Thousands of butterflies were spotted at the Amirthi forest recently. Unlike in the last two years, when there was very poor migration, probably due to climatic conditions, this season has been conducive for the winged creatures.
A trek into the Amirthi Forest on July 13 turned out to be a surprising experience for E. Arun Kumar, a butterfly enthusiast, who is a member of Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society. He ended up clicking photographs of 45 species on the same day.
“Some of the tree tops were literally covered with butterflies. I spotted a large number of Dark Blue Tiger butterflies, Double Branded Crows, Blue Tigers and Common Crows. Common Gull, Pioneers and Yellow Orange Tips were also seen in pretty large numbers,” he said.
Some species such as Spot Swordtail, Indian Sunbeam, Common Jay, Common Rose and Indian Ace were spotted for the first time at Amirthi, he said. It is during the period from April to May that butterflies migrate from the Western Ghats to the Eastern Ghats and the plains on the eastern side, he said, adding, they move again to the Western Ghats from the end of September. Migration is based on the monsoon.
“When they migrate to the Eastern Ghats and plain area, they breed here and the next generation moves to the Western Ghats. This is a continuous process. Migration has a role to play in the eco system as different types of lizards, frogs, spiders and birds like bee eaters have butterflies in their food chain,” he said.
“This season, they have come out in thousands at Amirthi. They might have been in diapause, a kind of hibernation, in different stages as a drought-like situation prevailed in northern Tamil Nadu.
“There were heavy rains about 10 days ago. So they have come out now as the situation is conducive for them to survive,” he explained.
“An environmental change has caused a change in the system. Hence, thousands of butterflies have been spotted. While Dark Blue Tiger and Double Branded Crow are mostly migratory kind of butterflies, Blue Tiger and Common Crow are both migratory and residential,” he said.
“We have to closely watch them. We have to wait and watch if the new set of butterflies stay here till September or migrate to the Western Ghats earlier than expected. There has to be monitoring for one to two months to see if they wait for migration, stay back or migrate earlier,” he said.