North East Butterfly Meet – Season IV
Day 3 ( 05.09.2017 )
This was easily the best day of the meet as the sun came out pretty early and strong and the rain clouds went for the hiding . We could sense the excitement all around us on account of this . We decided to have the Pre-breakfast walk to the open ground and the small water falls beyond . The Pale Hedge Blue was the first to make an appearance . As we neared the falls , we could see good activities from Skippers and we recorded a Paintbrush Swift and Yellow Spot Swift , both nectaring and sun bathing . A Spangle was drying its wing too . On the return , people were excited with a Dysphania militaris moth . The jackpot was however waiting to happen . Anyone could have dismissed this dark ugly looking insect for a tree bark waste , if it had not moved and on our path . It happened to be a Dark Tinsel and soon we found out it is just the second sighting for India for this species .
The campsite was going great with sudden outburst of species and we could easily sight and photograph species like Fluffy Tit , Sullied Sailer , Common Birdwing , Golden Birdwing , Chocolate Pansy , Autumn Leaf , Blue Duke , Straight-banded Treebrown , Indian Tortoiseshell and a Common Nawab . It was time for breakfast and we had to leave to the location .
In August 2016 , incessant rains triggered a massive landslide in North Sikkim district blocking a tributary of the Teesta and creating an artificial lake that could pose danger to the people living near downstream of the river . The landslide occurred at So- Bhir cliff at Dzongu and blocked Kanaka river , a small tributary of the Teesta . The artificial lake estimated to be 150 ft wide has been created . And this was the location of this day ’ s walk .
The drive to the place was swift and through the village of Mantam . We have stopped to look at a few species like Yellow Flat , Restricted Demon and Golden Sapphire . As soon as we reached the spot , we were overwhelmed by the devastation and water is now being let out steadily from the lake . The vegetation will take some years to catch up . However , with plenty of rock soils and wet by the rains , there were plenty of mud-puddling and fluttering activities . We could immediately sight species like Bhutan Sergeant , Glassy Bluebottle , Common Bluebottle , Common Lineblue , Dingy Lineblue , etc . It was a narrow and difficult path to reach the other side of the road and I have to be personally helped out by couple of strong local Sikkimese . As soon as we reached the other side , a Khaki Silverline and a Long-banded Silverline welcomed us . The Khaki is a rare one . Plenty of Red Helens , Yellow Helen , Striped Tigers , Grass Yellows , Indian Cabbage white too were seen .
We then took the road which is being laid to reach the old road , and the spot where it joined was buzzing with activities too . We saw a few Himalayan Sergeants , a Redbreast , a Common Windmill , a Common Map and an Autumn Leaf which was kind enough to give us its open wing view . We returned to the zero point where we added a Rich Sailer , a Green Commodore , a Himalayan White Flat and a Pallid Nawab . A short break spent on the canteen helped us to recharge . When we returned to the vehicle , the rest of the teams were busy surrounding the mud-puddlers . We could add a Plain Puffin to the list from this .
It was time to return and an Orange Staff Sergeant sent us off to the campsite . Back to the familiar territory , and hard searching , resulted in adding 3 more lifers – a Purple Spotted Flat , an Angled Red Forester and a Dark Judy . After a quick concluding session , the day was over . The final list , after consolidation stood at 163 . With three of our individual counts varying between 80 and 90 and the total of 3 us stood at 91 . An Ypthima sp ., Ypthima methora ( Variegated Five-ring ) is a rare catch . This was photographed by our Gowathaman and his friends . They were in other team .