Other butterflies seen around the grounds, but which didn’t stop for long enough to photograph included the Apricot Sulphur, Phoebis argante, Broad-banded Swallowtail, Heraclides pallas, the Zebra Heliconian, Heliconius charithonia and the Julia Heliconian, Dryas iulia. Although I would have loved to have managed to photograph these species, it was fantastic just seeing them.
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Of course there were so many more butterflies that I saw flying past, but had absolutely no idea what they were!
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On the first morning I walked down to the beach and saw an enormous yellow butterfly flying around the trees and landing on the sand. It took a lot of stalking, but eventually I managed to get a photograph by waiting next to one particular spot it kept returning to. The pictures allowed me to confirm that it was an Orange-barred Sulphur, Phoebis philea. I soon learned to recognise these as they flew past with their rapid flight and orange mark on the upper forewing.
There were also a couple of skippers down there, but I will save skippers for a separate post!
In a dark, shady area of the resort there were three Lyside Sulphurs, Kricogonia lyside, laying eggs on a couple of spindly shrubs. I struggled to get a picture because of a lack of light and they hardly stopped moving.
I also saw these on the track opposite the hotel where I was able to get a better picture.
The lovely little Black Patch, Chlosyne lacinia, was regularly seen flying around the hotel grounds. It had a very slow flight, with rapid shallow wing beats, that made it look as though it was floating. Unfortunately it always landed high up in the trees, but I managed to snap this distant shot from the balcony.
Two other interesting butterflies that I saw high in the trees from my balcony were both Metalmarks. Unfortunately they are only just identifiable from the pictures. This one is a Curved-winged Metalmark, Emesis emesiaq.
The other was the Rusty Metalmark, Synargis mycone.
I saw quite a number of Malachites, Siproeta stelenes, flying around the hotel grounds. All those that landed were quite worn, so I didn't take any pictures, because I had photographed a lovely one on the track outside the hotel. Actually, I did see a lovely fresh Malachite at the hotel, but of course this was when I was swimming in the pool!
Most days, if there was sun, I would usually see two or three White Peacocks, Anartia jatrophae, at the hotel. I saw one of these a few years ago in St Lucia, but it had a chunk missing from its wings, so I was pleased to see so many here.
In my next post I will talk about the butterflies I saw on the track opposite the hotel.
