Discovery @ NIE butterfly garden on 11 July 2006

Fifteenth Discovery Posting (and First Butterfly Posting!):

Was around the area of NTU yesterday due to some personal reasons, so with some friends, we decided to pop by the butterfly garden over at NIE (one of the first butterfly gardens i've 'discovered') for a short look.

Till date, i still have problems identifying the host and flowering plants which the butterflies are attracted to, so i will skip that topic for now until i get a better idea of those. =p

Anyway, first 'discovery' is a very commonly seen butterfly in the garden. The Blue Glassy Tiger (picture below).
Side Note:
All the information about the butterflies found here are from 'Hexaglider' website, you may refer to his website for more information and IDs of butterflies, click here to go to his website.

Discovery Note:
1. This species is common in Singapore, particularly in the coastal mangrove areas.
2 .The butterflies are also attracted to the partially dried plants of Heliotropium indicum, usually turning up within an hour or two after the plants are hung up in the forest reserves.

Second 'discovery' was a butterfly i've seen for the first time. I've seen its cousin (the Plain Tiger) quite a number of times already and but this is the first time i've seen the Common Tiger (picture below)!
Discovery Note:
1. The Common Tiger shares the same colouration as the Plain Tiger.
2. The butterfly is not commonly encountered in Singapore, but is often seen in the urban and sub-urban areas where it may find its host plant, the creeper-weed Raphistemma pulchellum, growing in a patch of undeveloped land.
3. The Common Tiger is attracted to the dried plants of Heliotropium indicum.

So which means that the plant, Heliotropium indicum can be found in the garden.

Third 'discovery' is a butterfly which was only sighted recently in the garden, a Blue Spotted Crow (picture below).
Discovery Note:
1. The Blue Spotted Crow is not common and is rarely seen, except at the occasional flowering tree.
2. However, it has also been observed outside the nature reserves in suburban housing estates in Singapore.

At the same time, i also saw a number of Chocolate Pansy-s flying around the garden, but alas i couldn't get a shot of any of them. And the White Cabbage butterfly which was sighted the last time i've visited the garden was MIA.

I wonder if butterflies have a 'timetable' for appearance. =p

Anyway, was quite lucky to get a few nice shots of the butterflies although only spending like 20 minutes at the garden. Like to thank my friends for the company =)