Painted Lady Butterfly – Dhahran Waste Water Lake

The first major sightings of Painted Lady butterfly tend to appear in late March possibly as a result of the occasional rains that fall during the month. Although the Painted Lady can survive in Saudi Arabia in most years the majority of butterflies are probably migrants. The Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world occurring on all continents except Antarctica. It is a large butterfly with a buffy-orange background colour to the upper-wings. The forewings have black tips marked with white spots and the hind-wings have rows of brown or black circular spots. The underside of the wing is pale buff brown than the upper-wing. Newly emerged butterflies are brighter coloured, with the colouring becoming muted with age.

Painted Lady Butterfly – Dhahran Percolation Pond

The first Painted Lady butterfly of the year appeared in early-January this year, possibly as a result of the very heavy rains we have had recently. Although the Painted Lady can survive in Saudi Arabia in most years the majority of butterflies are probably migrants. The Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world occurring on all continents except Antarctica. It is a large butterfly with a buffy-orange background colour to the upper-wings. The forewings have black tips marked with white spots and the hind-wings have rows of brown or black circular spots. The underside of the wing is pale buff brown than the upper-wing. Newly emerged butterflies are brighter coloured, with the colouring becoming muted with age. This butterfly was with many other feeding on a Pearl Plant.

Painted Lady Butterfly – Al Uqayr

A big influx of Painted Lady butterfly occurred in mid-March with hundreds of butterflies everywhere you looked. Although the Painted Lady can survive in Saudi Arabia in most years the majority of butterflies are probably migrants. The Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world occurring on all continents except Antarctica. It is a large butterfly with a buffy-orange background colour to the upper-wings. The forewings have black tips marked with white spots and the hind-wings have rows of brown or black circular spots. The underside of the wing is pale buff brown than the upper-wing. Newly emerged butterflies are brighter coloured, with the colouring becoming muted with age.

Painted Lady Butterfly – Dhahran Hills

The first Painted Lady butterfly of the year appear in late January possibly as a result of the very heavy rains we have had recently. Although the Painted Lady can survive in Saudi Arabia in most years the majority of butterflies are probably migrants. The Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world occurring on all continents except Antarctica. It is a large butterfly with a buffy-orange background colour to the upper-wings. The forewings have black tips marked with white spots and the hind-wings have rows of brown or black circular spots. The underside of the wing is pale buff brown than the upper-wing. Newly emerged butterflies are brighter coloured, with the colouring becoming muted with age.

Painted Lady –Talea Valley

Whilst birding the Talea Valley recently I saw a Painted Lady butterfly. Although the Painted Lady can survive in Saudi Arabia in most years the majority of butterflies are probably migrants. The Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world occurring on all continents except Antarctica. It is a large butterfly with a buffy-orange background colour to the upper-wings. The forewings have black tips marked with white spots and the hind-wings have rows of brown or black circular spots. The underside of the wing is pale buff brown than the upper-wing. Newly emerged butterflies are brighter coloured, with the colouring becoming muted with age.

Butterflies – Abha area

Whilst birding the Abha area recently I came across a few butterflies. The African Lime Swallowtail is a common butterfly of this region of southwest Saudi Arabia and I saw good numbers on the ground in a group at the bottom of the Raydah Escarpment. This was the first time I had seen tem gathering like this. Painted Lady butterflies were also very common and could be seen in many places, with this one shown below photographed in the Talea Valley just outside Abha. The Doubleday Acraea is a less common but still regularly seen butterfly and was seen and photographed about 50 kilomenters south of Abha still in the Asir mountains.

African Lime Swallowtail

African Lime Swallowtail

Painted Lady

Doubleday Acraea

Painted Lady Butterfly – Dhahran Hills

The first Painted Lady butterfly of the year appear in late March possibly as a result of the very heavy rains. Although the Painted Lady can survive in Saudi Arabia in most years the majority of butterflies are probably migrants. The Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world occurring on all continents except Antarctica. It is a large butterfly with a buffy-orange background colour to the upper-wings. The forewings have black tips marked with white spots and the hind-wings have rows of brown or black circular spots. The underside of the wing is pale buff brown than the upper-wing. Newly emerged butterflies are brighter coloured, with the colouring becoming muted with age.

Painted Lady - Tanoumah

Whist birdwatching in the Tanoumah area of southwest Saudi Arabia I came across a Painted Lady Butterfly. I have seen these hundreds of times in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia where I live but have not seen them on my many visits to the southwest until this trip. Painted Lady butterflies which is one of no less than 130 species of butterfly that occur in the Arabian region. The majority of these butterflies live in the mountainous regions of south-west Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman, but even the desert regions have their permanent and semi-permanent residents. The Painted Lady belongs to a group of butterflies which have not specialized, yet also survive. They are a migrant species and their survival strategy is based on mobility and the endless search for conditions where they can breed. The Painted Lady and other migrant butterflies are less specialized in their choice of food plant and habitat than most of the sedentary species. This is because they can't be as fussy to survive and as a result can live in harsher environments. If winter rains have been good and flora has flourished the number of Painted Lady recorded increases significantly.

Painted Lady near Dammam – Record by Vinu Mathew

Vinu found and photographed a couple of Painted Lady at a site near Dammam in January 2016. This is a common butterfly at times but as Saudi Arabia has a mostly desert environment it is often difficult to persuade people that wildlife can be abundant at certain times in the region. The Painted Lady is a migrant species and their survival strategy is based on mobility and the endless search for conditions where they can breed. The Painted Lady is the world's most cosmopolitan butterfly and when it has a successful breeding season; individual butterflies can fly in any direction with some travelling thousands of kilometres. Thus if some habitat in Arabia is suddenly blessed with an abundance of rain, some Painted Lady will almost certainly find it, breed and lay their eggs. Their progeny will then almost certainly leave the area, so if the area is not suitable for breeding again for many years, it won't matter; the progeny will have found still other places to breed. Obviously many butterflies die in such a process as this nomadic life is harsh, but the species will survive. The Painted Lady and other migrant butterflies are less specialized in their choice of food plant and habitat than most of the sedentary species. This is because they can't be as fussy to survive and as a result can live in harsher environments. If winter rains have been good and flora has flourished the number of Painted Lady recorded increases significantly. As a result of our recent rains there is a strong probability that a good number of these butterflies will be seen this year.

Ducks & Grebes are back on the pond – Dhahran Hills

The percolation pond is full of water again and has been for about a month. Birds have just started finding the pond again with a few Great Cormorants being the first closely followed by Black-headed Gulls and Little Grebes. In the last few days duck numbers have increased with 28 Eurasian Teal, six Northern Shoveller and six Tufted Ducks seen. The Great Crested Grebe has also returned which was slightly surprising as very little in the way of reed beds are still present. The areas around the pond have a few Common Chiffchaff and a single Daurian Shrike with a flock of 100+ Pallid Swift and a single House Martin over the pond. This maybe the first signs of spring migration starting as it occurs early in Saudi Arabia and lets hope it will be a good one. The spray fields are holding a few birds now and my first singing Graceful Prinia of the year was seen there along with a few Water Pipits and White Wagtails. The North Caspian Taxon (NCT) Stonechat was still present in the same area along with plenty of Painted Lady Butterflies. Apart from this a single Eurasian Sparrowhawk flew over at last light and the Red-tailed Wheatear was still present on the same rocks where it has been for over a month.

White Wagtail

Water Pipit

Graceful Prinia

North Caspian Stonechat

Painted Lady

Painted Lady Butterfly – Dhahran Hills

The first Painted Lady butterflies of the year  started to appear in late November possibly as a result of the very heavy rains. Additonal butterflies have been seen through to now suggesting it may be a good year for them again. They were mainly in the spray fields but also along the edge of the dry percolation pond. Although the Painted Lady can survive in Saudi Arabia in most years the majority of butterflies are probably migrants. The Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world occurring on all continents except Antarctica. It is a large butterfly with a buffy-orange background colour to the upper-wings. The forewings have black tips marked with white spots and the hind-wings have rows of brown or black circular spots. The underside of the wing is pale buff brown than the upper-wing. Newly emerged butterflies are brighter coloured, with the colouring becoming muted with age.

Painted Lady – Shedgum Escarpment

As Saudi Arabia has a mostly desert environment it is often difficult to persuade people that wildlife can be abundant at certain times in the region. One such even that occurs annually is the migration of Painted Lady butterflies which is one of no less than 130 species of butterfly that occur in the Arabian region. The majority of these butterflies live in the mountainous regions of south-west Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman, but even the desert regions have their permanent and semi-permanent residents. The Painted Lady belongs to a group of butterflies which have not specialized, yet also survive. They are a migrant species and their survival strategy is based on mobility and the endless search for conditions where they can breed. The Painted Lady is the world's most cosmopolitan butterfly and when it has a successful breeding season; individual butterflies can fly in any direction with some travelling thousands of kilometres. Thus if some habitat in Arabia is suddenly blessed with an abundance of rain, some Painted Lady will almost certainly find it, breed and lay their eggs. Their progeny will then almost certainly leave the area, so if the area is not suitable for breeding again for many years, it won't matter; the progeny will have found still other places to breed. Obviously many butterflies die in such a process as this nomadic life is harsh, but the species will survive. The Painted Lady and other migrant butterflies are less specialized in their choice of food plant and habitat than most of the sedentary species. This is because they can't be as fussy to survive and as a result can live in harsher environments. If winter rains have been good and flora has flourished the number of Painted Lady recorded increases significantly.

Painted Lady Invasion – Eastern Province

Whilst birding various sites to the north and west of Jubail we noticed lots of Painted Lady butterflies. At first light around Hanidh we saw a few flying around but had no idea how many we would see during the day. As the day progressed we started seeing more and more with over 1000 seen in an area where some water had spilled onto the ground from a water storage tank. We assumed there must be some sort of salt lick here as there were so many butterflies but after heading to some large spray fields we saw maybe 5000 butterflies in one field. During the day we must have seen over 10,000 butterflies that is a sight I expect I will not see again. We also saw a couple of large blue butterflies some Clouded Yellow butterflies and a number of both red, Seven Spot Ladybirds and Eleven Spot yellow Ladybirds.

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Painted Ladies

Blue Butterfly species?

Seven Spot Ladybird

Painted Lady - Dhahran Hills

The first Painted Lady butterflys of the year have just started to appear in the last two weeks with a number seen along the raised embankment around one side of the spray fields. Although the Painted Lady can survive in Saudi Arabia in most years the majority of butterflys are probably migrants.

The Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world occurring on all continents except Antarctica. It is a large butterfly with a buffy-orange background colour to the upper-wings. The fore-wings have black tips marked with white spots and the hind-wings have rows of brown or black circular spots. The underside of the wing are pale buff brown than the upper-wing. Newly emerged butterflies are brighter coloured, with the colouring becoming muted with age.

The Painted Lady is not yet specialized to the Arabian Peninsula although they can survive for periods if conditions are suitable. They survive by being a migrant species that survives due to their ability to move in search of suitable conditions where they can breed. It is a strong migrant and can occur in areas where it does not survive normally. In rainly years huge numbers breed in the Arabian Desert. They regularly undertake long-distance directional movements, sometimes many thousands of kilometres, in large numbers, which is an essential component of their life cycle and survival strategy. They normally feed on plants that ae of no interest to man, however, when a rapid population build up occurs it will feed on other plants and can destroy crops such as cotton, egg-plant and Ladies-fingers. In the desert if numbers are very high they can reduce the grazing matter for domestic animals.