Observations by hjalgaonkar

It is one of the most common butterfly and is distributed throughout the Indian Subcontinent. It has a wingspan of 40-50 mm. It quite frequently visits flowers and garden, even damp patches. As all the Yellows, it is a Sun lover and can be seen always in the Sun. This picture was taken in afternoon, when it’s the peak day temperature.
These butterflies are known to migrate in large numbers. Both males and females are bright yellow in color. However, males have a narrow black terminal border, while females have broader black terminal border.
As seen in the picture above, these butterflies have a black spot on the Under Hindwing. Usually there are two black spots in both the sexes. Sometimes, one or even both the spots are missing.

The fruits are fleshy, green berries and containing from one to four shiny, brown seeds. Medicinally also the tree is very valuable. The bark is used to cure leprosy and to heal wounds, the flowers are prepared to relieve coughs and heart-trouble while the fruit is given in cases of blood diseases.

It is native of India, commonly known as Amaltaas, is one of the most beautiful of all tropical trees when it sheds its leaves and bursts into a mass of long, grape-bunches like yellow gold flowers. The sweet blackish pulp of the seedpod is used as a mild laxative.

This butterfly is quite commonly distributed in the Indian Subcontinent. It has a wingspan of 50-65 mm. It enjoys grasslands, open habitat and scrubland. Here, in this picture the butterfly is seen on Lantana camara shrub in a garden. As seen in the two pictures, it frequently visits flowers.
It does not fly very high above the ground.
As seen in the picture, it is brick red in colour with narrow black border. There, is a broader black border on Hindwings with white spots.

This medium sized tree is native to India. The tree appears to be ugly or dead from December to January when it loses all its leaves. However, from January to March it blooms to its fullest with orange colored flowers and it adds to the beauty of the area. The flowers cover the entire crown. These flowers have no scent. The flowers were earlier used to make natural color for the festival of Holi which is celebrated across India. The tree is also called Flame of Forest because of the bright orange flame-like flower to fire.
In Maharashtra, the leaves of this tree are stitched together to make leaf-plate for serving meal.

The tree species belong to the Sterculiaceae family. Scarlet Sterculia is a medium sized tree and flowers from March to April. When the flowering starts the tree sheds all its leaves. As seen in the picture above, the flowers are orange-red in color and hang downwards. They generally occur at the end of the branches. The flowers are tubular in shape with a lobe at the tip. These trees are common along the Western Ghats. Here, the tree was seen in the Northern Part of the Western Ghats in Thane District.

The butterfly is quite commonly seen and ubiquitous in the Indian subcontinent. Its wings span from 72-100 mm. It is seen from the wet evergreen forests to scrub throughout the year. They visit Gardens as well.
As seen in the picture above, the Striped Tiger is resting on a Stachytarpheta indica plant

The Small Minivet is a widespread resident in Indian Subcontinent and it’s around 16 cm in size. As seen in the above picture, male has dark grey to pale grey upperparts and underparts vary from deep orange to white. On the other hand, female has pale sandy grey to slate grey upperparts.
This small bird loves open wooded areas.

It is resident in the Indian Peninsular Region. It has greenish wings and tail. Male has a smaller throat patch as seen in the adjacent picture. They feed on insects, fruits and nectar. Here the bird is feeding on the Palash Flowers.

Females have turquoise throat. The juvenile look similar to females and has a turquoise throat but is brighter near the mustachio region.

The Oriental White-Eye (Zosterops palpebrosus) is a widespread resident of the Indian Sub-continent. The white eye-ring is the most prominent and distinguishing feature of this little bird. The bird loves open-broadleaved forest area and is highly arboreal. One will rarely see this bird on ground. In the picture above, it is seen amongst the Palash flowers feeding on nectar; however, it is mainly insectivorous. The bird also feeds on various kinds of fruits.