Butterfly Migration in 2016
Emigrants species ( Catopsilia species ) migration from Pachamalai
1 st and 2 nd October 2016 : On the first day of October , it was reported that there are plenty of butterflies near Uppiliapuram and they were whitish yellow in colour and moving in one direction towards West . A quick reference photos sent confirmed that they are Migrants ( Catopsilia species ). And we know for sure that the common emigrants could have easily outnumbered the Mottled . Mr . Thyaneswaran took all the interest in tracking the exact movements of them and where and which direction they are going .
It looked like they have originated from Pachamalai Hills and the spread was about 7 Km width and they were initially observed to be moving towards Kolli Hills . The observer visited to a length of 40 km in one direction and reported that they are moving by , a village called “ Pavithram ” and some of them through a Pass in Kolli hills which is actually over a river called “ Aiyaru ”. It proves the theory and assumption that butterflies generally migrate along the path of rivers wherever possible .
However , on the first day , no serious movement or observation was made in Coimbatore which is theoretically to receive them if we draw a line of movement . The second day was equally filled with excitement as the migration is active from say about 10 AM to 430 PM in the evening at Pachamalai Hills area . And then it stopped on the third day . Meanwhile , on the second day , some of us tracked land route and Coimbatore foothills and were able to see Emigrants making steady westward migration movement in tickles . The rate could be 5 -10 / 5 min or so . We could easily recognise that for a migration movement by their steady speedy movement . And back in Coimbatore city , a similar observation was made on the 3 rd Oct near Peelamedu . Meanwhile , Marudhamalai and Ponnuthu reported increased presence of Emigrants all indicating that the Emigrants have reached the Western Ghats all the way from Pachamalai ( an assumption , needs confirmation by observing over longer periods of year ). It is also safe to assume that since the reaching point is well spread from Mettupalayam to Coimbatore or even more , we are not noticing the migration in the same scale of the origin point ! Also similar Emigrants movements noticed from Trichy & Madurai .
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