AH today

Went to AHBT today, hoping for some common imperial.
The first thing that caught my eye was these two common

rose cats. They were big and fat,and nearing pupation.

I was lucky that this female common birdwing landed

for me, and landed at eye level.

There were many barons flying around, darting from

leaf to leaf. When they landed, they would flap their wings

slowly,which was how I got this underside shot.

In the trail, I chased this tattered centaur oakblue

for half an hour. In my shot, a little of the brilliant

purple upperside is visible.

When I returned after cooling down, this white

crested laughing thrush was good enough to let me

touch the bush he was in.

When I was looking for the oakblue, this plain plushblue

landed on the leaf in front of me.

The last thing that was interesting, was this empty

pupal case of a blue glassy tiger. It is not damaged,

which means the tiger eclosed this morning.

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Flashes of red

The time I went to USR, when I saw the eagle, I also saw two

male common red flashes. The first one was at a patch of wildness,

near the water edge. It was just behind a forest, a suitable habitat

for many butts. He was very good, staying still while I shot him.

He was a little hard to shoot, as he kept darting off to

scare other butterflies away when they came too close.

After a stroll along the reservoir, I decided to come to the

same spot to check on him. There I met a man, from

the Butterflycircle. He was also shooting the red flash.

However, it was tattered. Bird attack? I don't know.

It is the same one, as he would not let any other male red

flash enter his area. I was lucky to see the fab upperside,

as red flashes only open their wings from 4: 20-6:00.

Both male & female have pale grey undersides.

White bellied Sea Eagle

I was at Upper Seletar Reservoir earlier on, looking for some
butterflies. I heard a call, and above me was an adult white
bellied sea eagle. It soared for a while, then lowered to take
a fish from the water. This was exciting, below is a shot
before its legs touched the water.

The bird failed to catch the fish, as seen in the image below.

It flew back into the sky, and slowly got higher and higher

and............................................

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Mac. Nature trail

Went to MNT ( Macritchie nature trail )a few days ago.

Saw many butterflies, birds and dragonflies. The first three

quarters or so, there were no butterflies. Piles of rattan but no

butterflies. There were a few dragonflies however. This is

my favourite. It kept flicking itself into the air, making some

"clicking noises", then it would come back to the tree trunk.

There were a number of branded imperials along the trail,

many were too skittish to shoot. They flew around me,

not giving me a chance, but this one was rather co-operative.

I spent the next ten minutes trying to locate this common faun,

which landed somewhere in the undergrowth. It was after

much of being pricked by rattans and bitten by spiders, that

I got this shot.

A familiar bird was watching overhead, the greater racket

tailed drongo. It was probably looking for a c. faun to eat.

The last thing I saw was this strange insect hanging from a

fern. If you look carefully, the insect is dead and hollow,

with a hole on its back. Its death was probably due to

a parasitic wasp, which its grubs fed on the body and left

through the hole.

The end of this post, Please comment.