Sime Forest Birthday outing

This was my very first trip to Sime forest. I met
Liyana, Anthony and Uncle Chern hern there.
Here is a fresh stink horn. In fact, it smelt rather
pleasing; like banana cake. I havn't quite nailed
down what species it is, due to the strange cap.

The first butterfly spotted was a male archduke,
which I didn't manage to shoot. But I got this
Small branded Swift resting on a fern.

At the puddling ground, there were already many

butterflies waiting for us. The photo below shows

two blue jays. ( butterflies, not birds )

Two or three of these brightly-coloured Cruisers

were puddling on the mud, opening and closing

their wings slowly. Cruisers are very approachable

when puddling, making them easy to shoot.

This was the first time I encountered the lovely

Five bar Swordtail. Sadly, this one was a five bar

no tail. :( It should have two long 'swords' on the

hindwing.

Around that same patch of mud, the tailed jay also came

to visit. It was quick, and only stayed for a few

seconds. Luckily I managed a decent shot.

The highlight of the day was definitely the common

bluebottles. there were say five of them zipping

around. They are my favourite butterflies, and

that is why I call myself 'Bluebottle'. The bottles

were hard to approach though...

Sometimes a single blue jay would join in the

congregations.

The best shot of the day, for me, was this Chocolate

grass Yellow. Sharp from head to tail, and creamy

back ground.

This cute Malayan Sunbeam was puddling on a

plastic bag at first, but later flew up to a leaf.

Liyana and I took turns to shoot it.

Finally, on the way back, this small butterfly called

the Common line Blue was spotted puddling on a red

pebble.

The end.

Please comment.

Pitta Song

Whoo! Another painting post. I completed it like
three weeks ago, but since I used oils, it took a
while to dry. It is called "Pitta Song", and features
the blue winged pitta.

The pittas can be seen in both parks and nature
reserve areas.

Um, hope you like it!

Mothers' Day Walk

Yesterday it was Mothers' Day! Yessssso! We went
to SBG for a walk. Here and now, I introduce my
new friend, Scarlet.

Around the lake, I saw another white breasted
waterhen wading around in search of food.

This is my best shot of the plantain squirrel, as it
is very skittish and hard to approach.

Hopping in the distance was this lovely magpie
robin. Ever since I first saw them at the Bird Park,
I have always liked these cuties very much.
With a centipede in his mouth, I caught him running,
just before flight.

He made a direct flight for the nest, despite the
people below. The nest was low, made in the bark
of a palm.

Later on, when I was chasing skippers near the
forested area, I saw something resting on a leaf.
At the first sight, it looked like a small morpho,
but you can't find morphos in S'pore. It was a bamboo
tree brown.

These fellas are very skittish, so this was the best
I could get. The skippers? They were banded demons.
small and very cute. After chasing this one for a long
time I finally got a good shot.

That was the shot of the outing. To end off, I'll
put this greater racket tailed drongo that was high
in a tree.

Please comment.

Small but Mighty

When I was looking for a lime butterfly, a small
movement beside me caught my eye. It was a
spider. One of the most lovely spiders that I have
seen. Again, I am not a spider expert, so I need
some ID for him.

Although he was small, he often crawled up onto
the wall, waited, then pounced on a passing weaver
ant, then darted away. I think he is trying to catch
the ants, thinking they are some other insect,
only realising they are dreadful weaver ants
later on.

This is my first serious attempt to spider
photography, so I hope it is a good one. =)

Flowers of the Tembusu

Today we went to KRP. The sky was rather clear,
unlike the recent days. A nice surprise when
we got there was these tembusus. In fact, we did not
realise that the trees were the tembusus until we
saw them......... In bloom! The whole tree would be
covered in the cream-coloured flowers.

There were, say, around 50 of them, and every
single one was flowering. It was really a sight to
behold.

The flowers were simple, five-petaled. They were
creamy-white, yellower towards the center.
These flowers are fragrant, especially in the
evening, to attract night-going moths for pollination.
The trees flower twice a year, first around May,
then second at the end of the year.

... But it wasn't just the moths that help pollinate the
flowers. I found this common mime drifting among
the blooms. However it was far and I could not get a
good shot.

The branches also had lizards climbing among
them, mostly changeable lizards. Birds such
as yellow vented bubuls, collard kingfishers and
sunbirds were flying around the trees too.
Some of the flowers were already drying up.

Soon, the trees would be covered in red berries,
another wonderful thing I wish to see.