4126. Singapore Wildlife. Rare butterflies seen on Mar 26 and Mar 30, 2020

MAKE A wildlife VIDEO WITH THE FOLLOWING NARRATIVE to educate young people to take care of and love Nature.


MARCH 26, 2020
3 butterflies literally "waited" for me to pass by yesterday evening, 26 March 2020.

I walked along Yio Chu Kang Crescent, besides the vegetation bordering the Seletar Simpang Kiri River. The red signboard was one of the many signboards warning that the area is a protected area.
It was hard to understand why a river bank would need protection.

River bank. Pavement is on the right. The jogger ran past, casting his shadow
onto the red-violet butterfly. It frightened her and she flew away.

First seen was the red-violet butterfly with such royal colours glinting under the sunset rays. What a  surprise to see a rare butterfly.

Joggers, dogs and bikes zoomed past. A jogger's shadow splashed onto this red-violet.   In an instant, he flew off.

Then I chanced to see the black-blue nearby on the grass. It was not easily spotted unlike the orange butterfly.

 It was a very rare sighting to see another rare butterfly. Its two eyes look like wedding bands, dsiplayed on a blue surface in a jewelry shop. 

The two eye spots looked like wedding rings displayed on a blue surface in a jewelry shop.

The orange one was common. There were two resting with wings tightly folded.

One was fast asleep. Eyes hidden under the leaves as you can see in this photo.

"Please show me your dorsal wing area," I said to the two.  They ignored me.
I waited. I did not want to harass them. I waited. One decided to fly away and landed on a leaf nearby.

"All right, all right," she flapped her wings. "Open, shut, open, shut...You better hurry up! I want to fold my wings to go to sleep!"

I was overjoyed as this 3rd butterfly would complete my set of 3 butterflies with dorsal wings seen.

The sun was setting. "Do you know what are "golden hours?" I recalled an elderly man asking me during one dinner evening at my sister's house. I did not reply as he could be obnoxious at times.

"You call yourself a photographer and you do not know?" he lamented.

What could I say to provocations? I could say I had never claimed to be a photographer.

He called himself a writer. There was another elderly man at the dining table some time ago. He  was an erotic poetry writer and complained loudly to my sister that he could not comprehend my English-speaking communications with him.  Such fascinating people I had met at dinner in this house.

Well, the 3rd butterfly extended her wings suddenly. Just during this golden hour. A golden hour is  roughly one hour before sunset or sunrise!

I experienced my golden hour when this orange butterfly's wings extended her wings for me to take some photographs.

The sun was setting. I said good night to the orange butterflies and walked along Yio Chu Kang Road to my home.  The sun would set and there would not be sufficient sunlight for photography.

Today's golden hour in photography - One hour before sunset 

Now I have a complete set of three butterflies with 3 extended wings, displaying their beautiful colours before the sun set.


Would you agree that the 3 butterfly species were waiting for me to pass by and take their photographs?

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END OF STORY.

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SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2020. THREE RARE BLACK-BLUE BUTTERFLIES WELCOME ME


It was an overcast sky but the evening was bright and serene. I walked along Yio Chu Kang Crescent beside the Seletar Simpang Kiri River.  Full but muddy waters. Some dark clouds in the distance.

SUN MAY 31, 2020  6 PM

Saw the brilliant coloured butterflies on the same grass patch - evening. They like the grass.

MON JUNE 1, 2020.  8 AM

I saw 7 butterflies of the 2 species as mentioned above.

A pair was still asleep next to each other, on open grounds. Dew drops wet their wings. They did not care.

3 on a patch of grass nearby

Another 2 on the grass patch further up.

Altogether 7 butterflies along Seletar Simpang Kiri River.
3 videos were taken.

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17 Nov 2020. Seletar Simpang Kiri River. morning.  Cloudy green river.