The Great Orange Tip
This is Great Orange Tip butterfly easily seen in jungles around Thane city. Even you can see this butterfly in city gardens especially on colorful flowers just like this Ixora. This is one of the fastest butterflies and due to this photographing this butterfly is very difficult. Also this butterfly prefers to fly on the top of the trees so close observation of this species is very rare. The colors of this butterfly are very bright, but it never sits with open wings so the white and orange color is visible when it is only in flight. You can photograph this butterfly only when it is basking or it is on the flower for nectar. Normally this butterfly repeats its visit to particular flowers so you can sit still and then click some shots. But if there is a slight motion then it will fly fast and never return.
This particular butterfly is the largest of the other orange tips and one of the strongest and fastest fliers among the Indian butterflies. The orange tip is white on the upper side and orange fore wing apex. This characteristic confers on it an unmistakable identity and its name. The under parts of the wing is just like dry leaf and hence they can very well protected. It is common in dry deciduous forests just like our Yeoor. Due to this strikingly colors it is most striking in open land. It flies among the bushes and small trees and feeds on nectar from flowers. It flies rapidly and flutters its wing and wing-beats are continuous. In summer, the males gather on damp patches and feed in the company of butterflies such as Emigrants, Grass yellow and the Lime Butterfly. The females are less frequent than males. They are always near to the larval food plant.
The eggs are laid on very fresh shoots of the plant. The color is yellow and bottle shaped. The caterpillar is green in color and always stays under the eaves and stay camouflaged. The color of pupa is either green or brown, to aid camouflage, the color depending of the surrounding objects.
Yuwaraj Gurjar.

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