Suffused Flash | Wild Asia

Went for a morning ramble to the Peirce Reservoirs with my wife this National Day. It was quiet at the Lower Peirce Boardwalk with a few families out enjoying the nature. But the old Thompson was pretty crowded. Long Tailed Macaques were lining up by the side of the road waiting for handouts from the stream of cars passing by.

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Good to see they were wearing the national colors to celebrate the nation’s birthday at the Lower Peirce Boardwalk.

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This pair of GRT Drongo siblings were still unsure about themselves. They were looking around for their parents and kept calling out to be fed.

Slender Squirrel at LPR — The Slender Squirrel stays close to the Central forests

This Slender Squirrel was moving up and down the trunk of this tree rubbing its face on the bark. I think it is leaving its scent on this tree to mark its territory.

Over at the Upper Peirce Reservoir, I found a rare butterfly, the Suffused Flash, the best catch of the day. There were no flowering plants around and it stayed on the same leaf for a long time. This forest butterfly can be found at the Upper Seletar Reservoir as well.

Scarlet Backed Flowerpecker at UPR — Scarlet Backed Flowerpecker

A small bush behind the toilet has a parasite plant growing on it. The Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers love the berries of this plant. This male was at eye level and presented a great side profile for me to shoot. Earlier I saw another Flowerpecker, a juvenile Orange-bellied inside the Lower Peirce Forest.

Rare male Plane feeding on Syzygium sp. This butterfly was the main attraction.

What does a birder do when the birds are quiet and lifers are hard to come by? Luckily in Singapore, there are many other fauna to check out. Thanks to Kim Keang’s alert earlier this week, I went butting or butterfly shooting at a reservoir park.

The Suffused Flash is a small butterfly that is easily missed.

Slated Flash — Is this a Flash or a Royal? Still waiting for an ID.

In two days I ended up with eight lifers, some uncommon and a few rare butterflies. I don’t remembered seeing so many new and rare birds in two days in my years of birding. I was told that the flowering Syzygium species at the edge of the Central forest was the reason why so many hard to see butterfly species were seen. Besides the butterflies, there were hoverfly, beetles and moths to keep me busy.