Sunday, February 17, 2008

Dragonflies & Other Critters at AMK Lotus Pond

Decided to go back to the lotus pond at Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West to take a look, and well, must say that again, it didn't disappoint me! :)

The lotuses were blooming as beautifully as before!



But well, today my purpose here was not just to look at the beautiful lotuses, but to look for the many dragonflies and other little animals.



The first type of dragonfly I spotted at the pond was this blue one, probably a Aethriamanta gracilis. Would say it's quite common since I've seen it at many places, though it looks almost identical to a bigger species, Brachydiplax chalybea, so I may be mixed up between the two.



If I remember correctly, this should be a Sabine’s Skimmer (Orthetrum sabina).



A red one here. Was it laying eggs? Hmm... thought usually the males are the ones with the brighter colours. Not sure of the species for this though.



When I was young, we used to call this "Red Auntie". It's a Neurothemis fluctuans.



Had a hard time trying to grab a shot of this female Macrodiplax cora, as it was resting in the middle of a bush taller than me.



Found several smaller dragonflies (Acisoma panorpoides) among the shorter bushes too. The above is probably a female one.



This is the male one... Saw it trying to mate with the female one in the previous photo.



Have no idea whether this is male or female though. It's green, in the middle of yellow (the female) and blue (the male)... Could it be... Hmm.... Haha... Guess it could be an immature male?



Hmm... not sure when the adult dragonfly will emerge from this...



There were lots of damselflies too, and they are actually close relatives of the dragonflies. The above is a male Agriocnemis femina.



This immature male Agriocnemis femina has caught a smaller insect in its jaws.



A very pretty red female Agriocnemis femina. Had a hard time getting a shot of it as well, as it kept flying around...



Another red female Agriocnemis femina, but the colour is not as brilliant.

There were also many butterflies, but as per always, it's really hard to take photos of them, and so I only managed to get a few shots.



Here's a really tiny one... Looks like the Lesser Grass Blue (Zizina otis lampa).



This is probably a Chocolate Pansy (Junonia hedonia). Poor thing, part of its wings were missing...



Wonder if a butterfly or a moth will emerge from this?



Also saw this pretty fly above on a lotus leaf.

Enough of the insects, how about some insect-feeders now?



The spider against the pond skater... I didn't stay lay enough to see what's the outcome though. Did the skater managed to escape, or perhaps the spider had no intention of catching it for dinner?



Saw quite a few of these stick-like spiders on the stems of the lotus leaves.



And not to forget the huge golden orb web spider (Nephila sp.). It may not be the biggest spider, but it makes one of the biggest and strongest web...



This toad suddenly jumped out of the grass below my hand when I was trying to take a shot of a dragonfly. Gave me quite a shock when it did that :P

Frankly speaking, didn't quite expect to see so many things around this little pond, as I didn't really explore much the last time I was here.

Had a hard time taking good photos though because my camera only comes with a 3x zoom, and many of the animals are on the lotus leaves in the middle of the pond. But still, it was a good trip! Definitely must find time to revisit it again :)

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