Taming The Horsfield’s Baron

July 19 Tanaecia iapis puseda (horsfield baron)

Taming the Horsfield's Baron

At long last… after months and months of sideways, face shots and 3/4 wing shots, the Horsfield's Baron, in a rare giving attitude, allowed me to come up to it and take a photo.

At first, it flew away and did its typical land-turn to look at me-fly away routine.  Then, in a final attempt, I strided up to it quickly instead of creeping up to it and machine-gunned it with my flash from 2 metres away until I was standing right behind it.

To my surprise it worked.  It startled a bit when the flash started firing and then as if hynoptised (or rather, stunned from the light), it stayed motionless in the same spot while I went closer and closer and closer.

Then as if it no longer saw me, it stayed there for ages while I pressed the trigger again and again and again and again and again and again like a mad paparazzo who had just found the perfect scoop shot.

Its brillliant wings shivered ever so slightly.  Then suddenly, as if waking up from a dream, it burst away in flight while I watched with a happy smile on my face and a deep happy sigh in my heart.

July 19 Pathysa antiphates itamputi (five bar swordtail)

Note on photo above: Finally, another chance with the 5 bar on a leaf.  Although the background is less than desired… still… a 5 bar on a leaf instead of on the ground.  This was when dark rain clouds gathered and I was packing up to leave. 

July 19 Gynacantha dohri (rare dragonfly)

Note on photo above: After some unsuccessful attempts on other visits to photograph this constantly moving rare dragonfly, it finally stopped for me and allowed me to get close.  While it decided to be nice, an elderly couple suddenly turned up at the bottom of the hill on which I was standing to watch me get face-smacked by tangly plants.  This was possibly entertaining…cos the husband in particular stood there to watch for a bit while his wife stood some distance back and kept asking him to move on.

 

July 19 Faunis canens arcesilas (common faun)

Note on photo above:  Other than the lemony masses, there were numerous scores of these little brown round butterflies in a dark shady area of the site.  They fluttered all around chasing each other, one of which was particularly dark coloured (which I didn't manage to photograph).  I guess I'll make do with one of them lighter brown ones.

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A Pig Amongst Tigers..*sqweee…*

July 18 tailorbird encounter

Peace On The Hill

I discovered that parks management had sealed off the entire road which allowed public passing by the hill.  This resulted in me standing on the hill all by myself.

July 18 tailorbird

Note on photo above: This lil birdie ain't afraid of nobarrdieee… I was surprised when a tailorbird landed right in front of my C180 and didn't move much after I fired my flash and camera away at it like a machine gun (this is an automatic compulsive reaction I have to cute birds).

Dead And Dried Up

Unfortunately for me, a lot of the flowering plants were dried up and dead.  And the pea-poddy plants by the road where the Black Veined Tiger and Common Tigers loved to hang out, socialise and iresponsibly (keke) leave their young oomph-oomphing away on the leaves were nearly flowerless, save for a wilting few… and no tiger cubs (caterpillars) as far as my eye could see (short of flipping over every leaf).

They had also removed quite a few bushes and replaced them with a panel of white flowering tall trees which was hynoptically fragrant… nice… except none of the butterflies seem to hang around them much. 😦

July 18 Euploea tulliolus ledereri (dwarf crow) with crab spider

Note on photo above: If you look carefully at the topmost flower, you will realise that a butterfly predator, the crab spider, is pretending to be all pretty and non-dangerous.  Poor dwarf crow… I hope it wasn't taken!  If Alien from KL were here, he'd chase away the butterfly and take a photo of the crab spider… (I guess… knowing his love of spiders over butterflies).

Running Away From The Rain

I got into the taxi this morning, and instead of telling the driver where to go, I asked him whether it had rained. 

Taxi driver (all weatherman-like): "It hasn't rained yet… but it will"

So I got him to go in the opposite direction from the rain.

And then when I got to the hill, it rained… for about 5 minutes… and it then it went away.

Looks like I'll be deciding where to go on the fly now.  July is usually a hot month in Singapore.  And it seems so from all the dried up vegetation around… but it always seems to threaten to rain whenever I want to go out.

July 18 Euploea tulliolus ledereri (dwarf crow) topside

Note on photo above: I spent lots of time around this crow… waiting for it to feed so that it would start opening those beautiful blue-at-a-certain-angle-when-the-light-hits wings (phew).  I don't know why it only starts opening and closing its wings only when its proboscis is in the flower and it starts feeding.  It's almost like the wings are pneumatic pumps, pumping the nectar into the butterfly. *glugga glugga glugga*

July 18 Euploea tulliolus ledereri (dwarf crow) blue from a different angle

Note on photo above:  The crow was somewhat irritated by my presence and decided to play a little game of decoy with me.  It flew high up and away…. over the tall trees.  I waited… and soon enough it reappeared and starting feeding again.  Then when I started snapping away at it, it flew high up and away… over some bushes… circling around… landed on another bush and waited.  And we played a little game of who would give up first.  I waited and waited.  And soon enough it got tired of pretending, launched off the nearby bush and started coming back to feed again.

July 18 skippity

July 18 Catopsilia pomona pomona (lemon emigrant) amidst the dead plants

July 18 sleeping nature

July 18 Danaus chrysippus chrysippus (plain tiger)

Note on photo above: Argh… tigers are too skittish for my liking.

July 18 me pig and you mynah against the world

Note on photo above: While I was out chasing tigers, a piggie appeared from nowhere and together with Mynah its good buddy, they stood there staring nervously at me in case I dared to run up and take a photo.

A Pig Amongst Tigers

While I was busy chasing the skittish tigers around (Plain Tiger, Common Tiger, etc etc), I heard rustling in the bushes.  And what emerged was a small pig pig… minding its own business, shoving its nose in the dirt, digging for stuff to eat.

This is the first time I've ever seen a wild piggie on the hill.  I raised my camera took a few shots of it, before it squealed ("SQWEEE!!!!") and ran away.  And I was like at least 10 metres away from it.  Skittish piggie.

July 18 Danaus genutia genutia (common tiger)

Note on photo above: Tigers tigers everywhere… but only a few that's cooperative enough to shoot.

Lemony Masses

Besides the crowd of tigers, there were also so many lemon emigrants, I was amazed to see scores of them chasing each other around the entire hill.

July 18 Parantica agleoides agleoides (dark glassy tiger)

Note on photo above:  Either I'm seeing things or I was quite sure I was a very white coloured tiger hanging around… or maybe it was again a Common Mime.

July 18 Acraea violae (tawny coster)

 

July 18 Cethosia cyane (leopard lacewing)

July 18 wild piggie

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Standing In The Rain

Curled up in each other on a curl

Note on photo above: By some chance, the mating curled up dragonflies landed on this curl of a stem.

Standing In The Rain

It rained about 3 times on me today while I was out on the field.  After being bored with whatever he was doing, the Alien from KL picked the wrong date to come back into the field… and tagged along with his expensive film camera. 

Which resulted in him and me standing under a banana tree with him explaining how the banana tree is designed to provide shelter because the leaves and stems are designed in such a way to direct rain pelting from above to the roots.

This he explained, while the rain dripped on both of us.

Sometimes there are defects, he explained cheesily, flashing his huge dimples. 

Maybe Graphium evemon eventus (blue jay) on a leaf

Note on photo above:  The markings don't really match exactly… so I'm not sure that this is a blue jay.

Butterflies In The Rain

Sometimes you can tell a change in weather when the butterflies don't come out when there's sunshine (cos maybe it's going to rain) and when they come out in the rain (cos maybe it's just passing rain).

Today the butterflies came out repeatedly in the intermittent sunshine between the rains while we repeatedly retreated and emerged from the shelter of the banana tree. 

Jamides celeno aelianus (common caerulean) in the rain

Note on photo above: Butterfly in the rain.  As the rain pelted down, the butterfly lowered its tails to the ground and folded its forewing behind its hindwing as if it was trying to minimise exposure to the rain. 

This butterfly fluttered and eventually settled to drink feverishly, ignoring the rain.  Excited by its strange disposition, I forgot myself and continued to shoot it in the rain for a little while before I came to my senses and wrapped my precious camera back in my raincover.

Jamides celeno aelianus (common caerulean)

Note on photo above: Compare the wings in this photo while it was out in the sunshine versus the one of it in the rain.

Junonia almana javana (peacock pansy) in the rain

Note on photo above: The usually skittish peacock pansy was dull and listless and sat peaceably on a rain speckled leaf while I shuffled around it noisily.

In the rain, even usually skittish butterflies seem to lose about half their energy and sit around as if half asleep.

Vidule dejone erotella (cruiser) underside

Note on photo: Skittlebug cruiser even allowed an underside shot.

Butterfly Banter

I attended a small seminar today which was organised by Yoda of the Butterflies and featured a overseas entomologist and a maths professor who had documented the life histories of (if I remember correctly) about half or more of the species of butterflies in Singapore.

It was all very good and very nice and everyone seemed way over their heads in their interest in butterflies.

Vidula dejone erotella (cruiser)

Compromise

I was disheartened to hear talk about alternative urban environments for butterflies as if their natural environment was so against the world's ideals of 'advanced economies' that it shouldn't be allowed to exist and that we should compromise…. find a way for butterflies to hang around in artificial environments… while we continue to have our way with everything else.

Elymnias hypermnestra agina (common palmfly)

Note on photo: The skittlebug king of skittlebugs even stopped for a proper pose on a leaf.

I'm frightened to say that I am not diplomatic, am not able to consider alternatives, not able to compromise.  Which usually leaves me outside of any acceptable options, refusing to participate in any future that doesn't believe in respecting Nature beyond artificially keeping her alive in a cage.    

Maybe Pelopidas conjunctus conjunctus (conjoined swift)

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Day Of The Knight and Identity Crisis Of Flying Great Eggs

May 8 the knight

The Knight With Fancy Wings

The knight whenever encountered in quiet shady forests or sunlit forest edges would always fly far and away from me.  Instead, on this post rainy day, the knight stood on the bush in a stream of heavy human traffic with a disconnected look on his palpy face as if to say: "Well, you never can tell… ".

May 8 great eggfly 3

The Identity Crisis of Flying Great Eggs

Technically, this isn't an identity crisis suffered by either the Hypolimnas Bolina Bolina or the Hypolimnas Bolina Jacintha.  They both know what they are.  But I have very little idea how to tell them apart.  To make things worse, I only realised my confusion when I encountered two different types of butterflies over two weekends.  The one above was smaller, darker, and the one the weekend before was larger, lighter.

May 8 great eggfly 2

Note on photo above and below: Topside of the smaller, darker egg

May 8 great eggfly topside

The Hindwing trimming (photos above)

When I looked at colour plates it looks like there isn't a white trimming on the topside hindwing of the Great Egg but there is on the Jacintha. 

May 8 great eggfly

Note on photo above: Smaller, darker, narrower submarginal band

May 3 09 Jacintha eggfly

Note on photo: Larger, lighter coloured, broader submarginal band.

Identity Identity

I wish butterflies came with tags hanging from their foreheads.

May 8 notterfly

May 8 chequered lancer palps out

Movable Palpi

Eeekkks… butterflies have detachable faces!!!

May 3 09 chequered lancer

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Chocolate Sailors Come Hailin’

April 4 chocolate sailor

Note on photo: The chocolate sailors are in town.  Or… at least only 1.  And it 'flirted' here and it 'flirted' there…and was so friggin skittish, I almost gave it an equal score with the Commander.   

April 4 chocolate sailor topside

Note on photo: What a beautiful colour.  Chocolate is so appropriate.  It looks more palatable than the dry looking chocolate pansy.

April 4 chocolate sailor topside 2

April 4 the weirdest spider i have ever seen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note on weird spider: … see those two knobblies with the whitish substance around them on the heart shaped white shell… those things were moving around in a very weird circular motion…. it's FREAKY.

April 4 abisara geza niya gets closer

Note on photo: I went back into the brush to look for the Judy.  And was surprised to find a nice neat path made by Gandalf the Grey (as explained by the Big Twin).  Judy was back in the place where I first saw her.  She shyly disappeared.  I went back out.  Came back in some time later and there she was again. 

April 4 abisara geza niya gets a little closer

Note on photo: And she let me flash her sometimes.  Sometimes not.  This time I was much closer.  But still not enough to make this a shot to be satisfied with.  Although I don't think I'll forget setting my monopod in front of her and her staying in this postion for more than a few minutes.  A thing to remember for a long looong time.

April 4 abisara geza niya topside 2

April 4 abisara geza niya topside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 4 abisara geza niya topside 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note on photo: I am so in love with the Judy's topside.  It glints purple at some angles but it's almost impossible to get a photo of the topside as she wouldn't open them all the way and she wouldn't stop turning either.

April 4 blue jays together together

Note on photo:  The blue jays reminded me of the twins.  Identical and single-mindedly concentrating on the same thing at the same time.  Here they are puddling furiously in different spots.

April 4 blue jay pretty little head

April 4 blue jay twins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 4 unknown topside butterfly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 4 blue jay on a leaf

Note on photo (below): This is a once in a lifetime WASTE of a chance to nail the 5 bar.  Nobody got to shoot the 5 bar in this pose today.  Except me.  And I blew it with the wrong flash settings.

April 4 blown 5 bar swordtail on a leaf

 

April 4 5 bar swordtail pretty little head

April 4 alien from kl method

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 4 alien from kl setup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 4 five bar swordtail

April 4 record tailed jay

Note on photo: This tailed jay was taken from f-f-f-f-f-f-f-fffaaaaarrrrrrrr faaarrrrrrrrrr farrrrrrrr far far far FAR! away.  Because it refused to keep still and I was tired of wearing my elbows out on the ground.

April 4 tawny palmfly

Note on photo: Finally.  The elusive tawny palmfly was the tamest I ever saw it today.  We trudged and wobbled all around it and it didn't care very much at all.

April 4 lime butterfly

Note on Chocolate Pansy photos below:  We couldn't figure out whether this was a chocolate pansy.  Because it looked too big… was too light coloured… and just didn't seem to fly very much like a chocolate pansy (kept circling two spots and coming back again.  So odd)

April 4 does funny chocolate pansy

April 4 funny chocolate pansy side view

April 4 argh-ly spider

April 4 harnie bee bee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 4 plain plaaaiin moth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 4 forest cockroach

April 4 friggin big atlas moth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Caterpillar Action

March 29 high speed caterpillar

Note on photo: The Small Twin found a caterpillar and I almost didn't believe him becos he couldn't seem to find it.  He said they disappeared fast and I said NO WAY.  And then yup, they do.  Here goes the fastest caterpillar I've ever seen.  Look at those legs rearing to go. Choo chooo… chugga chugga chugga… the fastest train of a caterpillar you'd ever seen.

March 29 unid caterpillar

Note on photo: I dropped this poor fella TWICE while trying to get it back on the slippery spider lily leaf.  Here it is, baring its muzzle at me, 'yelling': "WE CATERPILLARS WILL FIND YOU!!! YOU WATCH OUT YOU!!!"

March 29 last cabin of the choo choo

March 29 caterpiller hanging on for dear life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note on Unidentified caterpillar: In order to photograph its hairy face, I turned the caterpillar in a different direction using a leaf and set it off in the direction of the edge of the leaf so that it would be crawling towards my lens.

When it reached the edge of the leaf, with the whole 'front cabin' plus a few segments after it choo-chooing off the edge of the leaf, I REALISED that it didn't know where the heck it was going.

And then when it dangled there and froze there helpless after the front cabins curled and curled and failed to gain foothold off the underside of the leaf because it was too far off the edge of the leaf, I realised caterpillars can't go into reverse gear and reverse itself back onto the leaf (at least for this one).

I lifted the 'front cabins' of the caterpillar back onto the leaf and watched it choo choo with maximum caterpillar speed back into the dark folds of the spider lily leaves. 

March 29 logania marmorata damis

Note on photo: Small Twin tripped up the steps and this pair came flying out from the left.  We played a few minutes of freeze- freeze- don't- move- anything-except- your- eyeballs before Small Twin moved anyway and said something along the lines of: relax these guys don't notice a thing when they're farkin'.  

March 29 logania marmorata damis 2

 

March 29 plum judy really short palps

March 29 plum judy 2

March 29 plum judy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 29 colour sergeant

 

March 29 ciliate blue

 

March 29 funny spider 2

March 29 funny spider

 

March 29 unid skippy

March 29 scarce silverstreak female

Note on photo:  The butterfly I saw which I thought on a first glance as a wierd butterfly with brown and white stripes and brown top that I could not identify when I first started shooting butterflies turned out to be a female silverstreak.  Mystery solved.

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Frightened Little Judy

March 21 abisara geza niya 5

The Frightened Little Judy

I went to my second favourite haunt today expecting the least.  Because it rained heavily in the morning and the rest of the photographers were ready to head back to bed.  I left them behind in the concrete outfit *again* and was surprised by a malay tailed Judy which disappeared after turning around a few times on a few different leaves while I was creeping up on it.  

March 21 abisara geza niya 4

I waited at the spot for some time hoping it might come back and another Judy came hopping into view.  Judy turned around and around, hopping further up and up a tree and then stopping there for a long time while I waited.  And then (as I had hoped), it came hopping back down along the leaves, turning as she went as if she was too frightened to keep still.

March 21 abisara geza niya 3

All of the shots were taken with the flash off using what little little available light there was in the shade of the forest.  So every single shot is noisy and dark.

March 21 abisara geza niya 2

This little Judy must be the one of the prettiest butterflies I've ever seen, all the way from its deep intense red and lacey edges and eye spots to its huge emerald green eyes. If Judy were a girl, she'd have flaming red hair and captivating green eyes, a sight to behold.

March 21 abisara geza niya

Note on photo:  You can see exactly how dark the environment was from the noise in this photo.

March 21 lady buggy clean clean clean

Cute Little Drop of Sunshine

Other than that, nothing really caught my attention with the exception of a lady bug that I'd accidentally carried out with me from the forest on my sleeve.  I settled it on the concrete outfit where it'd decided to make its way to some dead grass and start cleaning itself… or is it eating something??.

March 21 lady buggy

March 21 peacock pansy

 

March 21 autumn leaf

March 21 bee on the flower

March 21 unidentified wasp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 21 eeky buggy

 

March 21 common hedge blue

 

March 21 gigantea

 

March 21 chocolate pansy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 21 nacaduba beroe neon

 

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Deja Vu And The Secret Life Of The Commander

The Old Tease

Came across a familiar teaser today.  While the other photographers ran in and out of the concrete outfit chasing it while it landed here, landed there, flew away, came right back, I had a ball yelling from my perch eating breakfast: "Left! Left! There there! Landed! Landed!"

Feb 22 familiar commander

Then when it landed on a leaf near me, I realised it was the same frustrating butterfly with the bent wing and flight pattern.  At least I thought so… until another Commander turned up.

Feb 22 the commander secret catwalk

The Commander Catwalk

The Commander as usual gave the other photographers a good bit of fun.  But they were not willing to go bush whacking into the brush.  So I went crashing in instead to see if I could get a better shot. I crashed in till I couldn't make any further headway and then was surprised to see the usually skittish Commander walk around nonchalently on a leaf in front of me.

Feb 22 the commander catwalk 1 first turn

Feb 22 the commander catwalk 2 coming back round

Feb 22 the commander catwalk 3 pause for the camera

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It turned around several times on the same leaf just in front of my lens and paused and turned and paused and turn.  Certainly doesn't feel like the same skittle encountered some weeks back.

Feb 22 the commander catwalk 4 pauses for long time

Once In A Lifetime

I thought I should maybe yell to the other photographers.  But then I thought… Naaaahhh… just going to lean against this blockade of huge fronds and enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime show.

Feb 22 the commander catwalk 5 turns again

Feb 22 the commander catwalk 6 pose again

Feb 22 the commander catwalk 7 turn third time

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Most Mis-identified Butterfly

Feb 21 athyma kanwa kanwa dash dot sergeant

I am 99% positive this is the Dash Dot Sergeant after comparing cell spots.  The one ranked butterfly I often dreamt about encountering one day.  But if I'm wrong… DANG IT!

Feb 22 mister movealong (cruiser) arms up

Want What You Can't Have

If a butterfly rests with its wings up, you want topside.  If it rests with its wings down, you want underside.  Photographers are never satisfied.  So I flashed the cruiser (photosensitive even in bright sunlight) multiple times till I got a shot with its armpits showing.  Meanwhile, check out Mr Candy Cane Legs (whie butterfly in the middle below)… I've not seen this fella for a looonng looonnng time … but I don't miss it.  So I guess the rule is not always true.

Feb 22 mister movealong (cruiser)

Feb 22 mister candy legs (sumatran gem)

Feb 21 spider

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Early… I Promise

I had to convince the other photographers to get their sleepy heads out of bed early this morning so that we could catch normally high energy butterflies (they become high energy rockets around 10, 11) roosting/sleeping on the leaves… which is tons better than drunk on the cement outfit.

Feb 22 fresh bottle of blues (blue bottle)

My advice paid off… for myself only.  Because the other photographers decided to head straight for the cement outfit.  Above is a fresh specimen of blues… something I'd been dreaming of capturing after I captured a tatty faded one the last time.

Feb 22 bottle of blues on a leaf (blue bottle)

Feb 21 colourful moth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally… The Autumn Leaf Shows Its Armpits

Feb 22 autumn leaf

I've never gotten as good a shot of the Autumn Leaf as this one.  And I hadn't realised it was there until it moved and opened up its bright orange topside.  Below, I got down on the dirty ground and invested my elbows in getting a better photo of the blue jay.  Check out the ant checking out the butterfly.

Feb 22 blue jay ignores passing ant

Visit To Land Of Possibilities

I'd been wanting to revisit a place that I'd only managed to spend about half an hour before it poured.  This time I brought my friend who was moving to Australia to see the place before it changes/disappears/who knows what will happen to it in the future.

Feb 21 common posy

It yielded a chance to photograph a very common common posy (with an egg!?!??!! It's egg!?!?) and an unidentified Malay Baron like looking strong flyer butterfly.

Feb 21 unid butterfly looks like malay baron 2

Nobody seems to be able to ID it yet…

Feb 21 unid butterfly looks like malay baron

A Roller Coaster Week

Feb 22 anax guttatus gets its victim

This HUGE HUUUUGGEEE dragonfly flew in from nowhere and grabbed a nearby common dragonfly to eat just after it looked like it was ovipositing on the stagnant water!!!

Feb 22 anax guttatus

Feb 22 anax guttatus full colours

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week…

1) Money Matters: I nearly lost $800.  And my plan to shoot Indonesian butterflies have all but flown away.   

2) Car Accidents: I was in a minor car accident when the taxi taking me and the other photographers rammed into a car in front of it.  Later we came across two more car accidents and my Dad witnessed a bus at our nearby interchange hitting a car.

Feb 21 female Euphaea Impar eating grub dorsal shot 3

Note on photo: What are the odds of capturing a damselfly with its mouth open??? :D:D:D

3) DANG IT: Something flew into my eye today on the way back today and my eye still hurts.

4) Close Shave: A foreigner waited for me in the bushes at the park near my house after I'd tried to shake him off by turning back and heading for the main road so that he would think that I was crossing the road and stop following me.  But I had to walk home and when I turned back later to head to my building, he was standing in the bushes waiting and smiling.  Thanks to an elderly couple who happened to pass by, he didn't chase me when I started running to my building

Feb 21 prodasineura notostigma

5) Peer Pressure: I was angry and decided not to hang out with my lesbian friends anymore who insist that I must be a lesbian because I like the great outdoors, and don't look like a Taiwanese saccharine sweet pop princess.  Oh so then straight women can never take up sports, must be afraid of the sun and must always talk in a high pitched voice and wear frilly lacey clothes??  That's utter NONSENSE.  I'm not going to change what I am regardless of how many lesbian women think I should turn lesbian.  I like men and that's the end of the story.  I never ostracised them for being what they are and I never insisted that they should be UN-lesbian, so I'm not going to accept this kind of treatment from them too.  If that means less buddies to hang out with, SO BE IT.

Feb 22 Podolestes orientalis

6) Some Revelations: I realised that even male photographers are not exempt from being attacked while shooting alone after discussing this issue with fellow photographers.  Why must the world suck so much?

Feb 21 female Lathrecista asiatica

7) Unhelpful Advice: My friend's fiancee, who is an adventure racer and a mutual friend of my little group of non-active, non-outdoorsy friends, thought it was a joke when I said I needed to think of ways to defend myself in event I was attacked in remote locations.  He told me to throw sardine cans at my assailant. When I told him about the recent rape and murder case, he shook his head and laughed: "All this for butterflies!?"  I hope he won't treat my friend's safety that lightly.

Feb 21 female Lathrecista asiatica 2

Feb 21 orchithemis pulcherrima

Feb 21 indocnemis orang damselfly

Feb 21 pretty moth

Feb 21 rapunsel fly

 

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Day of the Green Baron

Oct 25 green baron up close and personal

The Friendliest Green Baron You Could Ever Meet

Today is the day of the Green Baron.  Because I spent at least half an hour with what I would say is the friendliest butterfly ever encountered to date:

1) Didn't run even when I got so close I was putting my lens less than half a metre away from it

2) Didn't run even when I reached out my finger in front of it.  It put two feet on it but then changed its mind and moved to a nearby leaf

3) Didn't run even when I struggled with my monopod right in front of it with the leafs and bushes rustling and all

4) Didn't EVEN run when I blew on its wings so that it would close up its wings so that I could get a side shot.

Oct 25 green baron sticking out tongue

The thing IS… I thought it was a commander butterfly because a lot of butterflies in that family range have that characteristic lacey underwear.  It reminds me of English lace, of doilies and the kind of petticoats I used to wear 15 years ago.

Oct 25 green baron top view

And later when I got home, I checked the butterfly expert's checklist and a reference book on butterflies of the malay peninsula and realised that the butterfly WAS wearing the lacey petticoat but it was also wearing a pair of stripes on its shoulders   Also the edging of the hind wing of the Commander was different.

Oct 25 euthalia adonia pinwilli aka green baron

I had thought the Commander couldn't be this calm around people when it was such a skittish butterfly.  Guess I was right. 

The Knight That's Afraid of the light

I am adding several moret to my list of photosensitive butterflies.  So this is my current list:

1) All hesperidae (skippers)

2) Two palmflies (tawny and common palmfly)

3) One arhopala (centaur oak blue)

4) Green Baron Euthalia Adonia Pinwilli

5) The Knight Lebadea Martha Parkeri

6) The Caron

Oct 25 lebadea martha parkeri knight front view

I flashed this guy and this is the look on its face just as it flies away in fright.

Maybe they should name it The Fright…instead of the Knight.. heh heh…

The knight is scared of the light

The Knight/Fright: "AAAAHHHH!!!! The light!!!"

There it goes again.  Heh.  Can't figure out why some butterflies are sensitive whereas others are not.

Oct 25 lebadea martha parkeri the knight

 

And there's the knight when he thinks all is fine and dandy (shot without flash.  Can't see squat about the wing details…).  Always resting with the wings flat instead of up.

The Baron That Had Light Sensors at the Back of his Head

The baron

The baron is scared of the dark too

I flashed the baron from behind and it flew away without turning to see what it was.

My Third and Fourth Plus Ones

Besides the Green Baron and the Knight these were two more plus ones for me.

Oct 25 Miletus symethus petronius

This butterfly is intriguing.  Its feelers are so long it's almost half the wingspan and it has such weird twig like long legs.  One of those butterflies with really strange body proportions.

Oct 25 Nacaduba beroe neon

I was so happy when I saw this beauty through my viewfinder!!! Look at that pretty tail!  Look at those huge black beautiful eyes!

Never get Tired Of You Ever (Bossy Eggflies and Skittish Butterflies)

Oct 25 common palmfly

If there's one domineering bossy butterfly around that I'll never get tired of, it's got to be the eggfly.  But so far I've only ever photographed the Great Eggfly, the Malayan Eggfly and the Jacintha…

Oct 25 jacintha eggfly dominates the conversation

Oct 25 jacintha eggfly

Oct 25 unid skipper 2

 

 Bossy Eggfly: "This TREE is MINE!!! Now SHOO!!!"

 

 

 

 

 I encountered many of these vividly coloured blue pansy females today.  They had that newness in the colour and texture of their wings, were sluggish and slow to fly away from me when the species is normally quite skittish and looked like they were sunning their wings.  I suspect they were newly eclosed.

Pristine blue pansy female

 The Leopard is another irritatingly challenging butterfly.  I followed one today for much longer than the Green Baron and didn't even get a decent shot of it.

The leopard

 When I inch my viewfinder up to my face, you can see the leopard beat its wings.  Once the beat slows down, it looks like it's calming down but I just inch my viewfinder a little bit up more and the wings start beating furiously again.  Ignore that and continue to move and the leopard will be off in an orange flash.

The leopard side view

 This was a REALLY hard shot to muster.

Oct 25 lemon emigrant

 The Lemon Emigrant is another skittle.  Waited for it to settle on this flower for just ONE second.  *CLICK* and just as this photo was taken in that split second, the butterfly fled like a jet. 

Oct 25 mating common grass yellows

 I usually cannot be bothered to wait for these yellows to settle before they are photographed but it just so happened that this mating pair decided to choose a very aestethic location to mate on.  Unfortunately, they were disturbed by my intrusiveness and the pair took off shyly with one butterfly dangling away comically from the other butterfly's butt.

Horrors

Now for some icky stuff.

Oct 25 ghost moth

 Found this translucent pasty white moth under a leaf.  Teased it out with my finger and realised it was the weirdest looking moth I have ever seen.  Moths have a weird way of lying on their stomachs with their feet all sprawled out that makes it hard for me to say that they are attractive in a conventional sort of way like butterflies are… but they are still very fascinating.

Oct 25 heebie jeebies

 I think this is a crab.  Normally I would associate crab with chilli and yummy but today I don't know why it reminds me of a hairy tarantula.

0ct 25 heebie jeebies 2

 Caught this spider eating with exactly those two legs holding a fly or some small insect to its mouth.  Still can't reconcile with spiders.  Too freaky.

Oct 25 huge spider

 And this babe looks like a vampire with those red fangs…YEESSHH… *gets the creeps*

Oct 25 weird out

 Hey does this fella look like one the not so nice characters in A Bug's Life?  It looks like it was staring at me right through the viewfinder.  There were 3 of them and they were all freaky and flew off in a hovering kind of freaky way.  I hope it's just my imagination.

All of 7cm long

Oct 25 Ictinogomphus decoratus

 This dragonfly was 7cm long.  I kid thee not.  I stood there and waited for it to land and it is one huge BOSSY dragonfly, chasing everything away (except me).

The only Plus One Bird Shot.

Oct 25 red breasted parakeet

 

Oct 25 red breasted parakeet (2)

Wow…parrots sure can make a lot of noise.  I know they're pretty but boy they sure can be noisy.

 

 

 

   

 

Oct 25 yellow flowers

 

Oct 25 berries

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