Weekend Reflections

Bridges become frames for looking at the world around us.~ Bruce Jackson




Welcome to Weekend Reflections! This is a meme hosted by James @ http://newtowndailyphoto.blogspot.com every weekend.
Came across this old bridge on my recent trip to the neighbouring state of Meghalaya. To see more posts on Weekend Reflections, click on the link above.

The Common Jester

We recently took the long and winding road to the neighbouring state of Meghalaya  where I had a ball capturing the sights!! As luck would have it,  I was photographing some of the wild blooms when a butterfly landed on a dead tree trunk on the edge of the road. There was no time to get a better, closer shot. I only managed two shots, the other blurrier than this one, before it flew away. This is only the second time I have photographed this butterfly, the Common Jester. My first shot can be seen here.

According to Wiki, the Common Jester/Symbrenthia lilaea is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in south Asia and south-east Asia. The distribution is from the Himalayas extending to the Malayan subregion.

Red Dragonflies

Joco of http://morememes.blogspot.com had asked me whether there were more photos of the red dragonfly. Yes, of the one on my header. These are the ones I haven't used before but of the same dragonfly taken on one of those oh-so-dragonfly-moments! You see when they are gorging on a mosquito, savouring each and every bite, they're loath to move and that's when I get my lucky shots!:)

This is the Red Grass Hawk dragonfly/Neurothemis fluctuans. This species is found from China across south-east Asia and in India. They are found near water bodies. And below are the ones in a duller shade of maroon though I haven't compared enough Google images to be able to come up with their names!

Now that the warmer season is well on its way, I'm sure it's going to be a feast for the eyes! I'm hoping to take tons of photos this year. The sight of these beauties, coupled with all the other garden wildlife that I photograph makes the heat of Summer, a little kinder.:))

The Grey Pansy Butterfly

The Grey Pansy butterfly/Junonia atlites loves to visit the marigold, the lantana and the Ixora blooms. I snapped this one the other day as it rested on the marigolds. Like the Peacock Pansy butterfly, it is found near water bodies or near rice fields. We have a marshy patch of land near our house which is why I get to see so many insects found in wet (land) areas.

Weekend Reflections

Dancers fan out in a Singapore mall. This was snapped by my husband when he visited that beautiful city last year in September. For more Weekend Reflections, head over to James' blog NEW TOWN AREA PHOTO. You'll be in for some amazing reflection shots!

A Book On Butterflies

I first read about this book The Book Of Indian Butterflies on Arati's blog--Trees,Plants &More in mid January. Since my husband was in Delhi at that time on a work related trip, I told him to get the book for me. And soon, I had my prized copy! Not a day goes by when I don't refer to it. There's a wealth of information in this book by Isaac Kehimkar.

These are pictures of butterflies I had taken last year but I did not post the images as I didn't know their names. But I have been able to identify them now with the help of my book. The first is a Skipper and is called the Suffused Snow Flat/Tagiades gana. The other one is a Spotted Palmfly. The Common Palmfly butterfly is on my sidebar.

And all along I had thought that this was the Red Lacewing. But now I know it's the Leopard Lacewing/Cethosia cyane.  It's widely distributed throughout the northern areas (Uttaranchal to Bihar) and the Northeast, and Orissa. It's also found in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.

Sometimes names aren't all that important when we enjoy what we see and photograph. But with a book like this one, it becomes so much easier. I should soon be able to identify the many species that I regularly see in my area!:)