A morning high tea scheduled at 11am at Fairmont Singapore hosted by National Institute of Education on 19 Feb made me change my weekend outing plan - so I decided to stroll around Toa Payoh Town Park. What a pleasant surprise to me, there were lots of butterfly activities at one end of the park.
Many Grass Blues fluttering around the Lantana bushes - but they hardly perched. However, I was lucky to spot one Pygmy Grass Blue (Zizula hylax pygmaea) ovipositing on a Lantana flower bud.
Can you identify this small Grass Blue butterfly by looking at its uppersides ?
A close resemblance to the Pygmy Grass Blue, the Lesser Grass Blue (Zizina otis lampa) was also flitting around the Lantana bushes.
This pretty female (thanks Khew for correcting me this is a "she") Green Baron (Euthalia adonia pinwilli) was a surprise to me as it has not been spotted in the park for a long time. Though she was feeding on the flowers of the Yellow-veined Eranthemum (Pseuderanthemum reticulatum), she was still very alert and sensitive to flash light - no chance for me to get a better shot.
There were a pair of Chocolate Demon (Ancistroides nigrita maura) zipping in and out of a cluster of Ginger plants. A skittish bugger which never perched long enough for me to take a better shot of how it was "fishing" out the nectar from the Eranthemum flowers.
Another Demon skipper, this time a Grass Demon (Udaspes folus) which preferred the highly colourful Lantana flowers.
After feeding, it opened its wings sunbathing under the morning sun.
This fast and swift-flying brown Swift skipper - possibly the commonest Small Banded Swift (Pelopidas mathias mathias) was feeding on the Lantana flowers intermittently.
A relatively large orange skipper, a Yellow Palm Dart (Cephrene trichopepla) perched quite elegantly on the edge of a leaf, waiting for me to take a few shots.
Occasionally, it opened its wings partially and with this shot I hope I have identified it correctly.
It was a fruitful 90 minutes of lazing and shooting in the park - I could not remember when was the last time I filled up the CF card with butterfly shots. In fact there were a few other skippers zipping around and an uncooperative Sailor butterfly perching beyond my reach but the Peacock Royal (Tajuria cippus maxentius) still remains elusive - hope it appears soon.
Fed, your Green Baron is a 'she'. The male of the species does not have the white band across the wings. Glad to hear that butterfly activity has returned to TPTP.
ReplyDeleteThanks Khew
ReplyDeleteOnce again my memory fails me - is getting worst. Next time I must check with your book more frequently.