First Day of The Tiger Year @ Lower Pierce Reservoir Park

I decided to "sneak out" to Lower Peirce Reservoir Park in the early afternoon on the first day of the Tiger Year (14 Feb). I was rather disappointed that there wasn't any red butterflies or critters appeared to say "Gong Xi Fa Cai" to me. Perhaps they have gone to visit their relatives in other parts of the forested areas.

A very common and widely spread butterfly, the underside wings of Common Palmfly (Elymnias hypermnestra agina) are speckled and brown predominantly. This species very rarely opens its wings to reveal its upperside. Very frequently, Painted Jezebel (Delias hyparete metarete ) was seen fluttering at tree tops. This specimen was kind enough to remain at my eye level for a while. The orange and yellow patches on the underside of the hindwings make this slow-flying Delias species a very pretty and elegant butterfly.
There were quite a few small blue leaf beetles. I found this pair was "teasing" each other using their antennae, a rather interesting behaviour. I guess they were going through a kind of courtship ritual before mating. Or were they "fighting" ? This hairy moth larva with a pretty cute head was crawling on a twig. It moved rather fast. I tried to snap its side view before it turned around on the twig.

This is another moth larva found resting on a leaf surface. We can easily spot Robber Fly species (Family : Asilidae) in our forested areas. They are stout and fierce predators of butterflies, moths and other smaller insects. This is the dorsal view of the same fly which stayed quite still in a shade. I suppose this is another species of beetle which kept moving on a leaf surface. A few senior citizens and a group of foreign workers were intrigued by two different melody of bird songs but we just could not locate where exactly the birds were at the forest canopy. Many of us stood there for a while and enjoyed the beautiful music they have created for us - I should have recorded the songs.