I have to say since I was involved in the Butterfly Garden project, I am a convert. Whenever I see the caterpillars of the Painted Jezebel, I get really excited. They don't turn me off because I know that someday they will morph into the beautiful flying jewels that I know so well now.
There was this flock of beautiful Scaly-Breasted Munias feeding on the seeds of the long grasses. These birds have grown accustomed to the lush surroundings of the gardens and are frequently seen. So far, I have not seen the Javan Munia here though.
In Bay East, I noticed a beautiful Painted Jezebel flitting on the flowers of the Carphalea kirondron and was poised to capture better photos of it until I got a shock. It suddenly flapped its wings towards the opposite direction and when I looked closely, I saw it being clenched tightly between the jaws of a lizard. Oh my gosh, it was like now you see it now you don't. One moment it was flying merrily and just a split second later, it ended up as food for the lizard camouflaged amongst the plant. It looked like a young butterfly but sadly it would never get the chance of breeding anymore. This is the cruel side of nature.
There is this clump of Stachytarpheta indica that is actually a weed in the flowerbed at the Bay East garden entrance. However, since it was growing so well, I decided to keep it around back then.
It has rewarded the butterflies, such as this Painted Jezebel, by providing nectar to them.
Over at the pond area, I sometimes spot single marsh or shore birds, like this Common Sandpiper, strolling on the turf. Perhaps there is some food around for them to feed on.
I managed to capture these photos of the Painted Jezebel butterfly flitting from one flower to another flower of the Bidens alba. Beautiful!
There is this clump of Stachytarpheta indica that is actually a weed in the flowerbed at the Bay East garden entrance. However, since it was growing so well, I decided to keep it around back then.
I walked past a tree and saw this Painted Jezebel hanging on the underside of the leaf. As I got nearer with my camera and was barely a feet away from it, it did not flinch and immediately I suspected something amiss because it was not usual for butterflies to stay so still when someone or something approaches them.
I managed to capture these photos of the Painted Jezebel butterfly flitting from one flower to another flower of the Bidens alba. Beautiful!
This morning, I saw lots of them again. There was a Painted Jezebel, four Lime Butterflies, many Mottled Emigrants, a couple of Chocolate Soldiers, a Common Grass Yellow and some others.
Bougainvilleas don't make good nectar plants. But on this day, there were lots of butterflies visiting them for their limited nectar. Whilst I couldn't capture all of them, these were just two of them.
