Common Blue Apollo

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Common Blue Apollo, West Himalayan subspecies (Parnassius hardwickii hardwickii)

An uncommon, fast-flying butterfly of high-altitudes in the Himalayas. Although it is the commonest member of the Snow Apollo group, it is still a difficult one to find.
Sighted one of these while trekking up in Jalori. Pursued it for a long time, but in vain, and finally gave up. On the way down, I saw it approaching again from behind, and clicked as it flew by.
This is the only image I could capture; it is one of the few photographic records of this species, and one of the handful of images of this subspecies. This could very well be the sighting of the year for me personally. :)

Clicked in a partly snow-clad alpine meadow at Jalori, Himachal Pradesh. Altitude 3200m AMSL.

Canon 500D, Canon 100mm Macro USM
SS 1/4000
Av 4.5
ISO 800
Cropped

Thanks, C&C welcome.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Great sighting. Good you could photograph it. Even in flight, the details have come out well. Your efforts have paid off. Seems you managed to get some rare photographs in your Himalayan adventure :). Thanks for sharing the details and the information.