Sunday, February 17, 2013

From Bukit Brown to Lornie Trail

Very soon hoardings will be erected; construction machinery will move in and access to Bukit Brown - an old burial ground for many eminent pioneers of Singapore will be difficult. I dropped by Bukit Brown again on 26 Jan to check for the status of the Banded Line Blue (Prosotas lutea sivoka). I could only see one female trying to oviposit on the host plants at the same site that I first shot it last December.
I am not sure what is the thing tangling at the tip of the abdoman of this female Babnded Line Blue.
While I was looking for more Banded Line Blue, this small Yellow Grass Dart (Taractrocera archias archias) appeared from no where but it disappeared completely when I tried to adjust my shooting position.     
I managed to take a shot of a female Blue Pansy (Junonia orithya wallacei) this time
At around noon, I went across Lornie Road and turned into Lornie Trail. This time, it was a disappointment at the two spots where I usually saw some butterflies. So I back-tracked and moved towards the MacRitchie Nature Trail.

This alert Knight (Lebadea marttha parkeri)  kept fluttering around me but if finally settled on a high perch.
This was my first sighting of  at least half a dozen Malay Barons (Euthalia monina monina) either flying close to the forest trail or puddling. The polymorphic male seemed to be more common than the female  and this shot shows one of its polymorphic forms, the decorata.
Here is another specimen.
A female Malay Baron was resting on a leaf overlooking the trail. I approached closer to her and took a few shots.
Are there any differences between the female Malay Baron and this butterfly ? Indeed, they look alike. The extent of the white patches and the "/\-shaped" markings on the hindwing distinguish this Malay Viscount ( Tanaecia pelea pelea) from the female Malay Baron.
It was very challenging to take an underside shot of this female Malay Baron - this was a lucky shot while she was flapping her wings. 
This is an underside shot of a male.
The close resemblance between the Malay Viscount and the female Malay Baron was also shown on the  underside wing markings.This is a shot of one of the Malay Viscounts that mingled among the Malay Barons.  
Along a shady trail leading to the main road, I saw two Dark Flat (Tapena thwaitesi bornea) feeding on bird droppings. But they took off when I approached closer to them. Luckily one of them perched on a leaf again .  
Lastly, sharing a shot of a funny-looking bug that I have no idea of what it is. 

No comments:

Post a Comment