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