Friday, January 7, 2011

The Passing of The Seasons

Hey guys

Okay I know as far as seasons go, the ones we have in Malaysia pale pretty much in comparison, and no I am not naive enough to assume that Malaysia has a Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, I'm talking about our Monsoon seasons which bring bouts of heavy rain and thunderstorms almost every other day (kind of like what we're currently giong through right now) and while the constant rain makes extremely great sleeping weather the darkness of the days and the dampness has made it so that there have been very few butterflies in the Garden. So imagine my surprise and delight today when we had a rather unexpected visitor.

Common Grass Yellow (Eurema Hecabe)
A visitor the colour of the sun to mark the coming of the warm season and seasonal dryness we'll be experiencing soon with the coming of the Lunar New Year! Of course this means that my beloved swallwotails will return soon as well and begin breeding on the numerous citrus plants that have begun to thrive and flourish with their absence these past few rainy months. I guess that's just how nature works isn't it, a harsh rainy season where its difficult for butterflies to breed, followed by one that is, just when the plants have all replenished themselves. Lovely. Just lovely, though it seems for now its the whites, yellows and pansies that comprise of the early risers and what better way to welcome them home than to serve up a dish of freshly cut fruit.
 
Bon Appetit!
Its interesting really, the ways one can often predict things that happen in nature based on the sort of living things that emerge on any particular day. For example, the presence of this Satyr butterfly often heralds gloomy, cloudy or even rainy weather. Unlike, perhaps the presence of the more exhuberant whites, yellows and even swallowtails that often mark the coming of the warm and dry seasons. Some other animals that also exhibit strange behaviours during weather change are perhaps dragonflies which swarm on humid days (no doubt drawn by the large number of insects taking to the wing) indicating a coming storm.

Satyr butterfly
Of course, sometimes these things could be entirely coincidental or innacurate... but I suppose Nature has always been unpredictable.

1 comment:

Autumn Belle said...

I enjoy your butterflies photos and naming of them. Keep up the good job.