Sunday 9 August 2009

Fellow campers

We settled ourselves into a spot in a caravan park at Airlee Beach for a couple of weeks. Two Bush-stone-curlews standing very still under a tree - maybe under the impression that we couldn’t see them - watched us very carefully as we set up our van. They growled if we got too close. I didn’t know stone-curlews do that.

We relaxed into our camp chairs ... and saw a big blue butterfly land in a shrub several metres away. That was the end of relaxing.
It was a male Common Eggfly Butterfly Hypolimnas bolina nerina (known in New Zealand as the Blue Moon Butterfly). Apparently each male defends a territory about 30-40 metres apart and usually rests on a leaf one or two metres above the ground. This particular butterfly was not very active so I was able to get a reasonable photo.

2 comments:

Gouldiae said...

G'day Boobook,
Looks a nice spot to 'prop for a while'.
Funny about the Bush Stone-curlew. They've all but disappeared down here, supposedly due to expanding human habitation, yet up there they are running around in a camping park! More likely they have disappeared here due to predation, as there still seems to be plenty of suitable habitat. Odd?
Regards,
Gouldiae

Denis Wilson said...

I understand that foxes are the answer to Gouldiae's question.
Apparently Foxes have not been successful in the tropics.
Hence, Bush Stone-Curlews survive well up there, apparently.
Stunning Butterflies.
Denis