Insects...bright & beautiful

Here are some of the insects that I have photographed. Their behaviour, colour, and size is what fascinates me the most. Since I have a point and shoot camera with not much zoom to spare for the birds, I was forced to love insects.

Ground Skimmer(male)

Ground Skimmer (female)

These tiny flying wonders are my favourite dragonflies. They are very tiny and like basking in the sun. It took a long time for me to get a good photograph of these dragonflies. They are very sensitive and fly away even if a small disturbance is caused. From what I have seen, these dragonflies fly very close to the ground and when disturbed, settle down very close to their former position, provided the disturbance isn't continuous.

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Grass Demon

This bold and beautiful butterfly is from the family of skippers. It feeds on plants like turmeric, torch ginger, white ginger, etc. Like most other skippers, it's larva folds the edge of it's host leaf, around itself and forms a covering on the underside of the leaf. Like I said earlier, it is a bold butterfly and isn't frightened easily.

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Red Pierrot

Red Pierrot Larva

This tiny butterfly belongs to the family of blues. It is a little larger than an average thumb nail. As beautiful as it may seem, those flashy colours it sports on it's wings, is actually a warning to predators. It is a poisonous butterfly. Don't worry, not to us humans, but mostly to birds. This butterfly likes basking in the sun and is very sensitive to disturbances.

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Crab Spider

This little guy (spider) is an ambush hunter. Crab spiders have the ability to merge very well with their surroundings. It's really tough to spot this spider unless, you are really close to it. You will realize why its called a crab spider, when you will see it in it's ready-to-strike pose, because you'll notice that it very much resembles a crab. It's front legs are positioned in manner quite similar to the pincers of crabs.

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Rice Swift

This is another beautiful and tiny skipper. It flies close to the ground and is really fast, so fast that you will only see a brown flash as it flies by. It does not fly straight and since it has a skipping flight, characterized by jumping-like moves in the flight, you can't predict where it'll be.

It prefers small flowers and is really very sensitive to disturbances. I was lucky to get the photograph which is posted above.

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Green Long-Legged Fly

This insect, from my point of view, is a flying jewel. It is a small fly and is often found resting on large leaves under bright sunshine. Under the sun, it glistens just like a jewel. It waits for small, soft body insects to fly by and then ambushes them. This beautiful fly, although not very big, helps us, by keeping away small pests. It is easily disturbed and is extremely fast in flight. One could consider this insect to be a, 'Pesticide on Wings'.

I will be thankful to those who will point out any errors in my articles.