butterfly Migrants

Suddenly there is an army of butterflies which have migrated here. Every year they migrate southwards during winter. There are so many in my garden fluttering wildly about , but I can take the pictures of only the slowest! The Common Crow Euploea core is visiting the Blue sage.

Last month, hordes of the Dark Blue Tiger, Tirumala septentrionis passed through the city, on their way to the Western Ghats. Some of them seem to have found this city good enough to break the journey here.

The Dark Blue Tiger's favourite is my Butterfly bush, Buddleija.

The Lime Butterfly Papilio demolius is an annual visitor here. Its favourite is the lemon bush, but it likes other flowers too. Here, it is visiting a Pentas.

This Blue mormon, Papilio polymnestor, poor thing, had a damaged wing. This swallowtail is big- the size of a man's palm. My camera was unable to catch its beautiful blue colour.

We, in the tropics, are lucky. When most of the world is devoid of colour in winter, we have colourful butterflies and birds visiting us, adding to the colour of the flowers.