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North East Butterfly Meet V– Pakke Tiger Reserve
Day 3: The walk into the Woods towards Sukhanala
The third day morning started with Shaheer Babu making a call at 545 AM to have a go at the Awlets which have come on time
for the morning mineral supplements. When we reached there, there were actually a few Orange Awlets and a Small Green
Awlet. We had enough time have some good shots of both. And until 9AM, where we were scheduled to go for a walk, we
were roaming around the residential area. We could add only a Common Evening Brown and a Yamfly to the list, while all oth-
ers have been repeated sightings. This is the day of meet completion and since Zoom Air has goofed up by cancelling the re-
turn flight from Tezpur to Kolkata, I must make alternate arrangements through Guwahati and hence need to leave Pakke
(Seijosa) by mid-afternoon so that Guwahati can be reached by the night and a safe journey back home on the next day. Due to
the changed schedule, the organisers split the team into two, the first one has to go for a longer circuitous route through Su-
khanala and eventually reaching the TR through the West Bank front gate. The second team to which I am part has to walk
until Sukhanala and return on the same route.
The trail is a 2.5 Km one way and reaches the stream. Due to the heavy downpour earlier, the road was very slushy and was
infected with leeches for most part. The first species to welcome was a mating pair of Bengal Spotted Flat. After walking for a
while, we came across a Rehabilitation Centre for Asiatic Bears. There were about 5 bears and photography here was banned.
The centre is supported by Wildlife Trust of India. I could see a male and female of Common Earl here and photograph which I
could not do the previous day, despite sighting a few. There were many Common Four-rings and Demons along the trail. At a
place, where there was a water stagnant, we spotted a Redbase Jezebel resting on a leaf and eventually coming down for mud-
puddling. An Orange Oakleaf too appeared on the screen but vanished quickly. Waling further, we came across a small mud-
puddling party comprising Spangle, Yellow Helen and a Common Hedge Blue. It was difficult for the Sun to penetrate in for the
most part of the trail, and where we saw some sunshine next, we could see some activity of butterflies; a Leopard Lacewing
and a Grey Scrub Hopper kept us engaged for a while. We saw a Bushbrown which I strongly suspected for a Long-branded
Bushbrown and in fact the profile of Intermediate forms of Bushbrowns seen could also be of a Long-branded in my opinion. A
Brown Pied Flat played hide and seek game with us and it eventually won, leaving us with a disappointment. We soon reached
the stream and the first team was already there ahead of us. Not much activity at the stream and the species have now be-
come repetitive in nature. We could see a Neptis clinia and a Spotted Sailer here. On the return, a Grey Count was the species
added to the list and just before the trail ended, we were sent off by a beautiful, tiny, Wavy Maplet and a Tailed Sulphur. A
good way to end the trail and trip, I thought.
We quickly freshened up, packed things and left for Guwahati after lunch. In total, I had sighted 123 species with 39 among
them are lifers. We have later learnt that the total sightings stood about 180. We could not attend the closing ceremony; but
said good bye to all fellow participants and organisers and started our return journey. One of the participants of the Meet, Mr.
Minom Pertin was able to successfully get the next Meet scheduled at Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh sometime
Wavy Maplet
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 3 VEINS 1
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