Butterflies of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve
That evening, when starting for our evening walk, we came across a group of volunteers from WWF who work on tiger population studies. When asked if we would like to join them for a ride to Thengumarahada and back, we jumped at this unexpected opportunity and said we ' d love to. But that experience could it-self be the subject of another report! with the exception of spotting a 12 feet Indian Rock Python. The next day, we had to cover Moolapatti. The raptor numbers were meager, though the habitat seemed like a haven for raptors. The butterfly activity was high, dominated by the pansies, tips, crows and limes and the occasional grass blues and grass jewels. We returned back to our camp after the morning session with the Thengumarahada campers, bid farewell to our APW and left for Sathy, all the while recounting our experiences to each other. Back on the bumpy track, somebody shouted " Painted Sand grouse!!!!" and it was decidedly more beautiful than the Chestnut- Bellied Sand grouse. Contented with that single lifer of the trip, we said Bye bye to the bumpy roads and the Bolero Camper( of which I had become really fond of) to get inside our vehicle for the long road to Chennai.
The below is the representative list of Kulithuraipatti area and our energies were more focused on spotting raptors high up. It was one of those rare stints when I had ventured for a survey without my camera and hence butterflies which I identified to be Baronet and one Beak, unidentified skippers could not be captured on frame for confirmation and validation. I ' ve therefore not added them to the list.