Ring of Rose

Okay! Here is my latest painting. It is called

" Ring of Rose ". It features the rose ringed

parakeet, a parrot that often visits my school.

These lovely parakeets are not as widespread

as the long tailed parakeets, and are not as well

described.

Hope u like it.

Hortpark 13.6.2010 with BC

Wow! I thought it would rain that morning. But
of course, it didn't. Never fails. Whenever I have an
outing with some members of Butterfly Circle, the
weather is always perfect. Here, great news. We
were releasing some native butts! When I opened
the lid of the box, most of the emigrants flew off.
Leaving a few leopard lacewings. This one was very
tame. it crawled onto my finger.

Later on, Anthony propped him up on a leaf so he
could rest... and so could photograph him! Here are
my best shots of the handsome fella.

This one was taken from the other side. I hope it
is as nice. =) ( second fav. )

After the shooting in the hot sun, Anthony specially
opened the butterfly enclosure for us. Thanks!
There were many Taiwanese tree nymphs gliding
around. Really big!

Now here is one butterfly that went extinct in S'pore
during the time S'pore began to develop. We can still
find it in the enclosure! ( Sorry for tattered specimen )

Back at the floral walk, there were still lots of
lemon emigrants. They are very skittish, and hard
to shoot. This was the best I could get. I know the
hindwing is burr. *embarrassed*

Finally, at the car park, I managed a record shot
of what I think is the male striped blue crow.

Please comment!

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!