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Enroute to Thirukurungudi Malai Nambi Kovil
The worrying part was the observation of butterfly road kills by the jeeps
travelling towards the temple. The minimum overall road kills that I could
count during the walk was more than 200.
The Monkey Puzzle, Dark Wanderer, Southern Birdwing and Rustic
occasionally greeted us on the way towards the temple. We rested for
sometime near the forest shed which is located just before the temple. While
munching some snacks, a unique flight pattern of Grass Yellow butterfly was
noted. I went chasing behind the butterfly for a record shot. After a
10minutes of hide & seek, I was able to photograph the Grass yellow. To my
surprise, it turned out to be a rare Nilgiri Grass Yellow.
As the cumulus clouds started to cover up the skies, we planned to return back. On the way back, we spotted few
rare butterflies namely Short-banded Sailer, Blue Admiral and Leaf Blue. A huge Monitor Lizard was also sighted.
At the end of the butterfly walk, we were able to document an impressive number of 101 species of butterflies with
the family Nymphalidae dominating with 32 species followed by 28 from Lycaenidae. Hesperiidae family was least
represented with nine species.
The species richness of 101 butterflies species at Thirukurungudi Mali Nambi Kovil is quite significant. The place has
a huge potential and therefore more exploration and systematic surveys would unveil more rare butterflies from
this place.
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 4 VEINS 1
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