Upper Seletar Reservoir - A butterfly paradise

Yesterday, I went back to Upper Seletar Reservoir, (USR).
That place is really amazing. I wish I lived there. And best
of all, it is truly a butterfly paradise. In fact, generations of
certain species have been living there. This time, I did not
manage to shoot a dbjg, but I met Uncle Cher Hern there
and got this rather skittish male baron.

There is a strange green gloss on its wings, but still
definitely a baron. The next butterfly we saw was the
Malayan lascar. This orange gem is quite hard to
shoot, but nonetheless worth the effort. This shot
shows a female on its caterpillar host plant.

While searching for the tree flitter, I chanced upon
this chestnut bob resting on a blade of cow grass.

Moving along, we walked to a clearing in the forest,

with long grasses and wild ferns. We were checking out

a bush when the rare green oakblue flew into sight.

Its underside is similar to most other arhopalas (oakblues),

but its upperside is green instead of violet.

The butterfly we saw next was really we had been

waiting for. It a the rare, and sought after lycaenid,

the Semanga Superba Deliciosa. We call it the Semanga

for short. This is the first time I saw this beauty, and I

was really really exited. It is a female, and here it is.

The semanga is really tiny, smaller than a S 10 cent coin,

with a lovely purple upperside. The underside, a shown,

is buff with a beautiful pattern on the hind wing. The male

is darker, and has only two pairs of tails. After she flew away,

we took turns to shoot this common three ring.

The poor butterfly had a parasitic mite on its eye.

(The red thing) Feeding on one of the ripe fruits of a

S'pore rhododendron bush was a horsefields baron male.

I managed to get an underside shot. The upperside is black

with a blue edge.

The last butterfly we saw was the spectacular great helen,

it is the largest helen in S'pore and is also our second

largest butterfly. This one is a female.

Well, I guess that is all for today.

Please comment.

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.