Great Helen

[horace2264]

Sightings of Great Helen are getting more frequent for me along MNT over the past fortnight, both adults and cats. Here is one I tried unsuccessfully to freeze the motion of the flapping wings while it was feeding on the flower.

I am also keeping my fingers crossed for the successful eclosion of a maturing pupa overnight.

[Commander]

Looks like butt season is starting again, now that the monsoon season is tailing off. Good to observe the species and numbers coming back.

Shooting the Great Helen in flight whilst feeding requires shutter speeds of about 1/500s. Somehow, the flapping of the wings tend to be frozen at that shutter speed or higher. It occasionally stops for less than a second, and it'll depend on whether you are in the right position to shoot or not.

Looking forward to your GH eclosion shots!

[horace2264]

Looks like butt season is starting again, now that the monsoon season is tailing off. Good to observe the species and numbers coming back.

Shooting the Great Helen in flight whilst feeding requires shutter speeds of about 1/500s. Somehow, the flapping of the wings tend to be frozen at that shutter speed or higher. It occasionally stops for less than a second, and it'll depend on whether you are in the right position to shoot or not.

Looking forward to your GH eclosion shots!

Thanks for the tips on the shutter speeds. I did use speeds faster than 1/500s, but I guess I was not in the right position when I snapped at rapid fires.

The GH eclosed very early this morning, and I found it very hard to handle such a large-sized butt with my make-shift studio set. In the end I only managed to take a few decent shots. Will post some of them tonight in the Early-Stages sub-forum.

[horace2264]

Looks like butt season is starting again, now that the monsoon season is tailing off. Good to observe the species and numbers coming back.

Just to echo Khew's remark that the numbers are coming back, here are two shots I took today when I returned to CCA to release the Great Helen adult. Along the trail with very wet and muddy grounds, there were many puddling butts. Blue Jay and Cruiser realy came out in numbers.