A month of butterflies

I can’t believe I’ve only been a butterfly person for a month… it feels it’s been a whole lifetime at this point. I think being cognisant of the sheer life forms we share every square metre at any given time really makes life feel richer, and the world abundant.

A plain tiger, Danaus genutia intermedius, at Pasir Ris Park. Sony A7IV + Tamron 35-150mm. It all started with this walk at Pasir Ris Park with NUS Toddycats in preparation for the Biodiversity Festival.

Dark glassy tiger, Parantica agleoides agleoides, at Pasir Ris Park. I’m still not confident about identifying similar looking butterflies, in this case, dark glassy tiger vs its cousin blue glassy tiger—the trick is to look at the forewing marking closely and find an unbroken cell.

A plain tiger Danaus chrysippus alcippoides, at Taman Jurong Interim Park. Sony A7IV + Tamron 35-150mm.

I signed up for this year’s Butterfly Watch and the crash course in butterfly identification was so helpful. Singapore is blessed with so many butterfly species that it can feel overwhelming, but introducing the most common 23 felt like a gentle easing-in, and it felt encouraging to be able to identify most butterflies I see just walking about my daily life.

Malayan Eggfly, Hypolimnas anomala, at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G. I couldn’t do justice to the shimmery blue iridescence of the wings—there’s just the tiniest hint of it here. This butterfly went on to stalk and harass us while manning the Welcome Waders booths. Turns out that butterflies do like our sweat because they provide trace minerals they need, especially for egg-laying females.

A caterpillar of the Julia butterfly, Dryas iulia, at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G + NiSi Close Focus 77mm.

Painted Jezebel, Delias hyparete metarete, at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. It’s always a delight to see one as it’s usually a canopy butterfly (the first time I saw it was at Chestnut Nature Park at the lookout tower). Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G.

My eyes are still not trained in the extreme details of the subspecies variations, or even sexual dimorphism, much less identifying potential hybrids like some of the experts at the Butterfly Circle group can do. Still, being able to get one on camera feels as close as I can get to playing Pokémon in real life.

A chocolate pansy, Junonia iphita, with a chomped off wing. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G..

Another Dark Glassy Tiger, this time at Rail Corridor (north). Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G.

A Burmese Sailor Neptis leucoporos cresina showing off its underwings at Clementi Nature Trail. Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G.

Grass Yellow (Eurema sp)—I’m not confident of identifying it to species level yet. Clementi Nature Trail. Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G.

The Julia butterfly at Clementi Nature Trail. This striking orange butterfly isn’t native to Singapore but is found absolutely everywhere now. Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G.

A common cerulean, Jamides celeno, feasting on a Vigna radata (bean) flower at Clementi Nature Trail. It took some guidance from seniors to be able to identify this species from the similar looking Nacaduba pavana. Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G.

I was so excited about this—a common rose, Pachliopta aristolochiae asteris at Clementi Nature Trail. I watched a pair of them flit about—they are such strong flyers that it’s hard to get them in camera, even with all the advantages of the autofocus of the 70-200 G lens. Even while drinking, they continue to hover and flap their wings in the air instead of perching like many other butterflies. Sony A7IV + Sony 70-200 F4 II G.

I feel like I’ve been almost cheating using the 70-200 G II lens—once I returned it to Camera Rental Centre, the closest thing I have to a macro lens is my Tokina 90/2.5 (a 1:2.5 lens at MFD), and the longest lens I have is the hefty Tamron 35-150 2-2.8, or the diminutive Minolta MD 70-150 F4. The Tamron is a bit too heavy for walking around with, so I’ve been walking around with the Tokina and the Minolta. Getting shots of skittish butterflies with manual lens is definitely a test of patience!

A male Archduke, Lexias pardalis dirteana, perched on the understory of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. This was incredibly cropped in and scaled using Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI. Sony A7C + Minolta MD 70-150 F4.

Another Chocolate Pansy, this time with intact wings, at Bukit Batok Nature Park. Focus stacked with Helicon Focus. Sony A7C + Minolta MD 70-150 F4.

A first successful attempt at flash butterfly photography! A lesser grass blue, Zizina otis ampa, with torn off wing, patiently posing for me. Sony A7IV + Tokina 90/2.5 + Godox V860II. I’ve been reading up and watching tutorials about macro flash photography and safe to say that I do not have the kind of diffusers macro photographers use, so I rigged up a combination of AK-R1 modifiers together with the V860II and its round head modifiers.

A common mormon, Papilio polytes. Catching these swallow-tailed butterflies is really a big test of patience as they’re powerful fliers. I have to make myself wait patiently for them to find a flower to perch on before slowly making my way over. This one at the side of the busy Upper Bt Timah Road came pretty close to me at almost MFD of my Tokina 90/2.5. Sony A7IV + Tokina 90/2.5.

The aperture ring of my Tokina 90/2.5 broke somewhere along the way when I was at Kg Chantek Trail, so this Chocolate Demon, Ancistroides nigrita, was caught with the Minolta MD 70-150 F4 + Sony A7IV. Cropped all the way in and scaled up using Topaz.