Bali Long Weekend Part 3

Butterflies and Birds

We re-visited the Bali Bird Park because we enjoyed it so much on our last trip to Bali. We enjoyed the birds but didn't take very many photos.

Lately we've been seeing birds in many of the dining venues... this one is an albino peahen.

 A really beautiful owl. Just lucked out on the photo. No flash and it was a nocturnal habitat. My phone takes great pictures sometimes (discounting operator error they would all be great!).

There are two butterfly places on Bali. One is more famous and is probably larger but I'd read an article about the smaller Kemenuh Butterfly Park. The article implied that this smaller venue was more about conservation and education than entertainment so it sounded better to me. In truth it was small but was still very interesting. I believe the conservation/education component could have been stronger. The pieces were there but just not tied together in a way that would impact the visitors ( this is of course my opinion). They do "home grow" the butterflies in the Park and the majority of the species seem to be from Indonesia. I think the main educational experience was probably in the chrysalis room where they did have a couple of staff you could interact with and ask questions. The place could also use a couple of staffers to protect the butterflies from eager visitors. Certainly you could enjoy and appreciate the butterflies here but the steps to protect seemed missing. They did include many of the natural nectar sources of the butterflies themselves including these two plants- sirsak and jeruk bali. We enjoy both so are thankful to the butterflies for pollinating them!

Here are my best guesses about some of the species we saw at the Park. Many are in the swallowtail family. Several show both male and female and/or different color ways. Disclaimer: If you are a buttefly expert, please excuse any errors.

Great morman (Papilio memnon)

 Papilio peranthus

Common morman (Papilio polytes)

Tailed jay (Grapium agamemnon)

Great crow or large crow (Euplea phaenareta)

Common birdwing (Troides helena)

Malay lacewing (Cethosia hypsea)

What are these?

These are the chrysalides of various butterflies in the Park. The gold ones are from the lacewing. I love this butterfly. Their chrysalis appears to be made of solid gold. I don't remember the species for the top chrysalides.