Monday, August 18, 2014

Photography at Butterfly Park Jubilee Hills Hyderabad

It's quite easy to get misled by the name of this park. I went there hoping I will find some good butterflies, however, this park although very well maintained, unfortunately has no butterflies.

But the story doesn't end here my friends, it actually just started.

I got down from the car, took out my camera and right there over my head on the electric line, was a bird sitting and calling merrily. I was perplexed because I haven't clicked this bird before and I was almost jumping in my place to spot a lifer. The light was dropping and I couldn't ID it that time, I went back home, checked all reference material but I found it so hard to positively ID it.

At last after a lot of research I could identify it as Square Tailed Drongo Cuckoo (A Migratory Bird from Sri Lanka and South East Asia) which comes to India only during the monsoons. I couldn't just believe my luck ... I was thrilled to spot my number 172 and that too which is not a resident. Last time in my Thattekad Kerala trip, I spotted the Fork Tailed Drongo Cuckoo. The picture didn't come out well hence I didn't post it there, but today I have to post it here to show the difference.

The Square Tailed Drongo Cuckoo (Migrant from Sri Lanka / SE Asia) - A Lifer for me.
Square tailed Drongo Cuckoo
The resident Fork Tailed Drongo Cuckoo (Clicked in Thattekad Kerala)
Fork tailed Drongo Cuckoo


This is what Bird Photography does to you, you can't just have enough of it.
We went inside the park, no entry ticket, no butterflies there, rather this park is being used by the nearby local residents to walk their dogs. Finally managed to find a park where dogs are allowed. I'm sure I will take Eins along some time soon.

Very well maintained landscape, good green grass lawn in the middle and a jogging track alongside the park. I could spot a few birds in those trees around the park, got some beautiful shots as well but nothing beats the Square Tailed Drongo Cuckoo.

Click here for Google Maps

Enjoy the pics below.

Common Tailorbird

White-throated Kingfisher

Ashy Prinia

Red-vented Bulbul

Ashy Prinia

Plain Prinia

Overall a very satisfying day, with a wonderful lifer and discovering a park that allows Eins to tag along with us.

Photography at Buddhist Monastery Secunderabad

This Buddhist Monastery is located at a serene location in Mahendra Hills, Secunderabad and hence not many people know about it. The idea was just to spend a good time at a new location and hence decided to go. Carrying the camera along is now more of a habit that anything else. You never know when all of a sudden somebody peeps from the tree branches.

Although photography isn't allowed inside the Monastery however standing outside the gate of the monastery we clicked some shots. Not many birds around but some good butterflies were there. For a photography outing per-se, this might not be an ideal location, however if you just want to spend a leisure time at a peaceful location complimented with some photography, you could visit here with your family.

The timing of the monastery is 5 AM to 10 AM then 4-30 PM to 8-30 PM.

Click here for the Google Map Direction

Enjoy the pics below.

















Monday, August 11, 2014

Butterfly - Insect Photography

A definite subset of Bird Photography - every bird enthusiast has reasons to get fascinated by butterfly and bug photography. Some of the reasons why we got hooked to butterfly / insects photography are below,
  • The pattern and color of the butterflies are so unique
  • Usually they are found sitting on a colourful flower or around green plants and leaves - giving an opportunity to click such beautiful colors 
  • Since they are small, you have to be quite near to focus, giving you beautiful bokehs 
This post compiles all the shots of butterflies / bugs we clicked till date. The list of species is as below followed by the pics.

  1. Blue Tiger
  2. Plain Tiger
  3. Common Crow
  4. Crimson Tip
  5. Common Jezebel
  6. Common Lime
  7. Pioneer
  8. Mottled Emigrant
  9. Common Emigrant
  10. Striped Tiger
  11. Common Mormon
  12. Common Eggfly
  13. Glassy Tiger 
  14. Common Castor
  15. Lemon Pansy
  16. Common Wanderer
  17. Common Blue Bottle
  18. Common Sailor
  19. Tawny Coster
  20. Clear Sailor
  21. Blue Moon
  22. Atlas Moth
  23. Common Peacock
  24. Silver-washed Fritillary
  25. Small Tortoiseshell
  26. Painted Lady
  27. Studded Sergeant
  28. Chestnut Tiger
  29. Large Tree Nymph
  30. Common Rose
  31. Chiasmia nora 
  32. Danaid Eggfly 
  33. Red Bug (Cotton Stainer) 
  34. Giant Asian Mantis
  35. Green Stink Bug
  36. Oleander Hawk-moth (Army Green Moth) 
  37. Plain Tiger Caterpillar
  38. Dragonfly 
  39. Jewel Bug
  40. Crimson-tailed Marsh Hawk
  41. Blue Marsh Hawk
  42. Crimson Marsh Glider
  43. Indian Painted Grasshopper 
  44. Banded Demoiselle Damselfly
  45. Golden-ringed Dragonfly 
  46. Variegated Flutterer
  47. Red Saddlebag 
  48. Giant Golden Orb Weaver 
  49. Himalayan Common Baron 
  50. Blue Mormon
  51. Common five-ring
  52. Pond Skater
  53. Looped Three Ring Butterfly
  54. Tailed Palmfly
  55. Bamboo Treebrown
  56. Great Eggfly
  57. Rice swift
  58. Baronet
  59. Short banded Sailor
  60. Ditch Jewel
  61. Commander
  62. Common Chaser
  63. Common grass yellow
  64. Grey Pansy
  65. Black wood spider
  66. Fulvous forest skimmer
  67. Common Pierrot
  68. Blue Ground Skimmer
  69. Globe Skimmer
  70. Scarlet Skimmer
  71. Indian Common Clubtail
  72. Common Leopard
  73. Yellow tailed Ashy Skimmer
  74. Potanthus Dart
  75. Indian Grizzled Skipper
  76. Chocolate Pansy
  77. White Arab
  78. Castor semi-looper 
  79. Migratory Locust 
  80. Brown Katydid
  81. Small Salmon Arab
  82. Large Salmon Arab 
  83. Pied Paddy Skimmer 
  84. Wasp Moth 
  85. Slate Flash 
  86. Indian Red Admiral 
  87. Striped Blue Crow 
  88. Marbled White Moth
  89. Common Jester 
  90. Large Oakblue 
  91. Indian Cabbage White 
  92. Common Mapwing 
  93. Purple Sapphire 
  94. Banded Treebrown 
  95. Common Tan Wave 
  96. The Spangle 
  97. Common Cruiser 
  98. Naga Sapphire 
  99. Green Drab Moth 
  100. Indian Palm Bob
  101. Red Helen 
  102. Dark Judy 
  103. Common Hedge Blue 
  104. Blue-tailed Forest Hawk 
  105. Emperor Dragonfly  
  106. Indian Fritillary 
  107. Tamil Yeoman 
  108. Common Lascar 
  109. Scallopwing 
  110. Green Hairstreak - Theclini 


Enjoy the clicks below!

Blue Tiger - Hyderabad

Plain Tiger - Hyderabad

Crimson Tip - Hyderabad

Common Jezebel - Hyderabad

Common Lime - Hyderabad


Mottled Emigrant - Hyderabad

Striped Tiger - Hyderabad

Common Mormon - Hyderabad

Common Eggfly - Hyderabad

Common Castor - Hyderabad

Lemon Pansy - Hyderabad

Common Emigrant - Hyderabad

Common Crow - Hyderabad

Common Wanderer - Hyderabad

Common Blue Bottle - Hyderabad

Common grass yellow (Coorg)

Crimson Marsh Glider (Coorg)

Pied Paddy Skimmer (Coorg)

Hawk Moth Caterpillar (Kalimpong)

Common Lascar (Kalimpong)

Scallopwing (Kalimpong)

Tamil Yeoman (Kalimpong)

Indian Fritillary (Kalimpong)

Emperor Dragonfly female (Kalimpong)

Blue-tailed Forest Hawk (Kalimpong)

Common Hedge Blue (Kalimpong)

Dark Judy (Kalimpong)

Red Helen (Kalimpong)

Indian Palm Bob (Kalimpong)

Green Drab Moth (Tumling)

Naga Sapphire (Kalimpong)

Common Cruiser (Kalimpong)

Purple Sapphire (Kalimpong)

The Spangle (Kalimpong)

Common Tan Wave (Sikkim)

Banded Treebrown (Kalimpong)

Purple Sapphire (Kalimpong)

Common Mapwing (Kalimpong)

Large Oakblue (Kalimpong)

Common Jester (Kalimpong)

Marbled White Moth (Kalimpong)

Small Tortoiseshell (Kalimpong)

Striped Blue Crow (Kalimpong)

Indian Red Admiral (Kalimpong)

Slate Flash (Kalimpong)

Indian Cabbage White (Kalimpong)

Glassy Tiger (Ganeshgudi)

Wasp Moth (GRK)

Common Emigrant female (GRK)

Large Salmon Arab (GRK)

White Arab (GRK)

Common Mormon male (GRK)

Yamfly (GRK)

Crimson Tip male (GRK)

Small Salmon Arab (GRK)

Brown Katydid (GRK)

Migratory Locust (GRK)

Pioneer (GRK)

Common Sailor - Kanha

Tawny Coster - Bidar

Clear Sailor - Coorg

Blue Moon - GRK

Atlas Moth - Garhwal

Atlas Moth - Garhwal

Common Peacock - Garhwal

Silver-washed Fritillary - Garhwal

Painted Lady - Garhwal

Studded Sergeant - Garhwal

Chestnut Tiger - Eagle's Nest

Large Tree Nymph - Andaman

Common Rose - Bidar

Danaid Eggfly - Hyderabad

Danaid Eggfly (male) - Hyderabad

Red Bug (Cotton Stainer) - Hyderabad

Giant Asian Mantis - Hyderabad

Green Stink Bug - Hyderabad

Oleander Hawk-moth (Army Green Moth) - Hyderabad

Dragonfly - Kanha

Jewel Bug - Tirupati

Crimson-tailed Marsh Hawk - Lonavala

Blue Marsh Hawk - Lonavala

Crimson Marsh Glider female - Lonavala


Chiasmia nora - Hyderabad

Plain Tiger Caterpillar - Chikmagalur


Banded Demoiselle Damselfly - Coorg

Blue Mormon - Coorg

Common five-ring - Coorg

Fulvous Forest Skimmer - Coorg

Pond Skater - Coorg

Looped Three Ring Butterfly - Coorg

Tailed Palmfly - Coorg

Himalayan Common Baron - Garhwal

Castor semi-looper (GRK)

White Arab (GRK)


Golden-ringed Dragonfly - Hyderabad

Variegated Flutterer - Hyderabad

Red Saddlebag - Hyderabad

Giant Golden Orb Weaver - Thattekad


Chocolate Pansy - Bandhavgarh

Indian Grizzled Skipper - Bandhavgarh

Potanthus Dart - Bandhavgarh

Yellow tailed Ashy Skimmer - Bandhavgarh

Common Leopard - Bandhavgarh

Indian Common Clubtail - Bandhavgarh

Scarlet Skimmer - Bandhavgarh

Globe Skimmer - Bandhavgarh

Blue Ground Skimmer - Bandhavgarh

Common Pierrot - Bandhavgarh

Fulvous forest skimmer - Bandhavgarh

Lime - Bandhavgarh

Black wood spider - Bandhavgarh

Common Chaser - Bandhavgarh

Commander - Bandhavgarh

Ditch Jewel - Bandhavgarh

Lime - Bandhavgarh

Tawny Coster - Bandhavgarh

Short banded Sailor - Bandhavgarh

Baronet - Bandhavgarh

Rice swift - Bandhavgarh

Common Rose - Bandhavgarh

Great Eggfly - Bandhavgarh

Bamboo Treebrown - Bandhavgarh

Indian Painted Grasshopper (GRK)

Grey Pansy (Kalimpong)

Green Hairstreak - Theclini (Dhanachuli)