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North East Butterfly Meet V– Pakke Tiger Reserve
Day 2: The walk into the Woods and the Nullahs
The day dawned on the usual pattern, rain during the night and cloudy morning. However, the plan for the day took lot of time
on the previous night and managing 30+ on the 7 Km trail with just a jeep available as a challenge. It eventually got split into 3
teams and we took the West Bank- July Road for the day’s exploit. This is not before we saw the camp elephant dragging a big
wood log from the woods and its fresh dung immediately was sought by the Lineblues and the False Tiger Moth and a few
more early morning sightings including an Orangetail Awl.
Since we were the last batch to move, we started walking on the trail, led by Mr. Monsoon and others. The Forest Department
staff also accompanied him to learn about the butterflies and they took a serious note of what they have observed all along.
The first to appear on the screen was a Punchinello. A little further walk led to a open space with small stream running and this
place was an extremely good place for Skippers, the sightings of which include the rare Purple and Golden Flitter, Common
Spotted Flat, Common Small Flat, Common Banded Demon, Water Snow Flat, Chestnut Bob, Chocolate Demon, Dark Velvet
Bob, a possible Rice Swift and a Dark Yellow-banded Flat which did not oblige for a photo shoot. We were soon approached by
the Jeep and we got dropped at a point where a big tree fell cross to the road. From this point, we need to walk a 3 Km stretch
and come back all by legs. As soon as we got down from the Jeep, an Elbowed Pierrot was moving around, and a long wait and
the chase went fruitless and we had to again get it when we reached the stream. We spent some good time at the stream
searching for goodies, but the Common Tit was omnipresent, and they were all over bodies and our bags, caps and what not,
even the wrist watches. Not many species were noted as the time was still not ripen for the butterflies to come out. We had
seen a Common Lascar and a Commander and moved on to the woods. At one point in time, the trail was to take a right to
reach the camp site, but we took a straight path which led to another big stream and through the stream, reached the camp
site and on return took the original intended route. There was some good activity at the stream where the water flow was very
minimal. I could personally add a few lifers here including Magpie Crow, Common Yeoman, vagrant, Common Earl and Staff
Sergeant. Other species sighted here include Common Tit, Large Yeoman, Birdwings, Dark Blue Tiger, Striped Blue Crow, Com-
mon Bluebottle, Fluffy Tit, Five-bar Swordtail, Chocolate Albatross, Tufted Ace, Red Helen, Yellow Helen, Common Castor, Dark
Palm-Dart and Spangle.
After a brief rest there and some pieces of Papaya going down the hungry food pipes, we took the reverse journey and at
some places saw mud-puddling of Albatrosses, Helens and Gulls. The place where we took a detour on our onward journey,
the team made an improvised board indicating how the team that follows us must come along. It was very surprising to see
the piece of paper was swarmed by a few Lascars. A Long-banded Silverline was the only other notable species along the trail
until we reached the first stream. At the stream, all the teams have joined finally and there were now more species and counts
compared to what we saw in the morning. There were many
species, but I could add only a Common Map to the list as
others were seen earlier. During the walk on the stream, I
slipped over a small rock that made my left ankle paining, not
to risk further, I have requested for a Jeep ride back to the
park and all of us in schedules returned to the Park office
completing the trail successfully by 1PM. After lunch, another
round of searches nearby added a Great Mormon and a Great
Jay to the list. We rested until 5 PM and proceeded to a place
(a village called A2 Block) to see the roosting and nesting sites
of Wreathed Hornbill which is abundant in the Pakke TR and
the areas outside of it. Because, we were late, and light was
failing fast, we could not clearly sight these hornbills. Howev-
er, we were lucky to see 30+ hornbills flying from a roosting
site at the same time. The Hornbill warriors or the protectors
are all from the local tribal community and the Society, Ghora
Aabhe, had built Pakke Jungle Camp, an eco-tourism initiative
in the village of Mabusso 2. We visited the site to have a first
hand feel but since it was pitch dark and without electricity,
we could not see these properly. The young brigade was how-
ever enjoying the evening over a Camp fire. We returned to
the park late in the evening and discussed the plan for the
concluding day before retiring for the day!
Leopard Lacewing
Great Mormon
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 3 VEINS 1
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