Wildlife of S. E. Asia and S. America. A Photo Journal by Francis Burlingham.: 2019-05-12

Introduction

Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to live in Thailand, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Colombia and now Brunei. In my spare time I have had the opportunity to travel fairly widely, camera in hand, in search of wildlife. In these posts I aim to share some of these experiences and show you some of the extraordinary wildlife that can be found in these regions. All of the photographs you see within the posts and pages here are my own unless otherwise stated. Copyright © Francis Burlingham 2015

Wednesday 15 May 2019

Cat Tien National Park. The Start of the Wet Season.

I have wanted to return to Cat Tien since visiting in the dry season during the Tet holiday last year, and so at the start of May, I stayed for a few days to coincide with the start of the wet season.

I stayed at the park headquarters for the first night and then at Forest Floor Lodge overlooking the Ben Cu Rapids for the rest of my stay. This is a beautiful, peaceful spot surrounded by the forest and with easy access to the riverbank and several trails.

Ben Cu Rapids from Forest Floor Lodge

The gardens around the lodge are a great place to spot colourful forest birds such as this stunning black and red broadbill.

Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos (black-and-red broadbill ) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

The Gibbons were in good voice again each morning and although I was able to spot them a couple of times, I only managed to get a few grainy shots of this female swinging away from me.

It was a great time to visit as the forest was just starting to come back to life after the first rains of the season a couple of weeks earlier. The forest was still relatively dry and new plant growth had only just begun. Huge numbers of butterflies patrolling the main road through the National Park were the first and most obvious change that I noticed since my last visit. The Pieridae were the most dominant group, closely followed by the Papilionidae genus Graphium and the Nymphalidae Danaine butterflies of the genus Euploea.

The puddling behaviour of these butterflies by the river was spectacular with huge aggregations on the riverbanks either side of the rapids. The genus Graphium was particularly well represented.

Puddling behaviour on the banks of the Ben Cu rapids

Graphium group on the Ben Cu rapids

Graphium group close up

The Pieridae butterflies were dominated by Appias albina darada (the albatross). This variable butterfly was present in white dry season forms as well as the wet season yellow form semi-flava and white form principalis. Closely related and difficult to distinguish Appias paulina was also present. Also seen in the shot below, center right is Cepora iudith (The Orange Gull).

Pieridae Group Ben Cu Rapids Cat Tien Vietnam

Appias paulina distanti Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Cepora nerissa (The Common Gull) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Cepora nadina (Lesser Gull) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

A walk along the main trail through the park took me past several wallows where larger mammals had created clearings. One of these contained a fantastic aggregation of butterflies from the genus Euploea, the Crow butterflies. Hundreds of the butterflies were congregating upon just three plants of a particular species. I assume that they were Leaf Scratching. A specialised behaviour of Danaine butterflies whereby they extract pyrrolizidine alkaloids from damaged leaves. Both sexes store these chemicals for defence and the males use them as a precursor in the production of pheromones.

Euploea Leaf Scratching

A number of Euploea species were present here including Euploea midamus chloe (Blue Spotted Crow), Euploea mulciber (Striped Blue Crow), Euploea sylvester (Double Branded Blue Crow), Euploea tulliolus dehaani (The Dwarf Crow), Euploea algea limborgii (The long branded Blue Crow), Euploea core (Common Indian Crow), Euploea radamanthus (Magpie Crow)

Euploea Leaf Scratching

The spectacular blue colour of these butterflies is structural and based upon refraction rather than pigment. The colour therefore changes depending upon the angle you view it from.

Euploea mulciber The striped blue crow Cat Tien NP Vietnam

The butterflies were for me the most spectacular and memorable sight in the park and I managed to see a number of species that were new to me. This white Oak Leaf butterfly has great cryptic colouring and shape to its wings at rest, which it opens to reveal a stunning blue colour.