An Intruder

Spending long hours sitting at home... until one night I noticed a pretty moth flying around. It was a rather big moth with a wingspan of about 8 cm.

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It did have nice patterns on its body. The underside of its wigns were orange. Here's a shot of it as it was about to take off from the marble floor. Look at it's distinctive bright orange.

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This was my favourite shot of the moth.

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Here are some of the reasons why I like this shot most:

1) It is taken from the front

2) The reflection of the moth on the glass

3) The small patch of light that makes it look like the moon.

4) The small shade of light that acts like the light from the moon hitting the floor.

Visitor 2: Scarlet Skimmer

After having done with the Red Grasshawk, I was never given a rest because immediately, another dragonfly that I'd never seen before came into sight right before my eyes. This one was Scarlet Skimmer and it was much easier to shoot as it stayed where it was no matter how close I went.

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Like the Slender Skimmer, it was pretty brave and so I managed to get a few close-up shots of its eyes, head etc. Here's one of them.

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It was strange that both of these new dragonflies came together and left together. Maybe they were a Newly-Wed Couple in charge of creating a new mixed-breed species. : )

Visitor 1: Red Grasshawk

I was walking along the Constructed Treatment Wetland in school one day, as usual, taking note of the dragonflies there. A few male Dawn Dropwings passed, when suddenly, a differently coloured dragonfly flew past me. It had different flight movements, so I was sure that it was a differerent species. A Red Grasshawk it was. I moved in close to check it out but it flew off to the other side before I coudl get close to shoot it.

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I finally managed to get this shot (above) as it rested on the grass. I had to walk extremely slowly towards it, so as to ensure it does not get disturbed and flies off. Believe me, I did not use even a bit of zoom for these shots.

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As it flew to one of the water plants that was in the middle of the water, I realized that I would once again have to use my 'lying down' technique. I managed a few shots before it understood that i was sneaking behind it.

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Currently dragonflies are one of my favourite insects that are commonly seen. I had another surpries just sfter this Red Grasshawk.

What Do You See?

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What do you see in the picture above? Well of course, some guys playing basketball. Now look at the picture below. What do you see now?

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Well, yes, a mantis. A very small baby mantid that is commonly seen here near the front garden of our school. It had been quite a while since I last saw mantids, so I decidede to get back and start shooting them again.

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My friend was also trying out his Canon EOS 450D with me. Although it was a good DSLR Camera, it could not focus on the mantis. Maybe a macro lens was needed for that. He did say that there was some problem with his 18-55mm lenses' auto-focus.

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A Quick Walk Around School

I went for a mini-hunt again one day after lessons. Walking around the school desn't give me anything to find, usually. But for once I came across quite a number of creatures. One of them I've never seen before in my school is this weird-looking beetle. Probably a stink bug.

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A Lime Butterfly.

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Got a shot of it drinking from a flower.

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A juvenile grasshopper feeding (drinking?) from the remains of a recently dead flower.

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A male Dawn Dropwing basking on the rocks by the side of the pond.

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'Rawr!' the angry male changeable lizard roared as he opened his mouth in defence.

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Alas, to end this post, a clear shot of the blue-white-blue-whit-blue-white sky.

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Close-Up Damselfly Shots

Up next after the dragonflies are the damselflies. Unfortunately there's only a single species found in my school. But, its a good thing that there are many different colour forms of the same species. However these shots are not really satisfying to me (or to anyone) as they are not that clear. Of course, these damselflies are so much smaller than the dragonflies.

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This one's saying 'Peek-a-Boo!'

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Dragonfly Head Shots

I have managed to get some close-up shots of dragonflies and some of these shots include head-shots. Here are some of my best head shots. An Adult Slender Skimmer.

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Out in the sun, near a puddle of rainwater were about ten young Slender Skimmers. All of them were tough to shoot but still, one of them gave me a chance to photograph it, by resting motionlessly on the grass. Yes!

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The next Dragonfly is the Dawn Dropwing. I really wanted to get head-shots of both the male and the female, but unfortunately, I never succeeded in getting shots of the male's head. These next two shots were taken long ago, even before the Slender Skimmers had arrived.

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Asian Glossy Starlings Que Up for Rubbish

I spent a few hours near the Bukit Gombak Stadium looking for insects to shoot. I missed some assassin bugs and a huge grasshopper. In the scrubs, I even spotted a Clouded Monitor that scrambled away the moment it saw me. Apart from these animals, there was another creature all around. Not one, not two, not three but hundreds! What were they? Asian Glossy Starlings. What were they doing? Simple. Queuing up for rubbish. Have a look:

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Many waited on the concrete slope while some had their meals and their waiting up in the trees.

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There were just so many that they would be crowding at every perfect spot. But the only place that was best to shoot them was beside the rubbish dumping area where the birds took turns to choose their rubbish meal.

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The red eyes really make the birds look more attractive and a bit evil.

An Ant-Mantis at School

I met up with another ant-mimic mantis at school recently. This time it was bigger than the one I phtoographed in West Coast Park, and had small patches of green and red on its body.

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Being very small, it was rather hard to shoot. I thought that the smaller one I shot at the park seemed to be easier than shooting this one.

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A beautiful creature it is. Glad to see them in school as it would be nice to see more praying mantises and most probably, there would be less flies and other unwanted insects. Here's a final shot of it on te grass.

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