September is butterfly season

Common Jezebel on Lantana flowers

Crimson Rose

Common Rose

A fine sunny morning at last. Decided to get up early and go to check on my "Butterfly Garden"  for the first time this year. When I came back to Goa last September I discovered that the area between my appartment and the beach became a mecca for butterflies at this time of thr year. On a sunny morning, at around 8am, walking through the maze of lantana bushes towards the beach is like being inside a Tropical Butterfly House. At the end of the monsoon theLantana bushes produce their delicate clusters of pink and yellow flowers, which many species of butterflies are attracted to, especially the Crimson Rose and Common Jezebel, two particularly beautiful species.

Great Eggfly (male)



Plain Tiger

 I was right - as the sun warmed the vegetation many butterflies appeared, some flitting quickly from flower to flower gathering nectar, while others "basked", remaining perfectly still  with their wings fully open to gather enery from the sun. Flight is possible only when the body temperature is raised sufficiently. While the Jezabel is unmistakable the "Roses" are more difficult to identify. As well as the Crimson Rose there is the Common Rose, with similar colouring but a  slightly different wing markings. Although they appear attractive to our eyes the red colouring identifies them to preditors as unpalitable, and this has led to other species "mimicing" their colours, for example the palitable female Common Mormon can mimic the unpalitable Roses.

Within half an hour I had seen and photographed at least 7 different species, and thats not counting all the little yellow and brown ones which flit around too fast and never seem to settle for a second.

There are a lot of things I like about Goa, but butterfly time is definitely one of the best. Unfortunately by the time most tourists arrive in December and January the lantanas have finished flowering and butterflies by the beach are rare.

For more information read "Butterflies of Goa" by Parag Rangnekar.