Where Have Butterflies Gone To ?

While I was on my way to the Punggol wasteland, I realised that I did not have the necessary stuff for trans-locating the No Brand Grass Yellow butterfly (Eurema brigitta senna ) to a new site. So I headed to Lornie Trail (LT) instead.

My first shot of the morning on 12 September was this very tiny treehopper. A few ants were seen roaming around it and at times the ants even climbed over the body of the treehopper. Interesting interaction there but I don't know what exactly it was. BJ and CM came to join me late in the morning. BJ spotted this pristine female Archduke (Lexias pardalis dirteana) near the exercise station at LT. Usually, Archduke was seen on damp ground along jungle trail with both wings opened. Take a closer look at the apex of the antennae, the orange tips separate the other two lookalikes and rarer species from this species.
There were quite a number of dragonflies and damselflies near the golf course area. I was always amazed by the acrobatic positions that Odonata species shown when they were in copulation positions. This brilliantly coloured mating pair of Ceriagrion cerinorubellum was no exception. I got a few shots taken from the edge of the reservoir at a rather low angle. There were a few very pretty blue damselflies which look like the shot shown here. This looks like a male Pseudagrion australasiae.
A slow-flying pair was spotted just above the water surface. They were flying in tandem and it looked like the male was guarding the female. This in-flight shot was my best attempt out of many blur shots. Soon, the female was fully submerged in the water, ovipositing her eggs while the male was still in contact with her. The male let go the female but he was seen "waiting" for the female (not shown in the picture) while she was laying eggs underwater. After a while, when I used a twig to stir the water, the female got back to the same position as shown in the 2nd picture above.This rather large dragonfly with very striking yellow markings on its body kept darting from perch to perch. It looks like a Ictinogomphus decoratus. This particular specimen was very alert whenever I came close to it. I had to position myself near a twig, waiting patiently for it to land there. The pointed and triangular shape of the last abdominal segment is rather distinctive in this species. This is another shot on a different perch. Another relatively tamer and smaller dragonfly was nearby. This looks like a male Aethriamanta gracilis , a permanent resident in this area. This red dragonfly occasionally appeared in my sight. I am not sure if this is Rhodothemis rufa. On our way back to the carpark, CM spotted this spider on a palm leaf along the trail. Another lousy day for butterfly photography. The number of butterflies in our nature reserves has been quite pathetic for many weeks. Where have they gone to ? I wish I knew the answer.

Anything Interesting @ Dairy Farm Nature Park ?

Together with Khew, I took part in two butterfly surveys for Nparks near the surrounding area of the newly opened Dairy Farm Nature Park a few months back. On 09-09-2009 (what a special and auspicious day for some ROM couples), a lovely sunny day, I went to take a look again at this newest park which was officially opened on 5 Sept (see here).

My first shot of the morning was this cricket. There were so many of them along the road leading to the carpark. Having a pair of thin and long antennae, and powerful hind legs for leaping, crikets were often seen leaping from leaf to leaf. Yes, I have not seen a cricket flying far in the field.

This handsome male Changeable lizard (Calotes versicolor) was protruding his head out from a row of tall grasses as if looking for his meting partner because during the mating season, the males display bright orange coloration on their head and a black throat as shown in the picture. This interesting all black with a little red eye creature looks like a species of ant or an ant mimicking a spider.Here is another shot. Pity that I am not tall enough to capture its dorsal view. After shooting this ant, I met Roy, an Nparks staff who was guiding a group of people from Starbucks (I hoped I heard it correctly) doing some voluntary community work there. Just next to the ant on a grass blade, I saw this katydid. We would miss its presence if we were not observant enough. There is a lot of interaction between species in nature. For example, this Lycaenid butterfly, Biggs's Brownie (Miletus biggsii biggsii) was usually seen having a close association with ants in the wild. John helped me to identify this digger wasp which belongs to the genus Sphex. From this dorsal view, we can see its big black bullet-shaped abdomen with brilliantly coloured legs.

It looked like searching for food on the leaf surface and at one moment it was buzzing around me and I had to keep very still and bend my head low.

A sap-feeding and a moth-like insect, this is a beautiful Ricaniid hopper (Ricanula stigmatica) which was resting (or feeding ?) on the edge of a leaf. Chocolate Pansy (Junonia hedonia ida) is a very common butterfly which can be found along forest fringes or in town parks but getting a good shot in the wild is never easy. I was lucky to have this rather skittish one perched in front of me for a few seconds - instinctively, I fired a few shots.

You will not miss a few clusters of tall African Spiral Flag (Costus lucanusianus ; Family : Costaceae) in the vicinity of the park. Its big and showy flowers often attracted carpenter bees visiting them. This Noctuid moth was shot in the deep undergrowth along Wallace Trail. The two prominent eye spots on the forewings and the wing patterns can really scare a predator even a person away. This black and white Tumbling Flower Beetle with a pointed tail-like structure belongs to the genus Mordella. Not sure why it is called a Tumbling Flower Beetle.

I guess this is a St. Andrew's Cross Spider. Spiders generally are not attractive to me but I find spiderwebs fascinating because of their delicate and complex patterns. I believe spiderwebs have given scientists idea to create new materials which are light and superstrong.

I spotted this Common Grass Yellow (Eurema sari sodalis) which was trying to lay eggs along the tarred road. I waited a while and was lucky to see her laying one spindle-shaped egg on the upperside of a young leaf. I hope to find out the name of this plant later.

It has been almost 9 months since I started this blog recording my sightings in nature. This is my 50th post this year. I am glad that I still have the stamina to update the blog quite regularly. Honestly, I felt like giving up updating at times when I had too many deadlines to meet in my busy work schedule.

There are lots of interactions between different or even same species in nature. These ants were attracted to something that I am not sure of though it looks like bird droppings. Looking forward, I hope I can persevere and sustain my effort in blogging, capturing more dynamic and fauna behavioural shots, perhaps incorporating short video clips.

Related posts :

1. Somewhere near Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
2. Central Catchment 21 Feb 2009

Shooting in the Rain @ Pulau Ubin

It was a fine early Sunday morning and a perfect weather for outing on 29 Aug. After a delay due to miscommunication (sorry, my fault), we (Bobby, Ellen and I) were finally in Khew's car, heading for Changi Village. Thanks, Khew.

During the boat ride, we were shock and of course disappointed to see how fast the dark clouds gathered overhead. When we disembarked from the boat, the rain started to pour and we had to have a second round of hot drink at a Malay stall, waiting anxiously for the rain to stop.

The rain never stopped but subsided a bit after 20 minutes of so. With an umbrella at hand, we made our way to the Butterfly Hill. The drizzling rain though turned heavy with gutsy wind at times never dampened the fun of hunting and shooting - we were still able to find a few species to photograph.

This Biggs's Brownie (Miletus biggsii biggsii) was displaying its erratic and random flight pattern in front of me under a big tree. This guy was full of energy and kept fluttering for at least ten minutes. I had to wait very patiently for it to settle down before taking a few shots from a very difficult angle.

This male Leopard Lacewing (Cethosia cyane) was quite alert initially, taking off from his perch whenever I came close to him. Eventually, he succumbed to the rain, the cold breeze and perhaps my persistence, relaxing himself comfortably and elegantly on a leaf. The underside wing patterns are quite pretty as well. Shooting this guy in the rain and gutsy wind was a big challenge as well as a test of my patience. There were quite a number of Dark Glassy Tiger (Parantica agleoides agleoides) at the foot of the hill. Most of the time, they were resting with wings closed in a very cluttered environment. I was fortunate to spot this occasion when one of them opened its wings after it had just settled on its new perch. This was one of the hungry ones feeding on the yellow flower heads of Bidens alba (or Bidens pilosa, not sure at the moment).

The month of August is usually hot and dry. However, we experienced a rather different kind of weather this year - more predawn thunder storms and rainfall than before. Perhaps this was due to the passage of Sumatra squalls during the Southwest monsoon season.

It was a disappointing outing in terms of number of species we encountered, however we definitely enjoyed our chit-chat sessions during breakfast, lunch and in-between shootings. Of course, the "thrill" of shooting with umbrella in the rain and on a scenic hill top was a memorable one.

Guess What I Saw @ MNT Boardwalk

My usual Saturday morning outing was interrupted by an unplanned activity so I could only go out in the afternoon. I went to MacRitchie Nature Trail (MNT) boardwalk on 28 Aug.

There were not many people on the trail and boardwalk in the afternoon. I really enjoyed the serenity and the great solitude in the quiet forested trail.

This dragonfly looks like a female of Neurothemis fluctuans which loved to perch on a twig . There were a few of them taking afternoon nap along the boardwalk.

A very tiny beetle-like critter was spotted in a shady part of the boardwalk. I am not sure if the leaf surface was "scratched" by this little bugger.

The process of growth of insects in their immature forms is stepwise, going through a few times of molting (shedding off their old exoskeleton). This looks like an exoskeleton of an insect but I really can't tell what insect it is. This strange and unknown creature was spotted along the boardwalk above my eye level. When it was in flight and flapping its wings, I could see an orange patch on its upperside wings. My wild guess is this may be a moth. This Yamfly (Loxura atymnus fuconius) was found at its usual location where its larval host plant Smilax bracteata, a very aggressive forest creeper was quite abundant. A very prominent orange beauty with a pair of curly white tip tails, I usually encountered this species singly in the late morning or early afternoon on a sunny day. A rather skittish specimen which kept "hopping" among the foliage, it didn't give me another chance of getting a better shot. This Oriental Whip snake (Ahaetulla prasina) was spotted by two Eurasian ladies who were strolling along the boardwalk. Though it can be quite well camouflaged with the green foliage but its slender and long, startling green fluorescent body would reveal its presence to passersby. With its prey (a skink ?) in its month, it moved very slowly on a tree branch. I have seen this mildly venomous snake a couple of times in our forested areas. It didn't seem to be aggressive and after watching it for a while I decided to move in closer to take some shots.

Within a few minutes, it has almost swallowed up its prey. Just wonder why it kept closing its small eyes or were they open ?

This strange-looking piece of cotton-wool like fluff was alive and movable - it looks like a scale insect. I was not able to take some shots from other angles to capture its body parts. I found it very challenging to photograph this white and fluffy insect. Last shot of the day was this small kaytidid. It appeared to take an afternoon nap under the direct sun.

Hope that I have better luck in spottng and photographing some of the rare butteflies that can be found in MNT next time.

Flora and Fauna @ Toa Payoh Sensory Park (Part 2)

This is the continuation of my previous post (see here).
I encountered one bunch of unknown flies congregating on some flower buds of the Sweet Basil plant. I wonder what they were doing. These flies in fact also fed on the flowers like the honey bees did.
















The purplish-blue big flowers of Thunbergia laurifolia (Family: Acanthaceae) can be easily spotted among the Passiflora flowers. The flowers of this red Fountain Plant (Russelia equisetiformis Family: Scrophulariaceae ) look like firecrackers. It was an attractive sight when these flowers were in full bloom.








These unknown but beautiful flowers were very prominent in the park as well.















The following wasp species were identified by John. After a pre-dawn rain, this potter wasp (Delta campaniforme) was busy feeding on Jetropha flowers. Look at the thin middle section of its body, I wonder if it will break easily.

This is a Banded paper wasp (Polistes sagittarius) which is likely to be the most common paper wasp species in Singapore. Because of its coloration and shape it is often mistaken for the banded hornets .

This is a another potter wasp (Rhynchium haemorrhoidale). When it flew from flower to flower, the dark orange abdomen could be seen clearly. At one moment when it settled on some Lantana flowers, moving around while feeding, I quickly snapped a few shots - no chance of getting a good shot of its side view though.

I am not sure what this beetle was trying to do. It was found roaming on the leaf. Look at this shot, was it about to leap off from the tip of the leaf ? No, it didn't and it decided to turn back.

I was quite surprised to spot a female dragonfly (not sure what species) one evening as there isn't any pond in the park. She must have flown in from the Toa Payoh Town Park nearby.

A garden or a park without butterfly or insect activities loses its attractiveness and is less appealing to me. I am glad to see that a few Lime butterflies (Papilio demoleus malayanus) visiting and feeding on all kind of flowers. However, shooting any of one of them is another matter as it always flapping its wings at a high speed. I am confident that the good variety of flowers in the park will attract more butterflies and insects and hope that they will make this park their home, creating a vibrant and dynamic ecosystem in the park. This brown skipper looks like a Small Branded Swift (Pelopidas mathias mathias) which is a common species as its larval host plant is believed to be some grass species. Apart from the flora and fauna, some of the significant historical events that happened in Toa Payoh were also engraved on the wall in the Sensory garden. For example, do you know which year the Queen Elizabeth II, UK visited Toa Payoh ?

Please come down and enjoy the facilities and the natural scent this special park can offer us. Thank you HDB for constructing this very unique and interesting park in Toa Payoh.