Some Nature Finds

I have not gone home last weekend, so i can't seem to find photos to post for this Monday. But wait i have to look in my latest files. I realized i still got lots of shots about lots and lots of biodiversity in my place. Whatever comes in front of my eyes, i document, and they are sometimes unnoticed because i just usually post the hoya and butterflies. I i just have to look, i have a lot of them.

 maturing seed pods of a weed

 they are easily borne by the wind and gets very invasive, but as flowers some butterflies love them

Flower buds of milkweeds, Asclepias curassavica, an introduced species from tropical Americas However, it is also introduced to my lowland garden, as i got it from our colder highlands. I was just trying it out in my garden for our local monarchs. 

 Open flowers of milkweed, they are like dancing ladies with overflowing gowns, but our butterflies has not found them yet. 

this is the milkweed pod about to dehisce, being in the hoya family they have the same characteristics

young shoots and leaves of akapulko, Cassia alata, a favored host of Mottled Emigrant butterfly

Look at those yet very small larvae of the Mottled Emigrant, Catopsilia pyranthe pyranthe. The ants seem to be tending them, and they might perhaps shoe away the predators.

.

Even at the pre-pupation stage the ants are still there. I wonder what symbiotic relationship they have with those ants. 

 jumping spider upside down

 A dark blue tiger butterfly, Tirumala hamata orestilla, beautified by shadows. 

Nature Notes
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Outdoor Wednesday

Butterfly Shots Overflowing

Since I indulged in butterfly watching and photography i accumulated lots and lots of files on them. The better part is that i am only home on some weekends, and some of the time i still spend on my hoyas. I wrote it to sound like i am not happy with the butterfly photos! I am happy with photographing butterflies, but accumulating not so nice photos is different. The problem with me is that i can not just delete some shots which i anyway can not even post on FB or on blog. They are not decent shots, but i can't just part with them, clicking the delete button seems so difficult. And my external drives fill-up so fast just because of those insects and butterflies. When i look at those i want to post, it gets so difficult to choose. Hahaha, that is the confession of a not so good butterfly photographer!

Our area in the province is a bit hot for butterfly photography. And these butterflies do not appear in our garden in the early morning when they are just basking to dry their wings. I tried going out in the field to find them, but only a few are out early morning. I guess they are still hiding in non-accessible areas and just go out when they are ready to nectar or to find their mates. That time they are already very flighty, which fatigued my camera to the fullest. Can you imagine now the rate my drives get filled up? I told you so, i am a hoarder too, of bad photos.

What follows are just some of the few decent shots i culled from them, cropped mainly. They are all taken on Sept 3-4, 2017.

DARK BLUE TIGER, Tirumala hamata orientalis  Semper 1879

Nymphalidae; Danainae; Danaini

COMMON SNOW FLAT, Tagiades japetus titus 

Hesperiidae, Pyrginae, Tagiadin

DWARF CROW OR SMALL BROWN CROW,  Euploea tulliolus pollita Erihson 1834 Nymphalidae; Danainae; Euploeini

  GREY GLASSY TIGER, Euploea tulliolus pollita Erihson 1834

Nymphalidae; Danainae; Danaini

 COMMON LIME, Papilio demoleus demoleus

(Butterfly With Disability, BWD)

COMMON MORMON, Menelaides polytes ledebouria (male) 

Papilionidae, Papilioninae, Papilionini  

COMMON MORMON, Menelaides polytes ledebouria (female) 

Papilionidae, Papilioninae, Papilionini  

SAILER, Lasippa illigera illigera Escholtz 1821 

Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Limenitidini

TYPICAL SAILER, Neptis mindorana ilocana C. & R. Felder 1863 

Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Limenitidini

 TYPICAL SAILER, Neptis mindorana ilocana C. & R. Felder 1863 

Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Limenitidini

 THREE-SPOT GRASS YELLOW, Eurema blanda visellia Fruhstorfer 1910

 Pieridae; Coliadinae

BUSHBROWN, Mycalesis igoleta igoleta C. & R. Felder 1863

Nymphalidae; Satyrinae

SCARLET MORMON, Menelaides deiphobus rumanzovia  Eschscholtz 1821 

Papilionidae; Papilioninae; Papilionini

GREAT EGGFLY, Hypolimnas bolina philippensis  ♀ Butler 1874

Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Nymphaliini

GREAT EGGFLY, Hypolimnas bolina philippensis ♂ Butler 1874

Nymphalidae; Nymphalinae; Nymphaliini

LEMON EMIGRANT, Catopsila pomona pomona ♂ form hilaria Fabricius 1775

Pieridae; Coliadinae

What follows are some of the better photos from the plenty of shots i am telling you about. These are cropped, but most of those left in my drives are not croppable. An instance is that after properly focusing, it suddenly leaps when you press the shutter. You are then left with a blurred photo or a twisted butterfly which does not sometimes resemble one! They are a bit funny, yet i really cannot fully delete them. 

 a crow, a common mormon and a lemon emigrant

 a common mormon which almost reaches the ceiling when flying

 an eggfly, a common mormon and a blurred skipper at the middle

 both common mormons

Following are examples of what i am telling you, i have a lot of these shots that cramped my files, yet i still cannot delete them.

Because it is too far, you cannot even see where the butterfly is, yet it will not be nice when cropped! So do you suggest that i delete all of the last 3 photos? 

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday

Outdoor Wednesday

Unusual Nature Drama

Most of us are familiar with the story of the praying mantis! We have long been taught or read since we were children that the female praying mantis eats the head of the male after mating. I have long been in this world for decades, always observing nature with my own eyes or with camera, and yet i haven't seen the actual scene. 

This morning in my own garden i watched, observed and documented them with my own two eyes. Yes i am a witness of a big murder, cannibalism or whatever you call that. But this is a fact of their lives. It is a normal phenomenon for praying mantises. Documents say it is not always that the female eats the male after mating. Some say that it is because they observed them in laboratory conditions, but it might differ in the wild, outside captivity. 

I am watching the duranta bush, which is always teeming with butterflies. They not only nectar on this but also do the courtship dance in this mini world. Sometimes, territorial displays of driving away different species happen here. 

I was just watching them with my camera at hand, when a movement caught my attention. The head of the green male praying mantis is already gone, but their abdomens are still attached. The female maneuvered the legs and ate them next, then the wings followed.

 it is now eating the wings

 The National Geographic documents say normally the smaller males are eaten, but in this case the male is also big, maybe as big as the female.

 Only the body of the male is not finished yet, the female is still clutching it, with the abdomen claspers also clasping still the male abdomen. The drama lasted for a few minutes. At the above stage i left it as it is a bit yucky to watch the female eating the whole abdomen of its mate.

 So after a few minutes i went back, and it is already finished eating its mate. It then bent its abdomen in an act as if it is cleaning its abdomen's tip! I didn't know it can bend at that very sharp angle, 180°.

 This is the final picture of the very satisfied female mantis, with its belly bulging from the big size of the male mantis. I can almost discern the green color mirroring the green color of the male it just has devoured.

 It now just stayed on the duranta twigs, immobile, very heavy tummy. It now is assured that the eggs developing inside are fertilized and will eventually continue perpetuating its species. That is nature fulfilled. Despite the almost bizarre drama that took place, their nature is such, whatever means to perpetuate the species longevity!

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday

Outdoor Wednesday

An Exciting Find

The other weekend i saw two newly emerged larvae, or maybe already molted to its first instar. They are on citrus leaves, but i didn't see them eating, just attached themselves there. I wanted so much to bring them to the city, feed them there and document/see the transformations. In a way i am so envious of my friends who rear butterfly or moth eggs into eclosion or emerging of the adult butterfly. That way they were able to get very nice pictures of the adults still drying their wings. At that condition the forewings are not fluttering yet and much easier to photograph.

Then i left on Sunday for another week of work in the city.

This last weekend, upon reaching home i immediately looked for it in the same branch, and yes it is still there! However, its twin is already lost, maybe it became food for the birds or mother's chicken roaming around. This is how the larva has grown after a week. 

 Look at it closer, there are seemingly 2 eyes and a headband reminiscent of some tribal design! It actually is lovely. I touched it with a leaf on the forehead, prodding the pair of pink osmeterium to emerge. I hurriedly got the camera, hold it with the right hand, touched it again with my left hand for the osmeterium. However, no amount of proddings scared it that much for its osmeterium to emerge again. Hmm,  maybe it was not scared of me, or maybe it is shy of the camera!

I hope i can still see the pupa when i go home again next weekend. I am so sorry, i cannot bring it to the city, as no citrus tree leaves are available near my place. I will be so excited if i can see it in pupa stage, which i can bring to the city and wait for eclosion!

I cannot wait for the actual emergence before posting. Am too eager, is it obvious! Above will be the picture  of that larva if it is a male Scarlet Mormon, Menelaides deiphobus rumanzovia Eschscholtz 1821. 

  However, if it is a female this will be its form showing the dorsal side.

...and this is the female's ventral side! 

Now, can you understand my enthusiasm in finding the Scarlet Mormon's larva? I will show you the pupa next time, if i will still be lucky, or if it is still lucky! 

Nature Notes
Our World Tuesday
Outdoor Wednesday

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day in August

We are supposedly at the middle of our Rainy Season for this year! I remember rainy seasons in the past when it is difficult to go home in the afternoons, there are some flooding that punishes the commuters most specially the students. There are also days when even the government and private offices are closed to give safety for employees.

We all know that this season brings us lots of typhoons, that eventually gets harder through the years, supposedly because of climate change. We now have Signal #4, when previously the maximum typhoon is only Signal #3. However, these days we only get a few thunderstorms in the afternoons and a few typhoon from the Pacific Ocean. But most of them did not hit land surface. We should be thankful for the less typhoons, but we should also lament the lack of rains. The truth is we only get rains when there are typhoons, seemingly they are directly correlated. Suffice it to say that at present our plants still need rain, maybe not badly but yet they are wanting!

Despite the changes, we still get more blooms than during the dry season.

Impatiens balsamina has more flowers during rainy season

more Impatiens balsamina, also loved by some butterfly species

Top: Ixora javanica and Bottom: Ixora coccinea
They are both planted for the butterflies.

a kind of shrimp plant

Duranta erecta teeming with flowers for the butterflies

Thunbergia erecta

hippeastrum NOID

Hippeastrum reticulatum var striatifolium, the only hippeastrum blooming
continuously throught the year

Crinum zeylanicum has 3 flower buds

hedge of shrimp plant, Pachystachys lutea

Hoya campanulata

Hoya buotii purple

Hoya pubicorolla ssp. anthracina

Hoya benguetensis

 my hoya seedlings growing nicely with higher humidity around

the ferns

the grasses under the coconut trees

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Our World Tuesday

Outdoor Wednesday

Floral Friday Fotos