Butterflies of Sri Lanka - #07 Chocolate Albatross

Southwest Monsoon had just begun. It was early morning. Through the incessant drizzle I noticed a small yellowish brown butterfly sheltering on the glossy leaves of Thel Eradu, Castor Oil (Ricinus communis).

On closer inspection it turned out to be a male Chocolate Albatross butterfly (Appias lyncida).

The male is white above with chocolate-brown or black margins, and, bright lemon-yellow below with chocolate-colored markings while the female is white and densely clouded with dark-brown.

I wanted to take a closeup photo of the butterfly as it was around 02 meters from me. I took my Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II Lens plus Ferrania 52mm UV Macro filter fitted on my Nikon D3200 thus increasing the focal length to 55mm. Now with this magnification I could reach up to the butterfly without disturbing it.

With rain clouds all over the morning sky, Light was fading fast. So I used my camera Live view mode to see wheither the butterfly was in focus or out. Next I used my built-in flash as soft light to get this beautiful shot. Even at low power my camera built-in flash was good enough to get f/8 at that distance. The depth of field at that distance was razor thin. you can see it eyes & wings are very sharp

In past, the butterfly ranges many across Southern province to Northern province of Sri Lanka. But now Chocolate Albatross is a rare forest butterfly of southern low country of the island. Flying strongly and swiftly close to the ground, the Albatross is frequently found in jungle clearings but sometimes can be seen in home gardens.

                                                                          Forewing

ISO -100  f/8 1/160sec

ISO -400  f/5.6 1/640sec