Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A Rare Visitor

Yesterday afternoon, after a harrowing day at school, I was relaxing in my verandah with a cup of hot coffee, when I saw a flash of blue. I ran to get the camera. After fifteen minutes of running after my rare visitor, I could get some pictures of the butterfly.
The large blue butterfly visited all the flowers in my garden.

My exhaustion vanished completely with the adrenalin surging in my veins.


The huge butterfly did not forget to visit the Cayenne pepper.
When at last it flew away, I went back to my coffee which had become cold.



The Blue Mormon Papilio polymnestor is a native of the rainforests of South India and Sri Lanka. It is the second largest swallowtail butterfly of the region. My visitor measured 7 inches from wingtip to wingtip. The Blue Mormon is sometimes seen in cities like Bangalore and Mysore because it is attracted to the heavy vegetation there.




9 comments:

  1. Be glad you chased that butterfly everywhere, because the photos are worth it! :) So beautiful!

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  2. Wow!!! Lotusleaf this is fabulous!! I think I saw this butterfly in a conservatory recently and to think you have it in your garden!! Your last two shots are especially Beautiful!! Thank you! ;>))

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  3. Gorgeous Lotusleaf! Great job even though your coffee got cold, it was worth it!

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  4. It's a real beauty ... I'm so glad you got these lovely photos to share with us.

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  5. What a beautiful butterfly! The light blue with the black is so striking, and the butterfly's size makes it even more so.

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  6. Kyna: thanks.I think so too, that it was worth chasing it.
    Carol, this butterfly is an occasional visitor to my garden.
    Helen, thank you.I remember the gorgeous butterflies you bred!
    Bernie, thanks for your encouraging comment.
    Sweetbay, I think the light blue colour makes it appear bigger, so that the predators stay away.

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  7. Wow, what a gorgeous butterfly. I know it made you happy to see it after a bad day:)

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  8. I'm pretty sure I saw this one at the "butterfly rainforest" at the university of florida... very beautiful. Its a good thing you have such a variety of flowers to attract and feed them!

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  9. That is indeed a most beautiful butterfly! I've never seen it around here. Lovely photos of a gorgeous butterfly!

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