Not in my guidebook!

Somehow, it never occurred to me that this could happen but today, it did. I came across a butterfly not in my butterfly guidebook. My trusty, thick, heavy, full of pictures guidebook which has about every butterfly in Singapore that I've ever had the luck of coming across. Who knew it could happen? It was always possible but oh so improbable! 

It started normally enough. I was on my regular walk in my neighborhood garden when a flash of orange caught my eye. Watching for a few moments, I quickly realized several odd things about it that quickly told me it wasn't one of the usual orange butterflies I knew.

1. The orange was too bright so it wasn't a tawny coaster
2. The shape of the wings was too narrow and angular so it wasn't a leopard or a peacock pansy or any of the tigers
3. It was fast! Really fast! And big too. The wingspan of this butterfly was really large and so that significantly reduced the number of butterflies I knew with that wingspan.

And, including those I knew which also had that wing shape and color, that left...nothing.

It was probably around this time that I realized I had no idea what this butterfly was. Now, I've been flipping through my butterfly guidebook for years and, just from seeing those pictures over and over again, I usually have an idea of what the butterfly could be even if I have never seen it outside the guidebook. The image recognition is usually there but not this time. I had not the slightest idea what it was.

Intrigued, I tried to follow this butterfly but it was a fast flyer that infrequently landed. There was no way to really follow it either. It was so fast I lost sight of it more than once. Lucky for me, it seemed to favor a particular bush near me and so I just waited there. I didn't have to wait too long either before it finally landed and, once again, my phone camera shone. The butterfly seemed to have decided it needed a rest too and I quickly snapped a few pics as it finally stayed still.

Do you see it? that flash of orange at the bottom?

And there it is!

Well thank goodness for the latest 30x zoom in the phone UI upgrade! That and Google's new image search using AI where I can just circle my screen to search. That was how I found out that this butterfly is likely a Julia Heliconian (More here!). The name confirmed my suspicions. I had certainly never seen a butterfly with this fanciful name before. It's name blows names like 'Leopard', 'Tawny Coaster', and 'Peacock Pansy' right out of the water.

It's a recent immigrant to Singapore from the Americas and was first seen in June 2021. Now that explains why I've never seen it in my guidebook. I've certainly had it for more than 4 years.

Still, that was amazing. A new butterfly! And right in my backyard!

Absolutely loving my new estate,

May

I saw a Nightjar! XD

Okay, I think my title gave it away but, for context, this was a bird I have known about for a very long time but had never expected to see. After all, nightjars are nocturnal and I am very much diurnal. Not only diurnal but sun loving. Why should I expect to see a nocturnal bird?

Just a bit of history, I first learned about nightjars when I came across an illustration of one when I was probably in secondary school. There was large poster/folder of birds you could see in the botanic gardens and a nightjar was among the illustrations. It caught my eye for being so unique. It had an unusual shape and nests on the ground. However, right from the name, I never expected to see one and so I just filed it away under 'unusual birds'. That was over ten years ago.

Fast forward to today. I was taking a morning walk around my estate's garden and was about to head back home when I decided I wanted to do a half turn more. Now the only way to do a half turn in a circular path is to walk back along the path you'd just taken and then turn around and walk it again.

And that was when I saw the nightjar. I recognized it at a glance. "Is that a nightjar?!" I exclaimed and, thankfully, as there was no one near me, I wasn't troubled with a response. I was almost sure but not entirely sure. After all, it was just sitting there on the fence, sunbathing. I hurried over and whipped out my phone and took a - okay, I confess, many - pictures. I searched it and yes! It was a nightjar!

I was over the moon! A nightjar! A real nightjar! To be precise, a large tailed nightjar (See it here), and it was just sitting there! Sunbathing of all things. I had seen a nightjar!

If you read this blog, how can you doubt what came next? My phone was already in my hand and here are the results. By pure chance the nightjar was located near a housing block and that meant I could get to the void deck and take a variety of shots from different angles. Just a tip if you want to do the same; however happy you are, try to be quiet when taking the shots and move slowly. No point scaring away the bird in the process of enjoying it. 

Of course, if I gave this tip, I did not scare away the bird and look at the results! Boy it was hard keeping quiet though.

    

First glance

A shot from the back! Look at its lashes in the sunlight!

I think it sees me

Yup, it sees me. Hello! 

No worries, we didn't trouble each other and it was still there when I left

Ahhh, I'm over the moon, into the sky, and up to the stars. Who cares about the rest of the day or even the rest of the week? My day and week are made!

Don't fault me for dancing,

May

Pupa

 Of the 4 stages of the butterfly's life cycle, the most commonly seen is the butterfly itself in it's adult form, the second is the caterpillar, the third is the pupa, and the fourth is the eggs. I've only seen butterfly eggs once and I very rarely see pupas at all. So, imagine my surprise on seeing all these pupas one one of the Rukam Asam near my home! Yes, I saw all of these on one plant. As you can imagine, its leaves were rather holey.

Yup, that's all on one tree. Four in total. The second one I fear is dead. The mortality rate for pupas is rather high I'm afraid. When my primary school tried raising them, all but one died. There was apparently a little fly that drilled holes in the pupa to eat it. (Morbid yes, but facts are facts) I hope this hasn't happened to the second one but I seriously doubt it's alive. From the markings these appear to be the pupa of leopard butterflies and they should be green.

Which brings me to the first one. It's not green. It's black and red and seems quite alive. I've never seen this before and I suspect it means the butterfly is almost fully formed and will emerged soon. I've been checking it every day since but it hasn't changed. I really hope it becomes a butterfly.

As for the last two, now these are pupas that I've never seen. They are empty pupas! The success stories that have become butterflies and left these empty shells behind. Perhaps I've seen them flying around. Who can say? There are so many leopards here!

By the way, I've said I see caterpillars more often than pupas and yes, in my experience, that has been the case. Yet, I have only seen one since I've moved here. Where are they? Given all these pupas, they must be around somewhere. And where are the eggs?

Wishing my eyes were sharper,

May

Update some months later

Okay, I'm late but just an update, the first one was also dead. Looks like only the green ones are alive.

The Best Butterfly Photo I have ever taken

 I'll let the photo do the talking but I'm ecstatic! Hard to believe one photo out of several taken on a rainy day could end up being the best butterfly photo I've ever taken. Look at the light! It's shining through the wing! And it was so sharp! My phone camera was worth its cost. It managed to take this picture of a moving, flighty leopard butterfly!

What a wonderful gift and a gift it truly was. 

And look! I found a caterpillar too! I think it's the caterpillar of a leopard butterfly. This is its host plant after all.

I'm literally dancing,

May

Delightful Surprises

When I was thinking of writing this post, I was going to title it 'Unexpected Surprises' but then I realized a surprise is by definition unexpected and so that was a rather redundant description. So let's title it delightful instead for it was certainly delightful.

If you've read my other posts, you'll know by now that I'm quite the butterfly seeker. I love butterflies and have been known to chase them for a considerable time every once in a while. I don't exactly look out for them consciously but, after over twenty years' of practice, I find them quite easily. I just notice them. It's become System 1.

So imagine what it's like when I didn't find it but it found me!

That was exactly what happened today. I was out on the rooftop garden at my workplace after lunch as usual when I noticed a little movement. I looked down and lo and behold, a butterfly had landed on my mask! Thankfully that mask was hanging on my bag. If I had been wearing it I would have only been confused.

Just look at it!

As far as I can tell it's a Line Blue Butterfly but I can't tell which one. Maybe a Tailless Line Blue? It looks the closest (See more here and here for the various Line Blues!) I don't think I've ever noticed it before though, much less gotten a picture of it. Isn't it adorable?

And it found me!

Unexpectedly Happy,

May

P.S. The irony of a Line Blue landing on a blue mask does not escape me. It even crawled around for a bit. Perfectly happy I see. That makes two of us!

Butterflies Galore!

 At the rooftop garden at my office, butterflies are a common sight. Grass yellows, lemon immigrants, and a couple of pansies are normal. However, every once in a while, there comes so many butterflies that your heart goes wild at the sight of them. And they can come so close! There might even be a couple of surprises among them.

Today was such a day and it was difficult to keep from dancing along at the sight of so many wonders weaving and twisting all about me. I came across some old friends too, made some new ones, and, of course, took some pictures. I absolutely love my phone camera. The 10x zoom is wonderful.

First of, some old friends. A Chocolate Pansy. I see these all the time but rarely do I get a chance to take a good photo or video of them. I quite failed at the picture this time but look at the video!

If you hear a high pitched noise somewhere, that's me squealing in delight. (Yes, I am born in the year of the Pig and am allowed to squeal in happiness once in a while. It's a privilege of the zodiac.) I mean, look at it! I've only seen such shots in documentaries and those videos they use to sell TVs. And I managed to take it! Wheee!

Next up is a new friend. This was fiendishly difficult to identify but I think it's most likely a Small Branded Swift. (See more here). The problem with identifying butterflies is that the change in the placement of a white mark or the number of dots or the tiniest detail is the difference between one butterfly and another. Also, the Small Branded Swift is known to have many lookalikes so, take this identification with a pinch of salt. All I can say for sure is that it's probably a swift.

Still, I'm so happy with this picture. I've fallen in love with my phone camera all over again.

Do excuse the high pitched noise. I can't help it. It's so sharp! Boy am I glad that swift stayed still then. It kept going from flower to flower. Taking pictures of butterflies is as much a test of patience as endurance. I still remember going after that Blue Pansy when I was in JC. I must have spent ages chasing it down to the amusement of all watching. Still, I got a good picture out of it (A Blue Pansy).

Speaking of pansies, I found another friend from the pansy family. This one is comparatively elusive. I see Chocolate Pansies all the time and Blue Pansies I see every once in a while but this one I hardly come across. 

It's a Peacock Pansy! Lovely isn't it. This one was sunbathing some distance away so I thank God for my high quality zoom once again. Gosh, so many pretty butterflies today. I was over the moon. They are just soooo pretty!

I think the rest of the garden had had enough of my squealing though and so plotted a surprise to shock me back into my usual senses. There is a spider I often see in the lift lobby on the way back up to work. It's a jumping spider so you can guess that it's about 1.5 cm big which is pretty big for a jumping spider. Today, I opened the door to the lift lobby expecting to see it again and instead saw....

GAH! I said 1.5cm not this almost 15 cm monster. It was right in my face too so it gave me a scare. Here's the door for a size reference. It's an enclosed space. How did it get in there?

I certainly stopped squealing,

May.

Urban Wildlife

Strange things happen sometimes. My office isn't close to any natural reserve or forest or even any proper gardens (unless you count the more concrete than grass roof garden I frequent every lunch). No, it is close to offices, the MRT, more offices, a busy road, hotels, and very urban buildings in general. Yet, wildlife seems to just pop up at times.

For instance...

This female common flameback woodpecker I found clinging onto the glass as I walked to work this morning. What is it doing there? I don't see any secondary rainforests, mangroves, or any proper urban parks near woodlands here.

Do you?

Thinking it got lost,
May.