Dark Blue Jungle Glories !!!

Hi, I am finally back with some really goooood news!
I finally found the DBJGs!!!!!!! Whoo! All thanks to Uncle
Cher Hern, who directed me to the spot. Anyway, I have
been waiting for ages to see this beauty and here it is.
The rare, sought after dark blue jungle glory. They are
really quite large, males about 9cm in wingspan and the
females are about 10cm! Here is a male.

The male has much smaller eye spots, and can also
be differentiated to the female by the wing margin
and orange on hindwing. The white bar on the forewing
is also thinner in males. This is the huge female.

In the right light, the purple scales will show nicely,
like as shown here. The upperside is a deep, magnificent
blue, which flashes mysteriously as the butterfly
flutters across the forest floor. Most of the time they are
well camouflaged among the leaf litter of the forest floor.
Since the place was very dark, I had to shoot with an
exceptionally slow shutter speed, so most of my images turned
out like this.

Also, there will often be a leaf or a twig blocking the
butterfly. I shall end off this post with my favourite
shot, with the proboscis showing, and a rare green back
ground.

That's all, so I hope you feel as excited as me.
Please comment. ( this time I mean it )

Jurong Bird Park

On Saturday, 21 of August, we went to the JBP.

We didn't have very much time as it was already 3.30 pm

when we arrived. Anyway, here is the toco toucan. His

bill is really amazing.

The scarlet ibis enclosure had the usual smell - yuck!

But I managed to go inside to grab a few shots. The ibises

look healthy, and the cormorants there were breeding

well.

At the Bird of Paradise, we were really lucky. It was

the first time we spotted the tiny king bird of paradise.

The female was even had a nest! Here she is, taking

a break from incubating her eggs.

The male was spectacular - even brighter and poppy

than the images I have seen of it. It was so fast, like

a flash of red, darting through the trees. His tail was also

very attractive, short, with two very long wire extensions

with a green disc at the tips. I wasn't able to get a good shot.

We also saw the twelve-wired b.o.p., one male and many

females. For the first time, I got up close with one.

This is a female.

The lory loft was noisy, full of screaming and screeching.

It is our usual stopover, to have ice cream ( me )

and coffee ( my mum ). Guess this guy is having his

'coffee' too!

At the birds of prey, good shots came easily as all

of them were big and still. Here is a large raptor, the

bald eagle.

Birds at the jungle jewels are usually hard to spot,

and even harder to shoot, as they are mostly tiny

and quick. The pic right at the top shows a female red

legged honeycreeper, and the shot below shows a yellow

hooded blackbird.

When we got to the African aviary, it was already

nearing 6 pm. This is the close-up of a vulturine

guineafowl. Stunning isn't it?

At one of the lookout points, I was surprised how tame

this purple-headed glossy starling was. It is often

the first to fly off. His yellow eye really stands out against

the dark head.

Oh well, I think that's about it.

Please comment.

Long-Tailed Broadbill

Ah, I am finally back with my latest painting,
featuring a long tailed broadbill. This bird, along
with the other broadbills, have disappeared from
S'pore during the period when S'pore was developing.

It is painted with the tree syzygium zeylancium. It
has lovely white flowers, and two of these can be found
near the visitor centre of BTNR. That is the reason
I chose this tree. I complemented the painting with a
little butterfly, called the glistening caerulean, jamides
elpis pseudelpis. The jamides butterflies do drink from
syzygium flowers, and their uppersides are of a spectacular
blue. I just put a flash of it here as they do not often
open their wings.

Hope you like it.
Please comment.

Acacia Blue

Yesterday was really overcast and even rained a
bit. Well there was something to brighten things
up. At Mount Faber, when we were looking around,
I spotted this lovely butterfly - the acacia blue.
It was the third time that I had seen this beauty.

It is rather rare in Singapore, and can only be found
in the areas that its host plant, albizia falcata, is
found. It also opened his wings for me. What a spectacular
sight.



Just to give you a hint on how small it actually is......




The end,
Please comment.