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.

Can't Exercise

 Like the header says, it's near impossible to exercise in my new neighborhood. Rest assured, it's not due to the fault of the amenities or anything like that. Don't go complaining anywhere. I wouldn't. But yes, alas, it is simply impossible. You mustn't blame me either - Ok, maybe you can. But not in this instance - After all, how can you expect me to just keep walking when...

There are so many butterflies! XD

I am on leave so I took a walk this morning in the garden and I must confess I hardly walked at all. I kept stopping and stopping and trying and failing to take a picture of all the butterflies I saw. Here's a list of them.

• Grass Yellows (of course)
• Striped Albatross (And there were so many! I have never seen so many before at one time!)
• I suspect a female Striped Albatross too (among the many, many, many males)
• Leopard (of course. I was by their tree)
• Plain Tiger
• Peacock Pansy
• Chocolate Pansy (I think. I think I only saw this very briefly or I might have mixed it up with yesterday when I definitely saw it....or maybe it was the day before...)
• All those little butterflies like Lesser Grass Blues that were too quick and landed too infrequently for me to identify
• A mysterious larger than Lesser Grass Blues but smaller than Grass Yellow butterfly I saw in the distance but couldn't identify. It was white and had a similar structure to a Lesser Grass Blue but with a tip at the end of it's tail and a hint of orange at the back near that tip. (Alas, this description is still too generic for me to identify it)

And all in the span of thirty minutes! How can I exercise I ask? How can I walk? I can't. I must stop and look and admire and try, even if I fail, to take a picture. You can't expect a butterfly lover to just walk past all these.

It's simply impossible.

Should be walking but keeps on stopping,
May.

P.S. This is on the 26th of June 2024. I can't fantom why Blogger says it is on the 25th. The date and time setting is fine on the posting site. Maybe it's a bug....How ironic.

P.P.S Ok, I've fixed it. How did blogger get the idea I was on the other side of the world in Los Angeles? I wouldn't mind visiting California again though. I would love to return to Yosemite National Park, Muir Woods, and Monetary Bay Aquarium.

At Last!

I am very fond of butterflies and some of the most common I see are the Grass Yellow butterflies (there is more than one species but I'll just use a generic Grass Yellow to refer to them. I can't tell if they are speckled, common, or chocolate when they are in flight.). With them, I would often come across another larger, lighter yellow butterfly, the Lemon Emigrant.

This is flighty butterfly. I have rarely seen it land and, despite my efforts, I had never been able to take a picture of it. It's impossible to take in flight and, whenever it does land, it always flies off again before I can take a picture. I almost expect it to fly off the moment I take out my phone.

Until today.

Yes! At long last, today at my workplace's rooftop garden, a Lemon Emigrant landed near me repeatedly and stayed still. I managed to take not just one but several pictures! This is the best among them.

I am so happy. At last! I finally managed to take a picture of a Lemon Emigrant! I did it!

And I came across some other things too.

Here's a yellow vented bulbul...

and a randomly large mushroom I found.

Some days are just filled with delightful surprises.

May