Malayan Birdwing @ Pulau Ubin

It was a nice Saturday (16 Nov) morning with diffused sunlight. While I was on a bus to Pulau Ubin, Scast one of  our newest BC members messaged me that he would like to join me at Ubin.

As usual, I went straight to the Butterfly Hill. Next to the NparksVolunteer Centre, I saw many Common Roses (Pachliopta aristolochiae asteris) and a few Common Birdwings fluttering around actively. I could only manage a long-distance shot of  a Common Rose.

Another Common Rose was seen feeding hastily on some flowers of the Common Snakeweed (Stachytarpheta indica) at the Butterfly Hill - its flapping-wings were just too fast for the shutter speed. 

It was a rare sight to see quite a number of Birdwings fluttering gracefully and feeding on Ixora flowers at the Butterfly Hill. But getting a good shot was a challenge for me and I didn't have the motivation waiting and chasing for a better shot.

One Birdwing caught my eye. So when it perched on a leaf, I quickly stepped forwards and snapped some shots. It was a male Troides amphyrysus ruficollis (Malayan Birdwing) - my first shot of this species in Singapore.

This Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis vulgaris macrina ) was seen "hanging in the air" - I wondered why ? When I went in closer and took a shot, it dropped off and flew away. Guess what I saw ?

Yes, I saw a white crab spider. Perhaps it was grabbing the butterfly's wings and it freed the butterfly when the camera flash light was fired.

Scast and his friend arrived at Ubin around 10:15 am and I showed them where the Butterfly Hill is. Shortly after that, I moved towards Chek Jawa as trekking was my main objective in this outing (to prepare for my trekking trip in Hong Kong). Some butterfly shots were taken along the the way if I found them cooperative enough.

The perch of this Grey Pansy (Junonia atlites atlites) tempted me to take a few shots.  

In a forested area, I saw a female Horsfield's Baron (Tanaecia iapis pusea)  trying to lay eggs.

Yes, she did eventually- a single egg was laid at the tip of a Singapore Rhododendron leaf.

Just outside the Chek Jawa, a Dart (Potanthus ganda)  was sunbathing with wings open.

This Dart has the habit of opening its wings whenever it settled on a new perch. My effort of getting an underside shot paid off when I reacted very quickly to a new perch.

I encountered very few butterflies on my way back to Butterfly Hill where I met up with Scast and his friend again. We had a quick lunch at a Muslim stall near the jetty. After lunch, I showed them where the Sensory Trail is.

This mating pair of  Parak Lascar (Pantoporia paraka paraka) kept us busy for awhile. 

This blue bee was busy collecting pollen next to the Parak Lascar.

I hope I have luck next time to get at least a record shot of  a flying jewel that appeared new to me. Let us keep Ubin as the way it is now - a treasure trove of biodiversity waiting to be uncovered.   

Butterflies at Pha Dang National Park and Angkheng Nature Resort, Thailand

Angkheng Nature Resort is situated on Doi Angkheng which is one of the peaks of the Dan Lao mountain range along the Myanmar-Thai border. On 6 Nov morning, we decided to visit the hosting site for the Angkheng Royal Project which is just around the corner of the resort. As the butterfly activities in this huge garden were generally low, we left the place after about an hour plus.

The Spotted Demon (Notocrypta feisthamelii alysos) was quite large and it flit away rapidly whenever I tried to get closer to it.

This Lethe verma stenopa (The Straight Treebrown) was also skittish and alert to movement. I had to cross over a drain to take this shot afar.

A few other shots taken in the garden were accidentally deleted from my camera without knowing that these pictures have not been transferred to my computer. 

  

Hoping to find and shoot some mountain butterfly species,  Antonio drove around and finally found a suitable place to park the car. We started to explore a forest trail nearby.  

A well-camouflaged Melanitis phedima ganapati  (The Dark Evening Brown) was found along a forest trail.   

It appeared that the Common Punchinello (Zemeros flegyas allica) was quite common at high altitude - this was one of them we spotted along a forest trail. 

We kept walking slowly but there were very few things worthwhile for us to shoot. When Antonio spotted this "acrobatic" moth larva hanging on to a twig, I took a few shots. 

We decided to head back to the resort due to very poor butterfly activity along the trail. We encountered a rather tame Lethe gulnihal peguana (Dull Forester) puddling on the dirt road near the car.

When we reached the Ang Kheng Nature Resort, we wandered around in the resort. We did see some butterflies flying past us but there wasn't any clear chance for us to take any shot. At last, a very cooperative female Miletus croton croton (?) (The Plain Brownie) was spotted by LC and three of us had some fun shooting her.

Another shot was taken when it changed its perch.

The Artogeia napi montana (Green-veined White) was seen resting on a twig.

A small lycaenid which looks like the Acytolepis puspa was puddling on the ground.

We noticed the Pha Dang National Park while Antonio was exploring a new route back to the resort from Doi Chiang Dao.  So, on 8 Nov morning, instead of looking for highland butterfly species, we explored this national park.

Except for some workers keeping the park clean, there weren't any other visitors. Roaming around, I noticed quite a number of bracket fungi growing on some decaying wood.

The sound of a waterfall and the flowing stream waters running alongside the forest trail created a very natural and soothing sound in this quiet park.

The first butterfly we could shoot was found feeding on tree sap. It was The Herona marathus marathus (The Yellow Pasha). With patience, all of us managed to take some shots as it kept coming back to the same spot.

We saw quite a few of  Common Evening Browns (Melanitis leda leda) - this species has a great variations in its markings.

Resting on a rock, this mammoth iguana was so lethargic to move around. It wass my first sighting of a huge iguana in the wild.

It was a rather disappointing morning at Pha Dang National Park, so we decided to visit Chiang Dao again - not too far away.

Once again, I must thank Antonio for providing the transportation for us throughout the whole trip. His knowledge and familiarity of the various national parks in Chiang Mai made this trip very enriching and fruitful for me. I would like to visit these  national parks again in the future, in a different month, perhaps. Good bye Chiang Mai !

Butterflies @ Doi Chiang Dao, Thailand Part 3

Continue from my previous post.

The Nymphalidae family consists of quite a large number of subfamilies. Let me begin this post with some butterfly shots from the subfamily Cyrestinae. Shooting the undersides of this Intermediate Maplet (Chersonesia intermedia intermedia) was quite a challenge for me as it had the tendency to flap its wings continuously.

Getting a shot of the uppersides was relatively easier if we had patience stalking it persistently and closely.

The Common Map (Cyrestis thyodamas thyodamas) displayed a similar behaviour to what the Intermediate Maplet did.

It stayed on the ground with both wings opened fully once it was being "intoxicated" by the damp soil.

The uppersides of the Tabby (Pseudergolis wedah wedah ) could be easily mistaken as a Castor (Ariadne species).

However, the undersides are slightly more distinguishable.

The presence of this Popinjay (Stibochiona nicea subucula) was alerted by Antonio. I took a quick shot before it scooted off quickly the moment I went one step closer.

There were at least four different species from the Apaturinae subfamily that could be found on this puddling ground.  I only noticed the the male Siamese Black Prince (Rohana parisatis siamensis). Where was the female ? 

His underside wing patterns are not so dull and unattractive.

There were quite a number of them wandering there - this shot was taken on 8 Nov, showing a rather different posture.

The Indian Purple Emperor (Mimathyma ambica miranda) was quite abundant there too. Shooting from an angle that was almost vertically above the butterfly, we got to see the magnificent blue iridescence of the wings.

The undersides are quite nice and attractive too.

The Circe (Hestina nama nama) appeared on 7 Nov - there were at least two different individuals.

Take a close look, we realise that the Circe provides an example of  Batesian mimicry as it mimics Chocolate Tiger (Parantica sita) to a large extent.

The Siren (Hestina persimilis persimilis) looks like another species - the Courtesan (Euripus nyctelius euploeoides) that we can find in Singapore. I was patiently waiting for it to open its wings but in vain.

The next subfamily I would like to feature is the Nymphalinae. The charcoal like dark underside wing patterns of the Blue Admiral (Kaniska canace canace)  were the distinguishing characteristics of this species. Again, luck wasn't on my side for taking a shot of its beautiful uppersides.

The Common Jester (Symbrenthia lilaea lilaea) was abundant too - we could see them almost everywhere - most of the time we just ignored them.

You probably would think that The Kallima inachus siamensis (The Orange Oakleaf) butterfly is a dry leaf if you are not discerning enough.

However, its uppersides are much more colourful and attractive - but getting a good shot of the uppersides was a huge challenge for us.

Butterflies in the subfamily Charaxinae are generally large and fast-flying with attractive and brilliantly coloured underside wing patterns. All of us got excited when we encounterted a Shan Nawab (Polyura nepenthes nepenthes) on our first day (5 Nov) at Chiang Dao.

The Pallid Nawab (Polyura arja arja) seemed to be rarer as I didn't seem to find it often. This was the only shot taken when it settled on a high perch.

The Indian Nawab (Polyura jalysus jalysus) seemed to be quite common as well. 

There were quite a number of Scarce Tawny Rajahs (Charaxes aristogiton aristogiton ) puddling at different spots. I chose to take a few shots of this rather pristine specimen.  

They hardly opened their wings fully - this was my best shot I had on a male flapping the wings in the afternoon on 7 Nov.

The species of the subfamily  Limenitidinae consists of many genera - one of them is the black-and-white Sailor (Neptis species).  This skittish guy looks like a Clear Sailor (Neptis clinia susruta).

Let me wrap up this post with a shot of the Athyma cama cama (The Orange Staff Sergeant) perching on a leaf and its undersides.

Soon, I will be away for a work-related trip to Fraser's Hill and followed by another butterfly photography trip - my last overseas trip this year. 

Reference : Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 2nd Edition, 2012.