Butterflies

Quicklink: Checklist of Butterflies for the ELZ

The Bend of Islands has a diverse range of butterflies. Thirty-seven species have been recorded since 2005. There are four additional species recorded between 1970 to 1996, and a few others that may possibly occur here.

An excellent field guide was produced by Michael Braby in 2004 and is available from the Eltham Bookshop. This guide, and the availability of long zoom digital cameras have made the world of butterflying accessible to anyone who has an interest in nature.

By optimising the camera settings, and with some practice, reasonable photos can be achieved that can then be used to identify the species from a field guide. Just like learning to identify birds, this process becomes easier with experience.

Using this method the butterflies don't need to be captured in a net, the traditional method that can often seriously damage the specimen. There is a catch however; some butterflies spend most of their time high in the tree-tops and are not readily photographed.

A checklist of butterfly species known to occur in the ELZ has been compiled, the list can also be used to record monthly sightings for each year.

It can be downloaded here; Checklist of Butterflies for the ELZ

References

- The Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia - by Michael Braby 2016

- Butterflies Identification and Life History - by Ross P. Field 2013

Websites;

Museum Victoria Bioinformatics Butterflies - Lots of species data

Please send feed-back, annual lists or details of any interesting sightings to jmandfp@bigpond.com