Saturday, March 16, 2019
In praise of Lepidopodistry and those fleeting flitters
Everyone has an alternate career option set- a set of vocations they would not have minded devoting significant time to. I do, too- and I recently discovered a new one to add to the set- being a lepidopterist. The flapping of the wings, the optimal speed of flight (eminently trackable yet requires non-insigificant ciliary muscle effort), the brilliant colors and transfixing patterns - all make for highly pleasant and relaxing viewing. The difference from ornithology: these guys are much closer, speed of flight is easier on the eye, and purely in terms of visual appeal, butterflies win. Butterflies, with their paper thin wings, also seem to me to signify the frailty and fleetingness of life- all that movement and enrapturing beauty is very tender. Same is the case with all life- larger and more corporeal life forms may appear more hardy, but even that life is tender and fleeting too and could be wiped away by any unforeseen event.
I was roaming in Bali, and came across two or three interesting butterflies. My longest encounter I captured in the video below. Apparently, Bali is at the center of (mostly illegal) butterfly trading, which I had discovered by reading this wonderful article on Nat Geo, which a long investigative piece on the (illegal) pursuit and capture of the elusive "Papilio Blumei" butterfly, the stunner in the picture below. Indonesia seems to be the world's best place to find butterflies. Here's the article: Nat Geo link
"
High among the treetops—higher than I would have searched for a butterfly—there’s a flicker of blue, like a scrap of confetti. Slowly it descends in a drifting, indirect route toward the decoy.
As it comes closer, I realize just how different it is from the decoy. It is a glittering thing, not one peacock tone but many. Its color has a fourth dimension; moment to moment as it moves, the color changes depending on the angle of its wings in the sun.
... As it moves toward its potential mate, Aris’s net shoots out and swallows it whole, like a diaphanous predator. It’s painful to see. I had forgotten, for a moment, about the net....
As we descend the waterfalls, though, it’s difficult to escape the moment the blumei ceased to move. It remained beautiful afterward, but in an instant all its fourth-dimensionality had drained away. It had become a mere gemstone or a splash of paint. More than for the butterfly, I feel sorrow for whoever will eventually hang it on a wall or tilt it on a desk. That person will never know just how exquisite it had been in life.
"
The video below is no Blumei, but captures my longest encounter in recent times. It was shot at Mesare resort in Nusa Penida, Bali. First 24 seconds are the pursuit, and 25th second onwards is fairly up-close and personal.
I was roaming in Bali, and came across two or three interesting butterflies. My longest encounter I captured in the video below. Apparently, Bali is at the center of (mostly illegal) butterfly trading, which I had discovered by reading this wonderful article on Nat Geo, which a long investigative piece on the (illegal) pursuit and capture of the elusive "Papilio Blumei" butterfly, the stunner in the picture below. Indonesia seems to be the world's best place to find butterflies. Here's the article: Nat Geo link
Above: Papilio blumei butterfly, which features in the article. The piece has several poetic segments, couple of which I reproduce below:
"
High among the treetops—higher than I would have searched for a butterfly—there’s a flicker of blue, like a scrap of confetti. Slowly it descends in a drifting, indirect route toward the decoy.
As it comes closer, I realize just how different it is from the decoy. It is a glittering thing, not one peacock tone but many. Its color has a fourth dimension; moment to moment as it moves, the color changes depending on the angle of its wings in the sun.
... As it moves toward its potential mate, Aris’s net shoots out and swallows it whole, like a diaphanous predator. It’s painful to see. I had forgotten, for a moment, about the net....
As we descend the waterfalls, though, it’s difficult to escape the moment the blumei ceased to move. It remained beautiful afterward, but in an instant all its fourth-dimensionality had drained away. It had become a mere gemstone or a splash of paint. More than for the butterfly, I feel sorrow for whoever will eventually hang it on a wall or tilt it on a desk. That person will never know just how exquisite it had been in life.
"
The video below is no Blumei, but captures my longest encounter in recent times. It was shot at Mesare resort in Nusa Penida, Bali. First 24 seconds are the pursuit, and 25th second onwards is fairly up-close and personal.
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