Adelaide and Kangaroo Island Butterflies

I have finally walked on Aussie ground and I must say that I loved

every bit of it! We visited Adelaide since we have cousins living 

there, and even took a ferry to the beautiful  Kangaroo Island. It

was an amazing experience; the weather, the people and the 

nature. I'll get on with the butterflies first. Here we have the near

abundant Australian Painted Lady. They were everywhere but were

ever so lovely. Plus, there are none back in the sunny island.

There were painted ladies on almost every flower patch in the

Adelaide Botanic Garden. They would hop from flower to flower

then fly off to bask on the ground or a rock.

Cabbage Whites were also in good supply but they hardly stopped

to rest. This butterfly was actually accidentally introduced into

Australia along with many other foreign species during the eighteenth

century when the first European settlers arrived in the continent. 

In the woodlands, the most dominant butterfly was the Common

Brown. It is more orange than brown, and makes Singapore's 

delicate mycalesis browns look dull! They belong to a genus of

butterflies endemic to the Australia. Here is the male. I was not 

able to get a shot of the larger and more spectacular female.

The most exciting encounter was my first Monarch Butterfly. It

is probably the best known butterfly around the world. Very often

the species that flutters by in the mind once the word 'butterfly' 

is mentioned would be this species! Its amazing migration is one of 

nature's wonders and has earned it its Aussie name: the Wanderer. 

The size of the monarch caught me by surprise; it was quite a bit 

larger than its Singaporean counterpart, the Common Tiger. Lastly, 

we have the diminutive Common Grass Blue. Being very similar to 

the blues I see along the roadsides in Singapore, they did not excite 

me quite as much as the Monarch but were a lovely sight nonetheless.

That's all for the butterflies. I saw far more birds during the trip

though. The place was like an enormous bird park. Anyway that

would be my material for next week's post. On a side note, Christmas

is only three days away. I'm finishing up all my gifts for my family,

one being the waxwing painting. I can't wait for the holiday!