Wildlife Photographers & Artists

The Boy, The Bear & The Butterfly

nobody@vox.com(butterflyeffect) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:24:51 -0800

Appias lyncida vasava (Chocolate albatross)

Note on photo above: Choc Albatross was sitting around a pile of sand in an Orang Asli community.

And never would you find a more unlikely trio. And yet each so perfectly balanced in their own chaotic energy that they cancel out each other’s potency.

Polyura jalysus jalysus

Note on photo: And this nawaby looking butterfly was its companion.

And this is exactly what happened last weekend when I was in KL to celebrate my Big 30.

Maybe stimula swinhoei

Topside maybe stimula swinhoei

Record 3

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Note on photo: I encountered the same unmarked butterfly in FRIM. The photo Record 3 is not the same butterfly as the one in the swinhoei photos.

I went over to visit The Bear of The Past, whom I’d known for 10 years. In order to prevent The Bear from mauling me back into the memories of The Past, I decided to bring shooting/photography buddies who would decidedly prevent any 2 person scenarios where forced flashbacks were likely to occur.

Royal Assyrian record shot

Note on photo above: The Royal Assyrian wouldn't cooperate. It's one beautiful butterfly!

I sent out at least 10 sms-es to people from various everywhere, including Mushroom who wanted to travel, Dr Plant who likes to go to KL, Alien from KL who doesn’t mind going back to KL, the trio of girls I hang out with on a regular basis who only go to KL to shop … and The Boy.

Papilio nephelus sunatus (black and white helen)

Note on photo above: This butterfly wouldn't stay put. It eats on the move.

And everybody had something else on… except The Boy.

Neptis hylas papaja (Common Sailor)

So it came to pass that The Boy, The Bear and The Butterfly were fated to be in the same car driving on a highway in KL with The Bear muzzled up politely upfront in the driver’s seat playing old rock favourites, The Boy in the backseat tapping the Butterfly on the head persistently, giggling to himself like a mad man, completely and pointedly ignoring The Bear and The Butterfly ready to fly out from her front passenger seat to take her chances with the hard asphalt road.

Graphium sarpedon luctatius (common bluebottle)

Unid damsel

Note on photo above: I can't ID this damselfly. And don't want to just slap it with a wrong identification with lousy guesswork.

The Bear’s purpose was blunted. I had written a lot more about this purpose. But realised 3 days after drafting the blog entry that it didn't mean anything to anyone. Not The Bear. Not to me. .

Unid damsel2

Note on photo above: The red spot on the wing makes me hesitant to say that this is the Fenestrella.

To sum it up neatly and then forget it again, I finally saw him accurately as the person that he was and is with all his strengths and all his flaws without the childish veil of knights in shining armor. But I also saw this through the perspective of an irrelevant entity, watching a nostalgic black and white movie.

Ampittia dioscorides camertes (Bush hopper)

For it seems that the best of things never happen with the ones gifted and attuned with understanding, but with the ones that claw and scrabble at the gate, that talk at you with strangled muffles through a screen… the ones that can never get close enough to even seem human.

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Note on photos above: Why did the tail-less chicken cross the road? To distract 3 men from their winged subject.

And the best of situations are given under the compulsory condition of such uncomfortable sieges. While the impossible lay somewhere beyond the practical realm of reality, lingering just a sliver off from within reach, flitting into and out of presence like the butterfly.

Something to behold. Never to be held.

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Note on photo above: I got leech bites. The stockings were not sheer enough. Sigh. Also photo of the friendly staff at MNS.

Enough of all that human interacto- blah blah.
This time in KL, I didn’t go to the usual FRIM region. Acting upon a KL-ite’s recommendation, we traipsed around an Orang Asli village near Gombak instead.

A stream passes along the small village and it was here that I got my second and third leech bite (the first was in FRIM. I didn’t get bitten in Langkawi, Endau Rompin or Sarawak… how cool is that? The forest has been merciful).
LC handed me some tobacco to put over the bites. You’d be surprised at how effective it was. The bleeding stopped almost immediately and it didn’t itch during the night either.

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Note on photos above: Check out the fire over which the locals cook Lemang... a type of tasty glutinous rice.

KL’s weather was just as variable as Singapore’s. It rained quite heavily on both shooting days. But unlike the dead silence in the fields here after a heavy downpour, the patches of sunlight don’t take long to be re-speckled by butterflies.

Stopping by various small cul de sacs of wild vegetation, we could already spot 3 different species of skippers skipping around in the wet weeds, 1 very large iridescent topside-blue restless butterfly and your ubiquitous yellows, browns and rings.

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Turtle bug

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The area is spotted with huts and you can find some tasty rice treats along the way such as the Lemang, a glutinous fragrant rice snack cooked over a fire and eaten with spicy chicken (see pic below):

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Farm fowl roam free around the premises and even on the roads, mingling with an assortment of half-domesticated strays. The people who live in these huts are extremely friendly and very photogenic.

Child

Now I would write more. But I'm going to bed. There will be a Part 2.

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Butterfly Lollies

nobody@vox.com(butterflyeffect) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:15:35 -0800

Moduza procris milonia on a stick

Another Small Window Of Blue

Today was another small rare window of sunshine.

And Mother Nature's rare birthday gift for old undeserving me were some of my favourite skittlebugs on melastoma icky sweet sticks.

Moduza procris milonia (commander) on a stick

Backlit tatty Commander

I finally got another photo of the Commander. Unfortunately still without being able to isolate the butterfly completely in the photo. But at least it hung around... like lollipop on a stick... colourful, bright and immobile... for a few minutes... while it drank greedily from the fruits.

Commander lollipop

To add to my happiness, the Pandita Sinope Sinope also condescended to play lollipop on the same bush as the Commander.

Pandita sinope sinope (Colonel)

And even allowed for both upperside and underside shots... even though it did make us work pretty hard for them, circling and circling again.

Pandita sinope sinope lollipop

Also, the hoary palmer decided to show up while we were heading back. Yay. Record shot.

Very faded Rapala suffusa barthema (Suffused flash) feeding on melastoma

Hoary palmer

Semi transparent moth

This weekend was really great. A lot of the butterflies I've always wanted to shoot turned up. Like the topside-green arhopala which I'd spent so much time tracing before on a different trail.

Big mama of an archduke

Maybe Arhopala eumolphus maxwelli (Green Oakblue)

Euthalia monina monina female

I'm just a little sad I'm 30 (about 8 minutes ago). It's my birthday! *sad yay*

Euthalia monina monina female lollipop

Even the usually skittish malay baron turned up in pairs to celebrate. And the male even cooperated to have a nice clean shot taken.

Euthalia monina monina male

Where did the 20s go? Probably the same place where the extinct butterflies of the world flitter about happily in the sunshine.

Eulaceura osteria kumana (Purple duke) lollipop

Unid wasp

SIGH!

Unid waspy thinga

I just kinda wish sometimes that Mum was still here to celebrate it with me. And all the dreams of possibilities that now lay sleeping in the past.

But then again it's not like I hate being 30. I just like being 20 better. :P

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"Blue Skies... talking about blue skies..."

nobody@vox.com(butterflyeffect) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:12:03 -0800

Great eggfly hypolimnas bolina bolina

Note on photo above: Great eggfly in the sky...

2 Days

I am 2 days away from no longer being in my 20s! YAAAA~~~ *screams of horror*

I wish being 30 came with benefits. Like you get two vices with turning 18 and 21 but you don't get any 'privileges' from turning 30. Sigh.

Polyura hebe plautus (Plain Nawab)

Note on Plain Nawab: I clomped on in my heavy boots till I was somewhere around where Mr and Mrs Gandalf lived. And found to my surprise a Plain Nawab sitting on dog do. Eee~~... but yet amazing. So I laid down on the dog do laden grass and fired away at it. Later... I made faces at myself for doing so but it's not everyday you get a puddling Plain Nawab. So heck!

The Small Window

Today was one of those rare small windows when the sun was strong enough and the butterflies were zipping around in gay abandon. Blue skies, white clouds and plenty of Commanders and amazing clusters of Miletinae all along the different sites I walked from morning till afternoon.

Hypolycaena erylus teatus (Common Tit)

Note on photo above: Laying eggs? Or just being finicky? Just being finicky actually. Cos it's male.

Momentary elation

I confused the Common Tit with the Hypolycaena thecloides thecloides which I'd only ever shot in Semakau and was momentarily overjoyed until it flashed its blue upperside and then I was stuck in the patch trying to get an upperside shot of that strong inky blue.

(Autumn Leaf) Doleschallia bisaltide bisaltide

Common Tit upperside

Euthalia aconthea gurda (Baron)

Note on photo above: Trees were flowering in many places and with them came hordes of fighting and fluttering. The Autumn Leaf is a fast flyer and the Chocolate Pansies couldn't keep up with it... but they ardently chased it around anyway...

Good Patches

There were patches of activity everywhere. I came across 3 of the Autumn Leafs and plenty of Lascars, with 1 particularly large one which eluded me persistently and lead me along the path to this very tattered Flos Apidanus.

Tatty Flos apidanus

The Commander Baby (Caterpillar)

Moduza procris procris (Commander) caterpillar body

Moduza procris procris (Commander) head shot

Pemara pugnans (Pugnacious lancer)

Note on photos above of Commander: I'm sorry to say that the caterpillar of one of my favourite uncooperative butterflies look like poop.

I came across what I thought was dried bird poo at one point but realised the bird poo was alive when it raised its tail (see Moduza procris procris (Commander) caterpillar body photo above and note the narrower end) at me like a snake about to strike.

Said pose should have an effect of frightening people away... were it not for the fact that it's so eeny that it looks like a worm raising its head to look at you.

And then it should probably have used its head cos it has such a scary face reminescent of the scaly faces in alien movies.

Moduza procris procris (Commander) sulking

Note on Beast above and Blonde Beauty below: A face to scare all suitors away... ROAARRRR goes the scary caterpillar...and then it sulked disappointedly when I didn't go away.

The classic case of the Ugly Duckling who grows up to be a beautiful fast flying colourfully laced Commander and the fluffy blonde moth caterpillar below who will eventually become a shadowy, unremarkable looking, possibly short lived moth.

Fluffy bright yellow caterpillar

Tholymis Tillarga

I encountered my first not so commonly seen dragonfly in a long time. For the past months, the only uncommon dragonfly I'd come across was the white-mouthed Pseudothemis Jorina.

Tholymis tillarga male unique wing colouring

Tholymis tillarga male sideview

Tholymis tillarga male dragonfly

This is a male. Females are much paler. And check out that beautiful wing veination.

Pink eyed fly not in the sky

Because of the rains, sites typically trodden bare have been left undisturbed and I was surprised to find some places now overgrown with plants again. And even the flies seem to be much bigger too. Eek.

Hypolimnas anomala anomala (Malayan Eggfly)

Eggflies in the sky are a good thing. Especially if the sky is blue. The eggfly agrees and therefore it took about 10 monopod prods before it condescended to a lower perch for this shot to be taken.

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November's Rain

nobody@vox.com(butterflyeffect) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:56:23 -0800

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It's been raining. Raining. Raining.

A dead yellow

Butterflies are either not there or they are dead or they are very lonely.

One lonely skppity

I brought the smore one to a trail but he refused to walk down any of the dodgey looking trails. He was elated to find a small farm belonging to I-wonder-who in the middle of 'nowhere' (not technically nowhere... not technically unremote either).

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Lime butterfly

What can you do for rainy monsoon weekends?

Walk your dog in the sweet smell of after the rain.

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What can you do if you don't have a dog?

Borrow a Labrador shaped Chocolate that belongs to someone else.

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Because... because...

nobody@vox.com(butterflyeffect) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:10:48 -0800

SAM museum5

Note on photo above: Me n friends went down to check out the art museum party on Saturday. Some of them looked they came right out of a nightmare.

1) For my actions: Because I want to be happy.

SAM museum3

Note on photo above: Neither my friend nor I dared to enter the room at the back... it was too eerie.

2) For The Boy: Because she wanted something different.

SAM museum

Note on photo above: Some installations were dreamy, cosy and wonderful.

3) For The Bear: Because you hunted me down after 10 years and found me.

Pink lady

Orchids in the sun

Note on photo above: I can bring my G10 everywhere!

4) For the cheesy TV dramas with perfect families: Because you are a lie. Blatant. Foolish. Lie.

Papilio prexaspes prexaspes (Blue Helen)

Broadway beng

Cethosia cyane (Leopard lacewing)

Note on photos above: And the forest sleeps on. Beds of flowers are left untended by their winged counterparts.

5) For Mr and Mrs Gandalf: Because both of you evoke happy memories.

Logania marmorata damis

Note on photo above: I took ages to get a good shot of this pair.

6) For Love: Because you taught me to be independent and self-sufficient.

Maybe Arhopala athada athada (Vinous Oakblue)

Lonolyce helicon merguiana (Pointed Line Blue)

Suastus gremius gremius (Palm bob)

Note on photos above: Pickings are far and few between.

7) For the butterflies: Because you all irritate me so much by being so uncooperative but I can't help but be happy when I see you all flutter around drunkenly in the sunlight.

Drupadia ravindra moorei (common posy) upperside

Note on photo above: I found a stretch of quiet trail. Where there was literally nothing except a low gutteral rumbling amongst the trees and this butterfly. I can't figure out what's making that sound.

8) For the monsoon rains: Because you drive me nuts when you are hot and sunny and beckoning while I'm in bed and then cold and rainy and forbidding when I'm outdoors. But then again, recently you've been very nicely aligned with my activities so I'm grateful.

Drupadia ravindra moorei (common posy) poses

Note on photo above: What a nice lil forward strutty pose you got there with all your tails nicely straightened out.

9) For the labrador shaped chocolate: Because you just make me wanna give you a nice biiiig hugga!

Chilades pandava pandava (Cycad blue)

10) For Raymond: Because he's pretty much disappeared and I wonder what's happened to him.

Jamides alecto agelades (Metallic caerulean)

Hypolimnas bolina bolina (great eggfly)

11) For Nikki: Because she made so much progress in only 1 year. And I'm proud of her.

Cupid corporation

Note on photo above: That is so true. But only if you also learn to let go.

12) For the hunters: Because the difference between an avid hunter and a real friend is the selfish motive for a kill.

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a lizard photo

nobody@vox.com(jeffington) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:33:30 -0800

lizard photo

finally another lizard photo to add to my photos tagged lizard here at my free vox blog

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Why

nobody@vox.com(butterflyeffect) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:18:38 -0800

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For The Ones That Matter

1) Why is it that the gates which I have opened unto the ones I love are usually the ones which my enemies use to overrun my sanctuary?

Colour acuity

For Your Eyes Only

2) Try this funny test: www.xrite.com

I have perfect colour sensitivity. So they say.

For The Late

3) Why is it that people only realise that they want you to love them when you no longer do?

Cooking with jamie

Raw fishy fishy

Steamed delicious

Note on photos above: No. Steamed fish was not one of the recipes... ~_^. Cook books are great. But then usually I end up cooking whatever I remember my Mum cooking. Still... I try to try new recipes.

For The Butterflies

4) Why does it always feel so much better not caring than caring?

Drupadia ravindra moorei (common posy) topside3

For the Unexpected Joy

5) Why is happiness all the small things which are not usually what you initially set your mind on?

Drupadia ravindra moorei (common posy) topside2

Drupadia ravindra moorei (common posy) topside

Drupadia ravindra moorei (common posy) underside

For the Sleeping

6) Why do some people never see how beautiful life can be outside of the said definitions of happiness?

Female archduke topside (Lexias pardalis dirteana)

For The Archdukes

7) Why do the male archdukes not feed on the pineapples? Why do only the female archdukes come to feed on the pineapples?

(Lexias pardalis dirteana) female archduke

Male archduke (Lexias pardalis dirteana)

Close up to the female archduke (Lexias pardalis dirteana)

Note on photo above of male archdukes: The males raised their snarky butterfly eyebrows at the pineapples when offered as if I was trying to peddle them fish net stockings. But then they hovered around the pineapples and feeding females as if they secretly wanted fish net stockings... or maybe they were attracted to the females... hmmmm?

Male archduke topside (Lexias pardalis dirteana)

Note on photo above: No no... he won't sit on the pineapples. He'd sit on a fallen leaf, feed on a fallen fig and watch the females furtively from a quiet distance.

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For the Labrador Shaped Chocolate

8) Why do dogs frown? Picture on left is Chocolate holding it in uncomfortably and picture on the right is Chocolate after having gone and sprayed on multiple grass patches all over the neighbourhood.

Note on photo above: Chocolate is so chocolate coloured that I'd like to imagine she's chocolate in the shape of a Labrador.

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Misguided and greedy in Redwood City

nobody@vox.com(karen) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:23:15 -0700

I've been helping to fight the city council's plan to convert 1400+ acres of restorable wetlands in Redwood City. As a fly fisher and supporter of the environment, I am appalled at the level of greed and short-sightedness being demonstrated by my city. We don't need more condos, we don't need more development, and we certainly don't need any of it here, on the banks of the bay. What we need HERE are wetlands, protection from floods, habitat for wildlife and a healthier ecosystem for our damaged watershed.

Even if we didn't need all of those things, which we do, we simply cannot afford the water and electricity needs of such a massive project. Remember the electrical shortages that resulted in brown-outs? Would you welcome water rationing? You might not think about it now that it's fall and the rainy season, but come summer, we will all remember what that pain feels like.

The city is chasing money, pure and simple. Cargill and the developers won't be around later to reap the ecological rewards of such a misguided plan, and even if they are they'll be too busy counting their money to care.

For a while, it seemed the misinformation campaign they were running was winning, they won at the ballot box by confusing the voters. But now people are discovering how truly awful this plan is and they are starting to do something about it.

I am, and you can too:

Sign the petition.

Spread the word.

Dear karen,

We are glad to report that there is a growing rebellion against Cargill's plan to build a city in San Francisco Bay. We wanted to update you on these developments and ask for your continued support in protecting the 1433 acres of restorable wetlands in Redwood City.

In an important opinion piece in the Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto City Council member Yoriko Kishimoto calls out Cargill's plan as a grave threat to the Peninsula's future: "A proposed development in Redwood City so breathtaking in its size and misguided in its scope that nothing of its kind has been seen in half a century." She points out that "this is not an infill site and this is not the place for housing."

And the Redwood City Daily News recently reported that the Menlo Park City Council is moving to declare the project an environmental hazard to the region. Menlo Park Council Members Kelly Fergusson and Andrew Cohen agree that "the current Cargill/DMB development proposal seeks to reverse long-standing regional and local policies to protect the Bay and its wetlands."

Meanwhile, in an opinion piece published in the Redwood City Daily News Redwood City resident Marsha Cohen expressed concern that the city "is stonewalling requests for public records." She points out that the mayor works for business lobbyist SAMCEDA, a strong public supporter of the Cargill development. Ms. Cohen wants to know what advice was given to the mayor about the conflict of interest.

You can join these Peninsula leaders in the battle to save the Redwood City salt ponds. Please write letters to the editor in response to these pieces, expressing your own opinion:

Yoriko Kishimoto, Guest Opinion: Salt ponds may become next huge development-impact battle, Palo Alto Weekly, Oct. 16, 2009

Menlo Park council members take firm stance; 2 lead charge against Cargill, Redwood City Daily News, Oct. 16, 2009 (also in the Mercury News/County Times)

Marsha Cohen, Guest Editorial, Redwood City officials too secretive about their ties to Saltworks project, Redwood City Daily News, Oct. 13, 2009

Redwood City Daily News letters can be sent to:
letters@dailynewsgroup.com

Palo Alto Weekly letters can be sent to:
letters@paweekly.com

Currently, the Redwood City Council is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to determine whether Cargill's application should move forward. Clearly, many leaders on the Peninsula have found a much cheaper answer: It should be dead on arrival.
Go to www.savesfbay.org/redwoodcity for more information and to sign our petition, and stay tuned for more interesting updates.

Sincerely,

Stephen Knight
Save The Bay Political Director
510.452.9261

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Where Eagles Fly Over Sleeping Forests

nobody@vox.com(butterflyeffect) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:26:21 -0700

Where the eagles fly

Note on photo: Unprocessed photo. But look at that magnificent glare... this is one regal bird.

Where Eagles Fly

I brought Gandalf to a little used trail which I found while waltzing around a frequented site. But it yielded a lonely Archduke which sat on my lap momentarily while I cut up butterfly bait ... and then the trail was swallowed back up into the forest due to lack of use and it was difficult to make headway.

Gandalf then brought me down to a little trail down to a small stream and that was where this magnificent creature swooped down and graced us with its awesome presence.

Neptis leucoporus cresina (grey sailor)

Note on photo above: One very tame and very grey sailor. And then there was nothing. The forest was asleep.

The Sleeping Forest

The eagle soared away almost noiselessly even though it was so huge. It went out into the open where it circled high above the earth, riding the currents effortlessly with its huge wings.

And then there was quiet. A peaceful restful quiet. Like the forest was steeped in a deep sleep. Even the normally skittish grey sailor was uncommonly slow and comfortable with our presence, perched on the leaf as if hypnotised by the gentle rocking of the leaves in the slight breeze.

Papilio demoleus malayanus (mating lime butterflies)

Note on photo above: Even the limes seemed fast asleep

The Spell Spills Over

The forest and its inhabitants were not the only ones under the spell. The butterflies in the enclosure were also uncommonly cooperative, such as this pair of Lime butterflies, allowing Gandalf to position them gently on flowers where it seems they promptly fell back asleep in each other's 'embrace'.

Lime butterflies on their host plant

The Dead and Forgotten

X1, henceforth named for being my first ex, drove all 5 hours down from KL to resolve some 'unresolved issues' after he found out that I was sick.

And he tried his darndest to jog my memory but I had no recollection of anything which he felt important for me to remember...neither the good, the bad nor the ugly.

Junonia almana javana (peacock pansy)

Note on photo above: Unprocessed photo. The peacock pansy's eyes look almost closed and encrusted over with sleep. Or it's just my imagination.

Because I had no recollection of the hate or love or anger or any of the reasons of his inability to let go of what happened so many years ago, I helped in this way:

X1 (morosely as we sat over dinner): "I never understood why you broke up with me. It affected me badly for years. You never realised how much it affected me."

Me (excitedly, as if a bright idea had sprung up in my forgetful head): "Actually I can't remember. But I bet it must have been cos you were a jerk. Because I wouldn't break up with anybody unless they were a jerk."

And then while he sat there befuddled and uncomprehending, I happily reached into my bag for my nail polish and painted one of his fingernails orange and the other a light silvery pink.

Hanging out over pineapples

Then as I packed him off and away in a taxi with his fingernails still in odd colours, I said obscurely: "You have to learn to let go, to forget. When you can learn that you can't always have what you want in life, then you can learn to let go and then you can learn to be happy."

And then I waved as the taxi pulled away. As if to a stranger I had met on the street.

But a rather nice stranger.

The sunshine in the spotless mind is truly eternal.

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Sonnenstrahlen

nobody@vox.com(Manuela Baltosée) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:30:06 -0700

HB_buergerpark_sonnenstrahlen01

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