Flowering Trees: Red Silk Cotton Tree (शाल्मली / शेवर)

Flower of Red cotton silk tree

A large dark red/ magenta colored flower of "silk cotton tree" attracts every nature wanderer during summer trails. There exists a very similar species, white flowers is the sole difference. Flower with five petals blooms during spring months (January to March), while tree losses all its leaves as many other tree do. Many birds like drongo, jungle babbler, common crow etc. feed on the flowers. 


This native tree can grow up-to 30 m. Thorns on the stem and branches is its characteristic ID. Tree is largely famous as it bears its relation with a famous festival of Holi. In Konkan region, the decorated tree, decorated with Mango leaves and flowers, is worshiped.  Tree is then burnt in the night and Holi is celebrated. The availability of this tree is larger and confidently its leafless during the same month when Holi is celebrated. The fruits appear in the month of April may and has fiber inside. Often seen them flying with the hot summer winds. Fibers are used in the pillows by villagers. Wood is light and makes it use in building structures used in water. 

Quick Facts:

Common Name: Red Silk Cotton Tree (Sanskrit: शाल्मली / Marathi: शेवर)

Botanical Name: Bombax ceiba

Family: Baobab

Flowers: Large, red/magenta colored with 5 petals

Location on campus: All over academic area and hill side, a common tree.

Jungle Babbler feeding on Red Cotton Silk Tree

Wandering destination: Tungareshwar WLS

Cool water streams at Tungar WLS

Morning at Tungar WLS

Stunning destination for nature lovers. IT has something in every season. water falls and flowers in monsoon. Butterflies in pre and post monsoon season. Charming birds in winter season. Racket tailed drango, Asian Paradise flycatcher, Verditor are few notables.

To reach Tungar, take bus from Main gate to Andheri railway station. Frequent locals from Andheri drops u at Vasai road. Take share auto to "Tungar Phata" and then start walking towards WLS. Entrance is at about kilometer inside from the main road. No ticket is charged presently and no permission required for nature walk. One can either follow the water streams or the road. Another part of Tungar WLS is Chinchoti waterfall. Alight  at Naygaon station, catch share auto to reach Chicnhoti fata. 

Water stream, Chinchoti during December

Tungar WLS and Chichoti waterfall

Woods are lovely dark and deep.....Tungar WLS

Swapnil and Abhay sharing lite moents at Chichoti water fall

Wandering Destination : Matheran

Road to heaven?...Matheran

A famous tourist weekend destination and hill station. Pollution free zone due to some strict rules regarding vehicles and envioronment. Basically its a plateu at a height of about 1800 mt. Temperature in summer doesent go above 30 deg.cel. Pretty good destination for photography post-monsoon. Stunning waterfalls,  exquisite landscapes, mesmerizing fog, curvy roads, breath taking valleys, grand panoramas, drizzles, in short everything for memorable weekend. Birds in and after winter is good attraction.

We went there for butterflies three times in different season with different approaches. All the three trips proved miserable. Lifers for us was peacock royal sighting. Otherwise the common ones.

To reach Matheran, one can opt by-road option or peaceful local train option. Get down at "Neral" station and take a share taxi to Matheran. Toy train takes pretty long, about 1.5 hours. It may be fun post monsoon. During monsoon the train doesnt run due to land slide dangers. Taxi drops visitor at entrance. No vehicle is allowed further this point. Charge for Neral-matheran taxi is 60 Rs (March 12) and entrance ticket is 25 Rs (March 12). Parking charges as per vehicle type. 

Panoramic view of Matheran valley

Flowering Trees - Cannon Ball Tree ( नागचाफा / कैलासपती)

 

Flower of Canon Ball Tree

Bunch of flowers and fruit string

Second in the flowering Tree series, is the post on "canon ball tree". It is listed as rare tree and flower in India [1]. It grows up-to 80 ft high and flowers in around December. Flower has six petals. Reddish inside and yellowish outside. Tremendously aromatic and smell can be felt strongly in near-by area. Inside structure is horizontal "U" shape. This inner structure is the reason it is offered to Lord Shiva and hence name in Marathi, as some thinks.

This Brazilian native takes its English name due to characteristic canon-ball like shape of its fruits. Fruits have rusty colored hard shell and are heavy. Number of fruits are connected in string and tree bears them directly to the trunk. The Cannonball Tree possesses antibiotic, anti-fungal, antiseptic and analgesic qualities [2] and hence used for medical purpose.

Quick Facts:
Common Name: Canon Ball Tree
Botanical Name: Couroupita guianensis
Family: Barringtonia
Marathi Name: कैलासपती / नागचाफा/ नागलिंग
Location on campus: Only one in parking lot near staff club.

Flower close-up

Ref:

1. http://www.flowersofindia.in/catalog/slides/Cannon%20Ball%20Tree.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couroupita_guianensis

Flowering trees - Cassia fistula (बहावा)

grape bunches-like flowers

IIT Bombay hots many flowering trees, which are unusual to find in Mumbai city. This is the first article in the series of "flowering trees". The series will be covering details about some of impressive trees present on the campus. 

Tree for today is Cassia fistula, commonly known by Amaltaas / Golden shower tree or Indian Laburnum [1]. In Marathi it is named as 'Bahava' (बहावा). In Ayurvedic medicine, golden shower tree is known as aragvadha, meaning "disease killer" [2]. Its a tropical ornamental tree, may reach up-to 50 feet height. It is host plant LHP for Common emigrant and Mottled emigrant butterfly species. 

Golden shower tree is obvious name due to bright and cheerful display by thousands of fragrant small flower. Pendant like (grape bunches-like) bouquet of golden colored yellow flowers are eye catching. These flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies [1]. Flowering season for the tree is in the months of March to May. Sometimes the tree is seen without a single leaf when flowering. The golden shower tree is the national flower Thailand; its yellow flowers symbolize Thai Royalty [2]. Its also state flower of Kerala. A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department to commemorate this tree. 

Quick Facts:

Botanical Name: Cassia Fistula
Family:  Gulmohar

Flowering season: Late spring

Location on campus: Out side DRDO and QIP quarters.

Reference: 

1. http://www.flowersofindia.in/catalog/slides/Amaltas.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassia_fistula

Commander - Life Cycle

Please double-click on the picture for better quality. 

Common Baron (Euthalia aconthea)

Common baron is a common medium sized graceful butterfly. Brown in color, female and male differs slightly on upper wings. Female has prominent white spots on upper-side. Species can be confused with chocolate pansy.  Female is seen quite often basking on the big leaf. Having large abdomen, powers it a powerful flight. To find a baron male is a rare treat to the eyes. Male can be found near wet patches, puddling during noon time. Egg is laid singly, preferred LHP is cashew-nut. Egg is domed shape, green in color and has spines all over it. Caterpillar rests on upper side of the leaf, aligned with the mid-rib. Its spiny and looks like thin lines of the leaf. Even being on the upper side of the leaf, camouflage protects it. When grown enough, it forms a pupa below the leaf. Its attached to the leaf with "cremaster". Pupa is often parasitized  by chalcid wasps [1]. 

Front and side view of common baron egg on cashew-nut leaf

Quick Facts:
Name: Common Baron
Scientific Name: Euthalia aconthea
Wingspan : 50 to 60 mm
Host plant: Mango, cashew-nut

Baron cat on cashew=nut leaf

Pupa

Female basking

Cashew-nut tree, with fruit and flowers

Mango tree, Mangifera Indica

Butterfly predators

Impeccable Yellow spider in action

 Butterfly is lower order species of the food chain. Its eaten by many of the predators in every life stage of its. Most common ones are birds, spiders, robber fly and wasps. Birds and spiders catch them full grown. An interesting video was captured by Swapnil Lokhande, in which a bird is seen with a butterfly. Bird seems enjoying the meal, the butterfly being eaten was Tawney Rajah. It was sad part for us as Tawney Rajah is seen quite rarely on campus.

Common wanderer caught by spider

Spiders normally seats on the flower and wait for the prey to appear for nectoring. It seats quietly and camouflages excellently with the flower. After setting himself up, its mere the luck of the butterfly decides. Set-up hardly misses any butterfly and rarely seen one escaping the trap. A small spider can catch large butterflies as well. We have seen a common wanderer male caught by a small spider before our eye could blink. Spider takes a long time to kill the prey and eats slowly. Spider net is also used by certain spiders species to catch the insects. Butterflies with large wingspan are primary victims, due to size easily gets entangled in the web.

Close view of white spider on pink-white flower

 

Spider chasing Pierrot 

Robber fly with catch,  grass yellow is the victim

Insects in the dipters family asilidae are commonly called robber flies. Catches for almost every kind of small insect, list is long. List includes butterflies, beetles, moths, bees, ants, dragonflies, damselflies, some wasps, grasshoppers and even spiders [1]. Wasps lay eggs inside the pupa pinning them and the babies after hatching out eats caterpillar inside pupa. Infected pupa can be easily identified. Spoiled pupa changes color to dark black after few days and doesn't pupate. On campus, tiger species and Tailed jay pupa's commonly found infected by some wasps.Some wasps may even infect a caterpillar and feed on it.

Lime cat attacked by wasps

Dragonflies finds a butterfly

Reference:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asilidae

Indian Sunbeam (Curetis thetis)

Indian Sunbeam female, recently ecloded

Fresh egg of Indian sunbeam on Derris scandens

         Indian sunbeam, share a "not common" status with some other butterflies on the campus. Mostly spotted on the lake side, due to unprecedented availability of its LHP, an evergreen climber named Jewel Vine (Derris scandens). Thanks Mr. Haneesh for identification. Sunbeam caterpillars were also found on the Pongamia pinnata (करंज), a pea family tree better known for bio-diesel extraction source. Teh tree also hosts for several other butterflies e.g. Common Banded Awl. Many eggs and caterpillars were observed at same time on both these plants . Caterpillar normally resides at the edge of the branch and prefers to eat fresh leaves. Due to its excellent camouflage technique it look like a part of leaf, it can remain unnoticed. Two horn-like structure on its rare part of the body is a special and noticeable feature.

            Indian sunbeam male and female have distinct UP. Male is bright orange and female with most of the part dull dark brown (Chocolate) colored with small white marking on upper-wing. According to Krushnmegh kunte's "Butterflies of Peninsular India", Males are much more frequently seen. However our observation inside the campus is other way round. Females were spotted often, specially near the host plants. Once female was spotted on bamboo tree sap. Just once Male was seen mud-puddling. Male and female both were shot on that same day behind the H-5/H-9 hostels besides the compound wall. Otherwise, one very few occasions male is seen that too in the flight.  Indian sunbeam is frequently found when we toured SGNP, yeoor, Nagla nad Tungareshwar WLS. There are two other subspecies, angled and toothed sunbeam, both spotted by us in Tungareshwar WLS. These two posses subtle deviation from Indian sunbeam and none of them are spotted in the campus. 

Quick Facts:

Name: Indian Sunbeam

Scientific Name: Curtis thetis

Wingspan: 40-50 mm

ID marks: Different UP . Male has orange and female Dark-brown UP wings.

Host plant: Pongamia pinnata, Derris scandens

Curetis thetis egg laying on Derris scandens

Indian Sunbeam Male

Female UP

Note the horn like body-part

Caterpillar, another view

Fresh pupa

Markings are developed on 4th day

Just before eclosion

Indian Sunbeam female on bamboo tree sap

Angles for butterfly photography

Army of bluebottles puddling

Photography of a full grown butterfly can be divided into two categories : Documentary and Artistic. In this post I will be discussing both of them in details with some interesting examples. Many photographers hesitate to move, bend and sometimes laying on the ground. Simply taking the photograph from the angle you first see it, does not makes a great photo. As a thumb-rule, for every purpose of butterfly photography and butterfly activity, there exist a typical angle to shoot. However this rule doesn't apply for artistic photography.

A. Butterfly Documentary Photography:
Purpose of this kind is help for identification, spot record and documentation.

1. Closed wing / Under wing (UN) shot:  In case of some species like lascar, sailor this shot is of utmost importance in identification process. A perfect UN photo is needed to see all the marking on the wing neatly. To accomplish, this one has to wait for butterfly to close its wings and settlement. During nectoring, butterfly seats on the flower. If the flower is not high enough, one needs to to bend. Otherwise one has to adjust the height accordingly.

After this, photographer should get in a place where camera is exactly perpendicular to the wings of the butterfly. Such angle covers the whole wing. It also helps to have lower aperture number, as depth of field required would be very shallow. Lower f-number will help to choose higher shutter speeds (improves sharpness of the photograph) and lower depth of field will impart nice bokeh to the image. Both features will enhance the beauty of the photo and additionally will make a perfect picture for documentation. This position of camera/photographer is much important when shooting mud-puddling butterflies.

One has to lay down flat on the ground to shoot in this angle. Often, photographers keeps standing and shoot mud puddling butterfly. This gives a slant and partial view of the same. If one cant lay down on ground, camera with veri-angle screen e.g. Canon 30X, Canon 60D etc is useful. Veri-anlge LCD will help to keep camera on ground and then tilting the LCD to view, focus and compose the image. Another case for a closed wing would be when  butterfly is resting on some small object with wings complete open. This can also provide under wing shot, small object hiding some part of the body.

Use of veri-angle or tilting LCD for mud-puddling butterfly

2. Open wing / upper wing (UP) shot: Apart from help in ID, Open wing shot often helps in differentiating male and female. There can be two occasions to get complete open wing shot of a butterfly: While basking or while mud-puddling. In the morning, butterfly often seats on a large leaf with wings flat open. This is in order to dry there wet wings because of dew. Most butterflies seats at suitable height for photographing, specially the small ones like plains cupid, line blues, lime blue etc. Some like Tawney rajah seats on a big leaf at some height, not reachable, making ti difficult to photograph. Again for a perfect open wing shot one should bring lens axis perpendicular to the plane of the wings spread. Advantages are same as stated in closed wing shot.

Perfect angle of tiny butterflies is sometimes intriguing

3. Miscellaneous shots: On very rare occasions, shot of the antenna is required. The angle to shoot whole of the antenna would be perpendicular to the plane of the antenna. This is critical shot, as one must shoot it at 1:1 macro. 

B. Butterfly Artistic Photography: 

Shot this beauty from the front while mud-puddling

        Although, every perfect and sharp shot taken with documentary kind of angle will be artistically appreciable I wish to mention some angles in this category. My personal favorite is the front angle. Eyes of butterfly is a striking feature when shot closely. A complex-eye structure is fabulous when seen in close-up. When shot from front side of the butterfly, during nectoring or mud-puddling, both eyes are captured. Mud-puddling is the best opportunity to have such shot. Added advantage in this case is the proboscis inserted in the ground. Another angle would be from behind of the butterfly. Almost every butterfly has dummy eyes like markings on its hind-wings. This is to create an illusion and in order to protect butterflies from predators like bird. These eyes and sometimes tails can be interesting to watch.

Eiffel tower like pose of apefly

Example of wallpaper angle

Another interesting  but difficult-to-achieve angle is : wallpaper angle. When butterfly opens its wings partially during nectoring or mud-puddling, one can photograph the pose at 45 degree angle. This covers almost every part of butterfly, although partially. It creates nice blur effect to out of depth of field parts.

A high angle would be interesting when shooting a butterfly with open wings and sitting at some height above photographers head. Eye can be focused perfectly, while making the rest of body blur by choosing lowest possible aperture. Photographing sailors with this angle would be a good net practice . Sailor like butterflies often seats in such position. 

High angle of common sailor

High angle of common sailor, another one