In four previous blogs, I discussed top tips to become a good butterfly photographer: preparation, equipment, location and qualities. Today, I would like to add a fifth top tip: species knowledge.
Assuming that you would like to identify what you have photographed, basic species knowledge is essential. Everybody knows that. What I would like to highlight here is that to identify certain species, you need to combine knowledge with preparation.
Take for instance the very common Essex skipper (Thymelicus lineola). I photographed this particular specimen close to home.
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM f/4 1/100 ISO 800
The Essex skipper can only be distinguished from its close relative the Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) by the colour of the lower front-end of the antenna tip: black in the Essex skipper and orange in the Small skipper. The frontal shot of the Small skipper below shows that difference in colour clearly.
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM f/5.6 1/500 ISO 400
This is something that you would need to know prior to going in the field. Otherwise, you may just take a photograph of the dorsal side and be unable to check the colour of the antenna tip afterwards.
Now, in Europe, there are only a handful of butterflies that require specific knowledge to differentiate two species. It gets far more difficult in the neotropics.
For example when I visited Ecuador for the first time in 2021, I took this lovely shot of a Leondonta species, a member of the Whites (Pieridae) family. As Ecuador boasts well over 3,000 species my knowledge in general prior to our trip was average and specific species knowledge was poor. It turned out that a couple of Leodonta species are very much alike or even identical from the ventral side. It never occurred to me at the time to pick this butterfly up and photograph its dorsal side. It will probably forever remain just “Leondanta sp.”.
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM f/5.6 1/250 ISO 400
Another example was this Jamides species in Vietnam in 2023. There are a couple of Jamides species that show similar patterns on the ventral side. Actually, I did know that I would need a photograph of the upperside, but I simply forgot to take one. So I will probably never be able to put a name to this specimen.
Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/400 ISO 800
Of course, other than gently picking a butterfly up, there is a more subtle way to get a glimpse at the upperside: just get your camera ready in slowmotion video mode, aim it at the butterfly from a distance, disturb the butterfly and make it fly away and then grab a frame from your video showing the ventral side.
I have learned now to try and get a shot from both sides of the butterfly, unless I know for certain that I can ID it from just the ventral or dorsal side. Next time I go out to the tropics, I intend to photograph any butterfly from every possible angle as far as the circumstances allow, and learn to memory beforehand as much as possible all difficult-to-ID species. Hope to tell you later this year to what extent I succeeded!
On Day 11, I woke up at my usual time of 5 AM, got dressed and went out into the large garden of the lodge for some birdwatching. Once the sun came up, the first butterflies appeared and I bagged some six species even before breakfast.
Our destination for the day was the quarry of El Capricho where it was blazingly hot and very, very dry.
The tour bus at El Capricho
There were not many butterflies around, but the species that were present were pretty spectacular, such as Lyropteryx apollonia:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/640 ISO 160
and Caligo illioneus oberon which even opened its wings for a definitive identification:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/8 1/160 ISO 800Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/8 1/250 ISO 1600
After an hour or so, we took the bus and moved a little higher up on the road, then went all the way to the top of the hill. After we had exhausted ourselves in the forest, we repeated the same sequence downhill.
Back at the quarry, I spotted Eunica eurota with its bright blue upperwings. It was very skittish and flew away every time I approached it just a little too much to its liking. I set the R6 to highspeed mode and hit the shutter button like a madman. It resulted in two things: 1) some acceptable shots of the flying Eunica and 2) a jammed R6. Luckily for me, switching it off and then turning it on worked and it functioned flawlessly afterwards.
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/640 ISO 100Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/500 ISO 125
Day 12 was our final full day of butterflying and would see us return to the Apuya trail. Again, the trail proved to be one of the most productive locations of the tour. Our second visit delivered 74 species, a personal day record. What is maybe even more astonishing is that the species count had only 28% overlap with our first visit to Apuya on 5 October, which yielded 71 species. This clearly shows the value of returning to the same location in the tour itinerary.
You may have read on this butterfly photography blog that I dislike walking single file through the rainforest, as usually only the front (wo)man sees the butterflies before they are scared off. So the start of our final day was not the best, but that would change soon.
The Sunstreak Ecuador 2022 Tour group walking the Apuya trail in single file
Soon after, the group split: the majority went uphill with Andrew so I picked the valley track, known to us as “the gulley”. I never regretted the choice as I had the time of my life, photographing beautiful butterflies one after the other such as this magnificent Consul fabius:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/80 ISO 800
One of the more spectacular discoveries was this female Thereus brocki. It was only described by science as recent as 2015 by Robbins, Heredia & Busby. I am grateful to Mr. Zsolt Bálint for the ID.
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM f/3.5 1/125 ISO 400
Another nice opportunity presented itself when two forms of Heliconius doris met on a single leaf. On the left is the common blue form, on the right the much rarer red form. To see both is nice, to see both on the same day is great and to have both in the same photograph is absolutely fantastic!
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/640 ISO 8000Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/320 ISO 3200
“The gulley” held no more surprises for me and I decided to switch places. While going uphill, I saw Andrew coming down and we greeted each other with what had become become our customary greeting:
“Ah, Dr. Neild, how nice to see you!” and the reply: “Hello Dr. Livingstone, how are you doing?”
We grinned like two schoolboys exchanging lame jokes, but who cared as long as we were having fun?
Having spent some time at the top of the hill, it was time to make my way downhill when I spotted something green and flashy. It turned out to be a female Paiwarria telemus:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/200 ISO 1600
While going downhill I met Andrew who was just coming uphill again, and of course I showed him my little green gem. This elicited a very audible “WHAT THE F…” from our otherwise polite and self-controlled Beloved Leader who “requested” me in a very instructive way, not unsimilar to how other Latin American dictators rule, to show me the exact spot where I had last seen this particular butterfly. We rushed to the scene, but Paiwarria telemus apparently had been warned and wisely gone underground to escape the unwanted attention of the Apuya secret butterfly police.
One last thing on the Apuya trail: since I published the blog on our first visit to the trail, many skippers have been identified. There is one in particular that warrants attention. Tosta pseudospeculum (or Eantis pseudospeculum) has only been described as recent as 2015 (Mielke & Casagrande). Mr. Bernard Hermier was very kind to identify my many skipper photographs and he congratulated with a “bravo” on finding this particular species. My gratitude goes out to Mr. Hermier for his kind help!
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/200 ISO 1600
After these highlights, it was time for the drive to Rio Quijos Lodge where we enjoyed a fine meal of fresh trout. The rooms where large, quiet and dark so I slept like a baby.
Day 13, our very last day in the field, started with hummingbird watching with the sun still behind the horizon. The butterflying that day was difficult: we would depart around 14hrs so I felt a little rushed all day, butterfly numbers were not great so I had to cross the premises several times to find new species which consumed a lot of time and despite extensive baiting by Andrew, not much showed up.
The first pretty photograph was Eurema reticulata at the beach:
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Marco IS USM f/5.6 1/500 ISO 100
At the same beach, another highlight was this skipper pair. Dalla crithote on the left and Dalla mesoxantha on the right:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/200 ISO 200
Somehow I had managed to get a very mild sunstroke so I felt a bit wobbly when I entered the bus. With windows open and the air getting chillier as we climbed, the symptoms quickly disappeared. After a brief stop at the Papallacta pass at 4,000 meters altitude, we descended towards Quito and checked in at the Holiday Inn. Part of the group left for the US straight after our farewell dinner, and the next morning it was just me and Andrew chatting away over breakfast while Emily & Brett were doing some birdwatching around the hotel. The most important bird to arrive later that day was the big blue KLM jet that brought me home.
To wrap it up: we had a phantastic tour thanks to Andrew and my fellow travellers. My grand total is 416 species plus some mysteries outstanding. With Panca steinhauseri, Tosta pseudospeculum and Thereus brocki the tour produced also three very nice rarities, as well as a rare sighting of Eurytides dolicaon. I am very pleased with the tour and would definitely like to recommend it to every butterfly lover. Needless to say, I already have sweet dreams about joining another tour somewhere in the future. Colombia, Peru maybe….zzzzzz….
My wildest butterfly dreams come true at Wild Sumaco Lodge
Our first day at Wild Sumaco Lodge would turn out to be one of the most magnificent and productive of all days: stunning scenery, absolutely gorgeous weather and tons of butterflies (68 species in a single day!).
The morning was already very promising with clear skies and a brilliant view on snow-covered Antisana vulcanoe in the distance.
Antisana vulcanoe in the distance (Iphone)
After breakfast, we took the bus and drove one kilometer down the road to a little stream at approximately 1,200 meters altitude. I would spend all morning at this single spot: there was just so much to see. Every time I intended to walk some place else, a new butterfly species would appear and draw my attention, such as Memphis lineata…
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/500 ISO 640
…and Lycorea ilione:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/80 ISO 1250
The only drawback was that my Canon R6 overheated in mid-morning. This still amazes me as I had not been shooting any video, nor was it any hotter than other days. I pulled out the battery and laid it down in the shade, grabbed my second body from the backpack and put the old but venerable 70D to work. After 30 minutes or so, the R6 had cooled down and would trouble me no more for the rest of the tour.
The Sunstreak 2022 tour group spreads out in formation (Iphone)
Here we have from left to right Heliconius doris, Eresia polina, Adelpha alala negra, Heliconius melpomene and Hypanartia lethe with two Satyrinae species in the background:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/640 ISO 320
Around noon I got hungry and stepped into the bus for my regular ham sandwich & snacks lunch. Our driver Walter was cleaning the bus with disco and reggae coming out of the loudspeakers at top volume. Our little tour bus turned into a mini dance floor with Walter and me doing the boogie-woogie and laughing our hearts out, before he turned back to cleaning and I devoured my sandwich. Still makes me smile!
In the afternoon I headed into the cloudforest and discovered a single leaf with seven or eight butterflies on it, clearly a place where Andrew had been baiting. I spent well over an hour at this single leaf, as new species turned up to suck on the moisture every now and then, such as Catonephele salambria:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/640 ISO 1250
At the end of the afternoon I was down to a single battery and my own personal battery was running low as well, just like everyone else so we returned to the lodge for another great meal. Over beers Andrew pointed out that he was slightly disappointed with the tour: he estimated butterfly quantity and variety at 20% of normal volumes. What?! Say again?? Okay…..no worries mate, we’ll cope with this disastrous news just fine….
In stark contrast to brilliant day 8, the ninth day of the tour was a bit of a nonstarter. You know, when you are on a 14-day tour, there comes a point in time when you start to miss your wife dearly, the heat is more oppressive than usual and everyone around you gets at your nerves for no reason. Let’s quickly forget about day 9 as it ended with a thunderstorm that finished our butterflying rather early and damaged the lodge’s Wi-Fi, so I could not contact the homefront which was the only thing that I longed for. The only highlight from day 9 was Eurytides dolicaon which even Andrew had not seen before in Ecuador:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/9 1/200 ISO 1000
Day 10 was a repetition of day 8 in every way, which means: brilliant. It had rained throughout the night so we were treated with a true cloudforest view in the morning:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/640 ISO 640
By the time we drove away from the lodge the skies had cleared. We stopped at the very same spot and the party started all over again with one welcome difference: almost all butterfly species were different from day 8. My species count soared as well as my mood.
Highlight of the day was this mirror shot of Lieinix nemesis:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/640 ISO 320
And again, there was a leaf covered in butterfies. From top to bottom Achlyodes pallida, Emesis castigata, Diaethria neglecta, an unidentified moth and Rhetus dysonii:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/500 ISO 1250
By the end of the afternoon, we drove back to Tena and settled into a new hotel. It took ages for dinner to appear, but the quality was good and I crashed into my bed quickly afterwards. The tour was quickly drawing to a close. Would there be any spectacular discoveries waiting for us? Yes, there would…
Two memorable rare butterflies plus a peppered Chinese meal
You know you have seen something special when your experienced tour leader looks at your camera’s screen and more or less rushes to the place where you have last seen the butterfly. It happened to me not once, but twice on Day 6 of our grand Ecuador butterfly tour.
The day had started tame enough. It had rained heavily all night and the sky was grey. Our first stop was at some nondescript jungle path where a passing Morpho menelaus caused the only excitement.
By the time we arrived at our main destination, the sun was shining in full force. On Google Earth Andrew had picked the spot where small Rio Huaysayacu joins a bigger river. The junction between the two rivers had formed a natural swimming pool. The locals in their swimming trunks carrying sodas and snacks contrasted in an odd way with the nine tourists in their jungle fatigues carrying cameras and long lenses.
Natural swimming pool (IPhone)
I spent the first hour or so at the parking lot, there was just so much to see and enjoy. One species that was high on my trip bucket list was kind enough to pose for me, Lasaia agesilas:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/9 1/500 ISO 160
Then it was time to go through the gate and head for the river. There were butterflies flying in all directions and many were licking minerals at places where people had barbecued. I had the time of my life. I strolled upstream of the small river and spotted Andrew, Greg and Vicki in the distance. They had not seen much butterflies, but the scenery was so breathtaking that I forgot about our little flying friends for a while and just enjoyed being in a tropical rainforest and listening to the sound of water flowing, birds calling and locals swimming.
Andrew and Greg in the distance (IPhone)
After a while the butterfly vibe returned and I headed back to the action. And plenty of action too. Butterflies were puddling in substantial numbers near a construction site such as Historis odius:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/200 ISO 100
It was well past noon now and I was craving for my sandwich and returned to the bus. I spotted a light-grey leafwing and prioritized this over lunch. That was a wise decision, because when Andrew showed up and viewed my picture, he forgot about lunch as well and rushed to the butterfly. According to Andrew, it is so rare that even Keith Willmott has not seen it. I made this nice close-up of Polygrapha xenocrates:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/500 ISO 160
But today’s story keeps getting better. Right next to the leafwing, another stunning rarity made a presence. Asterope markii hewitsoni could not care less about Andrew and me photographing it from every possible angle. What an extraordinary day! I am more than happy with this close-up as well:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/500 ISO 125
Having quickly devoured my sandwich, I returned to the river. I photographed some nice butterflies but nothing special. By then it was mid afternoon, blazingly hot and humid and I was starting to run on empty. At one of the hawker stalls, I paid a dollar for a Sprite but would have gladly paid five if the seller had asked for it. But the Ecuadorians have shown to me nothing but honesty and kindness in both my visits to the country.
Anyway, I crossed a little bridge to take a break in the shade next to some locals dozing in their hammocks. The butterflies though allowed me no rest. At first Historis odius flew by and I could get some nice in-flight slowmotion video. Then beautiful Callicore atacama with its tiger stripe pattern appeared; I almost spilled the Sprite and grabbed my camera as quickly as possible. It took a dozen attempts but then I had what I wanted:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/200 ISO 500
The Callicore had required me to lie flat on my belly for the hundredth time or so that day and my personal battery was flashing red: 10% energy left. Power up or perish! As I had no more snacks left and the hawker stall sold only big fat maggots (I kid you not), returning to the bus again was the only option. I met Andrew at the other end of the bridge where a second Callicore atacama, this one damaged, was fluttering. Andrew got all excited so I pointed him to the fresh specimen at the hammock place and he rushed off for the second time that day, only to return later with a big smile on his face. Made my day as well.
That’s when Vicki informed us about a small puddle party at the beach and you know, 10% personal battery is not 0% so who cares about food when there are new butterflies to discover? By the way, thank you Vicki, you are the undisputed master of puddle party discoveries.
The puddle party was not big in numbers but quite so in species. From left to right are Eurema xantochlora, Heraclides thoas, Marpesia crethon, Melete leucanthe, Glutophrissa drusilla, Aphrissa statira, Melete lycimnia and Phoebis argante. That’s eight species in one single photograph!
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/500 ISO 640
The scenery at the river was strikingly beautiful and Andrew was kind enough (again) to take some great photographs of me in action.
The author in action (copright Andrew Neild)
Back at the parking lot, some monkeys were loud high up in the trees, but I was just too wasted to point my camera upwards, so I settled for this Sunstreak Tour 2022 group shot instead.
The Sunstreak Tour 2022 group looking for monkeys (IPhone)
So, after a very succesful day we returned to Tena exhausted and ended up at the Chinese restaurant. A day that had started so uneventful was about to end in spectacular fashion. Right when the first plate of steaming hot food arrived, some local fighting with two cops stumbled into the place. Apparently it was a powerful man as he gained the upper hand. One cop asked for backup first and then dosed the place with pepperspray. Time for us to get the hell out of Dodge! The owner of the restaurant and his family joined the fray, more cops started to arrive, a veritable crowd formed on the street to watch the “entertainment” and the atmosphere was getting more frenzied by the minute. Time to get the hell out of Dodge for the second time, and this time for good. Suddenly a third pizza in four days did not seem such a bad idea after all and we ended up at our regular Italian. Such a crazy end to an otherwise incredibly succesful day. Especially so for that poor family operating the restaurant and scraping a living.
The next day the sky was grey again. It was time to say goodbye to Tena for the time being and head for Wild Sumaco Lodge. There was a slight drizzle for most of the time on the road. We made a stop at small Rio Pingullo but not much stirred. Only when the sun made itself feel for a short time, skippers appeared out of nowhere. There was one that looked all black to the naked eye and I did not pay it much attention at first, as those plain black skippers are a pain in the *** to identify. To be on the safe side I took a casual record shot, looked at the image, reprimanded myself for getting sluggish and went for the real deal. Beautiful Panca steinhauseri had shown its true colours in my flashlight:
Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM f/7.1 1/200 ISO 640
This skipper was only described as recent as 2015 (by Dolibaina & Warren) and is apparently extremely rare. Isnt’t it amazing that we encountered it on this two-week tour?
Then it started to rain for real and we drove to Wild Sumaco Lodge in one go. At 1,400 meters in the cloudforest, this was a promising new location for mid-altitude butterflies. Due to the weather, I spent the afternoon photographing hummingbirds at the feeders and just relaxing. Dinner was excellent. My room was nice, quiet and…crowded. Although I had booked and paid for the single supplement, there were other guests in my room: a cockroach, a huge grasshopper and some third unidentified large insect. After I had evicted the unwanted visitors, I crashed on my bed and slept like a log.
Red admiral 