Trekking from Kookal to Kudhiraiyur Dam and Counting the Butterflies
on the way...
Amol Mande
NIT, Trichy
Kodaikanal, Dindigul District
I have been to Kodaikanal for a one-day trek, from the Kookal Village to Kudhiraiyur dam. We reached Kodai on Saturday, 8 th
July 2017. After lunch, the hunt for butterflies and birds begun in the area near to the lake. To my surprise I spotted 4-5 Red-
disc Bushbrowns in the same area, where I had seen them almost a year back. They were kind enough to give me the chance
to photograph their colourful open wings and cryptic closed wings. Several small white butterflies were flying amidst the near-
by bushes. Though I waited for 10-15 minutes, they were not in the mood to settle down. Finally I managed to click one and it
was identified as a White-disc Hedge Blue. Sadly after a while, there were no butterflies to be seen around.
Sunday, 9 th July 2017 morning, I started the trek with fellow trekkers from the Kookal village. As we descended, I could spot
few restless Grass Yellows. Butterfly activities started to increase steadily and I spotted the rare Palni Four-ring and a tiny skip-
per, Dingy Scrub Hopper (Aeromachus dubius). As I moved ahead I saw a Bushbrown with a thick white band. Though I was not
able to identify the species, I managed to click few pics. Over the next 1.5 km, the same butterfly was spotted around 4-5
times. It was later identified as the Palni Bushbrown (Telinga davisoni). I enjoyed capturing the commonly seen butterflies such
as Indian Skipper (Spialia galba), Indian Cupid (Everes lacturnus) and Gram blue.
As we strolled in a coffee estate, I found a Red Helen wing and an active Apefly (Spalgis epeus). Then, we came across a water
stream and I was hoping I could see lot of butterflies mud-puddle. I found a lone common albatross sipping the minerals from
the soil. At some distance there was some activity over a wet path. It was the beautiful Red Pierrot partying along with a Com-
mon Gull.
Around 20 Common Gulls on a single tree nectaring on the flowers and a spider feeding on a poor Common Emigrant were the
other highlights. Plenty of activity was going on in the lantana bushes surrounding a small waterfall Common Mormon, Golden
Angle, Yellow Orange Tip, Tiny Grass Blue, Common Leopard, Common Sailor, Tailed Jay, and Tailless Lineblue were busy nec-
taring in the lantana flowers.
As we were about to finish our lunch, it started to drizzle. This made the butterflies vanish along with my camera, which had to
be kept safe in my bag. After an hour drizzle, a little sunlight brought butterflies like White Four-ring, Striped Tiger, Glad-eye
Bushbrown, Ceruleans and around 10-15 Psyche, out of their hiding places. Common Wanderer and Indian Cupid was spotted
when we were climbing up the slope.
After trekking for around half an hour, we finally reached our destination, the beautiful Kudhiraiyur dam. The complete trek
was almost 17 km and I could see many butterflies. There could be plenty more but since I have to be cautious for elephants
around and had to keep up with the fellow trekkers, I couldn’t click them all. The day ended with 34 species getting ticked in
the checklist and with Palni Bushbrown and Red Pierrot as lifers.