Philippines wildlife

Twenty-two mga paruparo

~ Rachel L Shaw ~ 4 Comments

When I visited the Philippines in 2015 for the launch of my picturebooks, we went on a short trek on Mount Makiling. Short probably because I spent so much time chasing butterflies and taking photos that we didn’t get very far!

The butterflies were amazing, I had never seen so many different species in one place. I didn’t know what they were, but made a note of their colours and markings. A very small blue one, a white one with a large black eyespot, one that looks like a zebra. By the end of the trek, we’d see twenty-two different species!

Nakakita tayo ng dalawampu’t dalawa na ibat-ibang klase ng paruparo. Nakita din natin ang malaki na gagamba …but that’s another story (NB I had help with the tagalog!).

Such a remarkable number of species on one short walk.
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This is my identification book for the butterflies of Britain and Ireland. It’s not very big because there aren’t many butterfly species. Just 59 species in the entire country. I’ve seen 39 of them.

To see 22 butterfly species in just a short walk; it was as if Mount Makiling was demonstrating to me the true meaning of biodiversity (perhaps it was Maria Makiling herself showing me).

I failed to get photos of most of them and the ones I did get aren’t great but thank you to the wonderful people at Philippine Lepidoptera for identifying them. Check out their facebook page or website for some fantastic butterfly and moth photos and marvel at the biodiversity of the Philippines!

Ragadia luzonia negrosensisRagadia luzonia negrosensis

Koruthaialos rubecula luzonensisKoruthaialos rubecula luzonensis

Ypthima sempera semperaYpthima sempera sempera

Parantica luzonensis luzonensisParantica luzonensis luzonensis

Eurema sarilata aquiloEurema sarilata aquilo

Appias nephele nepheleAppias nephele nephele

Faunis phaon panFaunis phaon pan

Pithecops corvusPithecops corvus

Two butterflies that I managed to photograph in other locations in the Philippines:

Parthenos sylvia philippensisParthenos sylvia philippensis

Troides rhadamantus rhadamantusTroides rhadamantus rhadamantus

Sky islands of Luzon (a poem)

Illustrated of a Banahaw tree mouse
~ Rachel L Shaw ~ Leave a comment

Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines, contains the world’s greatest concentration of unique species of mammals. Of 56 non-flying mammals now known to live on Luzon island, 52 are found nowhere else on Earth.

Reading about these endemic mammals inspired me to write a little poem:

There are islands in the sky 
where foxes have wings and fly.
Rats run amongst the clouds
which cover the forest with misty shrouds
and tiny bats snooze
inside shoots of bamboos.

Mice grow their whiskers from their noses
to the tips of their toes’s
and search under ferns
for juicy worms.
Where are these animals from?
Only the mountain-top islands of Luzon.

— Sky Islands of Luzon —
by Rachel Shaw

Illustrated of a Banahaw tree mouse Banahaw tree mouse (Musseromys gulantang)

Mount Banahaw, LuzonMount Banahaw (my photo from my first visit to the Philippines in 2009)

 

Click on the picture to see my picture books featuring wildlife found only in the Philippines:

Picture books about Philippine wildlife

 

 

Stories that became books

~ Rachel L Shaw ~ 2 Comments

Can’t quite believe it but my three stories are now books! By this time next week, children in the Philippines will be reading them! So excited to be travelling to Manila for the book launch on Wednesday.

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The books are being published in the Philippines by The Bookmark, Inc. and will be available from their offices, from Fullybooked branches and Mt. Cloud store in Baguio City and maybe some other stores too. They don’t have online sales but sales from outside the Philippines are possible by emailing your details (address, etc.) and payment (in advance) covering the value of the book plus the freight charges first.