Butterflies of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve
That evening , when starting for our evening walk , we came across a group of volunteers from WWF who work on tiger population studies . When asked if we would like to join them for a ride to Thengumarahada and back , we jumped at this unexpected opportunity and said we ' d love to . But that experience could it-self be the subject of another report ! with the exception of spotting a 12 feet Indian Rock Python . The next day , we had to cover Moolapatti . The raptor numbers were meager , though the habitat seemed like a haven for raptors . The butterfly activity was high , dominated by the pansies , tips , crows and limes and the occasional grass blues and grass jewels . We returned back to our camp after the morning session with the Thengumarahada campers , bid farewell to our APW and left for Sathy , all the while recounting our experiences to each other . Back on the bumpy track , somebody shouted " Painted Sand grouse !!!!" and it was decidedly more beautiful than the Chestnut- Bellied Sand grouse . Contented with that single lifer of the trip , we said Bye bye to the bumpy roads and the Bolero Camper ( of which I had become really fond of ) to get inside our vehicle for the long road to Chennai .
The below is the representative list of Kulithuraipatti area and our energies were more focused on spotting raptors high up . It was one of those rare stints when I had ventured for a survey without my camera and hence butterflies which I identified to be Baronet and one Beak , unidentified skippers could not be captured on frame for confirmation and validation . I ' ve therefore not added them to the list .