Collecting trips and expeditions

For me, collecting butterflies is very much about traveling the world. I have specimens from almost every place I ever visited. Some of these journeys are dedicated collecting trips, some are veritable expeditions deep into the rainforest or high in the mountains, others are family vacations, and some are short getaways from business travel. Here are a few field reports:

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Corcovado, Costa Rica 2002. My first collecting in a proper rain forest. The parc rangers confiscated my net. I had a spare mesh and improvised a new one using a y-shaped twig. It was practically useless, but I did get my first <i> Bibblidinae </i>: <i> Catonephele mexicana </i>.

The Mapiri trek in Bolivia, 2003. The trail is so overgrown, it is practically a tunnel! <i> Antirrhea phasiana </i> flies right in there!

A conference in Keystoe, CO, 2003. At 4000m a <i> Parnassius smintheus </i>!

In bright daylight! The sphinx <i> Hyles lineata </i> sipping nectar in Balck Canyon, Gila National Forest, N;M, 2003.

Beach at Monkey Island on the Rio Madre de Dios near P-to Maldonaldo, Peru, 2004. My first <i> Callicore </i>: <i> C. pyracmon </i>.

Eucalyptus forest near Tin Can Bay, Australia, 2005: <i> Cressida cressida </i>.

With Monte Fitz Roy in the backround, collecting in Patagonia, Argentina, 2007: <i> Argyrophorus chiliensis </i>.

My children never really got interested in butterflies, except when they were were younf of course. Here is my son Michael helping me collect in Cherokee National Forestin Tennessee back in 2007: <i> Papilio apalachiensis </i>.

Dusty roadside in Khanapur, Karnataka, India, Jan. 2008: <i> Delias eucharis </i>

My crashed rental car near Ringlet, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, March 2009: <i> Trogonoptera brookiana </i>

Light collecting on a river bank. I was warned of

Nephele rosae .">

With a motorbike, I was able to cover a lot of ground and visit many habitats in Laos in 2011. <i> Euploea camaralzeman </i>

Setting up a trap near the Koh Ra Eco Lodge during a family vacation in Thailand (2011): <i> Zeuxidia amethystus </i>

My guide and professional collector Hector Uraco. He taught me how to bait traps with cow blood. <i> Prepona hewitsonii beata </i>

Sulawesi 2008

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Cameroon 2010

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Laos 2011

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Guyana 2012

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Colombia 2013

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Madagascar 2013

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Raja Ampat 2013

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Maluku

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Brazil 2014

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Mindanao 2015

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Rwanda and Uganda 2015

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Peru 2016

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Taiwan 2016

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Cameroon 2018

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French Guiana 2020

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NE Ecuador 2021-2023

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NW Ecuador 2021-2022

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Central Ecuador 2021-2023

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South Ecuador 2023

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