2008 was great for me as far as butterflies are concerned. This all are taken in Jayanti, Bauxa tiger reserve forest in the month of November. i got that Commander easily.

apollo hell frost [apollohellfrost@yahoo.co.in]

But that Sawtooth wasn't piece of cake.

apollo hell frost [apollohellfrost@yahoo.co.in]
The Map butterfly did the same to me precisely except it came to me at last. i had spend very nice time with them during shooting. cant explain that feeling in words. I used Sony DSC-S650 cybershot.

apollo hell frost [apollohellfrost@yahoo.co.in]

Common Rose
Taken at Baghmara in Meghalaya. I was in Meghalaya with Krushnamegh Kunte. And i was so excited to got opportunity to go with him. And it was first morning of our trip and we got this beauty along the road. the light was really marvelous so was the back ground. And both of us got splendid shots of this common but very beautifull butterfly.
Rohan Lovalekar [lovalekar.rohan@yahoo.in]

Marbled Map
This was taken in the same trip. We were in the Balpakram Tiger Reserve in Meghalaya. We were walking along the stream. And Krushnamegha suddenly shouted Marbled Map. At first i was not aware what he was talking about. But after few seconds i saw one Marbled Map mudpuddling. We were trying to photograph that but it was not settling at one place. It was flying here and there as if it was teasing us. On one occasion it settled some steps ahead of us. Krushnamgh was aout to take photograph when i moved my feet unaware of fact it would fly. and it did. Krushnamegh was bit angry on me as that was prized catch for him also. He had not photographed it till that date.He didnt say many words but he just screamed Rohaaaaaaaaannnnn. I was upset a bit after that. And i was preying in my mind please god give us second chance.. And He did exactly that. We got splendid shots on same day. Krushnamegh was so hapy after that and me too. I think Krushnamegh had posted images of the same in August
Rohan Lovalekar [lovalekar.rohan@yahoo.in]

Mudpuddling Butterflies
On the same day along the same stream we saw this buuterflies mudpuddling. But i got only one photo with my 70-300.
Rohan Lovalekar [lovalekar.rohan@yahoo.in]

When we were driving up to Mayodia Pass this beauty fluttered away speedily as our vehicle approached. I was disappointed at not getting a good look at it. On our return journey I stopped at the same spot and there was this solitary White Dragontail (Lamproptera curius) puddling.
After a few starts this guy settled ingested and expelled water in jets every 4 secs

Rajneesh Suvarna [rajneeshsuvarna@gmail.com]

This is a photograph which is my favourite and for this moment-my best. It captures a personal moment of nature's wonders, and a part of a 'wasteland' ecosystem.

With the very basic photographic equipment that I have, butterfly photography is limited for me. Despite that, I try to record what I see.

The lycaenid -Forget Me Not, in this photograph is very common in the 'wasteland' near my home. I was able to photograph this butterfly early winter of this year, in early morning when the butterfly had just begun to bask in the sun. The morning sun rays highlighted the wing pattern of the butterly from the otherside which I found enchanting and there was the peek into the 'blue' of the otherside!!! For me it was amazing that the butterfly had two distinct delicate colour palettes without running into each other and both were so very contrastingly different!

The 2nd part of the collage is the same butterfly with the wings open! Beautiful colour!

This is the magic of nature-wings closed the butterfly almost disappears and when wings open it is a flash of colour before disappearing again or staying on for a brief while. While flying it is tough to determine what colour this butterfly really is-for lay people. So it is a very intriguing butterfly as well!

And may I take this opportunity to compliment the rest of the photographers in this group for their awesome photographs. Thanks for posting them-it has been a great joy and learning to see your photographs.

JANAKI TURAGA [janakituraga@ yahoo.com]

Here is a photograph of Banana Skipper or Palm Red Eye (Erionota thrax).
I was searching this butterfly species from 2007. Some of our Kolkata team members had sighted it twice at Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary, Kolkata and was able to take the photograph. After a long wait, just two days ago, on 19th December morning I got the chance, when it came to my house and settled on the window (Dist. Howrah, West Bengal). I was really shocked after seeing this (it’s really a big sized skipper), but somehow managed to take the photograph.
Another important thing is that, this is the first photograph of a butterfly species that I clicked with my new DSLR.
This is my best photo of the year 2008.
Rudraprasad Das [rudra_butterfly@yahoo.com]

Had a rather difficult time choosing the picture that i liked the most because there were so many interesting pictures this year shot at ultapani and namdapha. (i have managed to post only half of them).

The first choice would be the small green awlet which we got at namdapha. Arjan had managed to get 2 quick shots of this little green wonder at 5.30 am near the deban guest house before it fled and never returned. The next morning we all went looking for it no luck, ditto for them morning after. the third morning i did not go searching for it and i mentally joked that if it was in my luck it would come to our where we stay.

So when i went out i rather sleepy eyed the next morning I saw, it just outside our room and stayed for a good 20 minutes before it went away then it came again all the others too got a good share of photos of this awlet.
Nelson Rodrigues [nelexl@yahoo.com]

The second pix which i liked v much was the chocolate albatross i thought it looked very charming perched on a leaf .
Nelson Rodrigues [nelexl@yahoo.com]

Orange Oakleaf
Rajneesh Suvarna [rajneeshsuvarna@gmail.com]

Red lacewing
Rajneesh Suvarna [rajneeshsuvarna@gmail.com]


Rohini Deshpande [rohiniad@gmail.com]In the fag end of the year I visited Sirunvani falls near Coimbatore. My husband took me there since I was very keen to see the butterflies there. I got only few hours to run behind the butterflies but I could spot nearly 20 species including my first sighting of Southern birdwing, Red Helen & White four ring. It was my best butterfly spotting day! The Common Bluebottle was mud puddling near the falls. The Suffused Snow flat was basking in the sun at around 4pm on the way back.
Rohini Deshpande [rohiniad@gmail.com]

Cruiser-Vindula erota-My friend Premkrishnan and I had a wonderful butterflying at Kallar
forests during 21st December.The day was filled with basking and mudpuddling beauties
Cruiser was very active.It was sitting on leaf top and basking.Really a feast for our eyes.
Susanth C [susanth.c@gmail.com]

Blue bottle and Common Jay- This face to face mud puddling scene was also taken from
Kallar during 5th April 2008.We (Premkrishnan,Varun and I) were resting near the stream
after observing activities in a Grey-headed Bulbul's nest in the reed thickets.
The butterflies were active near the wet sand.I was focusing a Common Jay taking a close up
of view of it.Suddenly a Blue Bottle rushed the place and i saw it through my camera and
clicked it.
Susanth C [susanth.c@gmail.com]

Eggs of Palm King-Sandex butterly enthusiast and my friend called me and inform
me he found the egg laying of Palmking.At first i cant believe it.Next day i visited Thenmala
and the eggs of Palmking.I take this recordical sighting with excitement.
I am grateful to Sandex for give me an opportuinity to take this rare pic of palmking eggs.
Susanth C [susanth.c@gmail.com]

This apefly was photographed at Ponmudi Hills in southern western ghats.
This was one of the thirty or more Apeflies that were flying about some croton plants,laiden with aphids and apefly larvae and pupae.I particularly like the flow of greens and yellows in the background and the wing pattern of this insect which resembles crows flying in the sky and sunrays!
kalesh s [kaleshs2002in@yahoo.com]


Nyctemera coleta is a rare occurrence in South India, as per Peter
Smetacek and Prof K Gunathilraj. Probably the first photographic
record is by myself in November 2004 in Bhadra WLS. The next record is
by Julie Valsarajan (Coorg, October 2008).

Imagine if you see this on a morning walk in Lalbagh Botanical Gardens
(Bangalore)! It took me some time to recognize because it wouldn't
settle, but I lost it immediately afterwards. I was searching for it,
and explained to my 3-years old son Iravan what I am looking for. He
is a good spotter at his age, and within 2 minutes he found it out for
me again. His excitement "Papa there is the moth! There is moth!" set
that guy to flight again, but this time I didn't lose my sight and
finally could photograph the rarity!

Kousik Nandy [kousiknandy@gmail.com]