Count Your Blessings!

With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine Yim

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Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.
Count Your Life With Smiles And Not The Tears That Roll.
..... Author unknown.

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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Tawny Coast Butterflies Mating at The Rooftop Secret Garden of 1-Utama

1:37pm
I was trying to photograph some tiny damselflies when suddenly something fell right into the pond in front of me. Splat! What's that?

It looked like a butterfly drowning so I extended a hand, hoping that I could help. It willingly crept onto my finger.





As I placed them on the rocky surface by the edge of the pond, I found to my surprise that there were actually 2 of them, the tawny coaster butterflies. They seem to be struggling under the weight of water on their wings.


“Tawny Coaster Butterflies Mating at The Rooftop Secret Garden of 1-Utama”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on November 9th, 2011.



As I do not expect that they could fly off so easily, I used a fallen willow twig to let them climb onto it. Then I place them on top of a star calathea leaf.

1:40pm

They were still moving about even while joined like this. Actually only the butterfly on the left, i.e. the one with the lighter shade, was moving and dragging its partner along. The partner laid very still and didn't move at all. I wondered if it was already dead.

They were locked in embrace, fulfilling an important chapter in their lifecycle, a natural process that is so vital for the continual survival of their species and the next generation. It may sound funny but for a moment, they actually reminded me of a space shuttle docked on the international space station that I happen to watch on live telecast TV.



Does this look like a cosy place for a weekend rendezvous?

Actually these mating butterflies are exposed to many dangers of predators (animals, bugs and humans as well). They are smart because they didn't stay long here.


I wonder if you remember in a previous post, I have written that this is my favourite site at The Secret Garden, the place with the Australian willow trees, a pond and waterfall nearby.  The trees are blooming now. Can you see the butterflies? They are just below my watermark.


2:20pm

I guess they didn't like the bed of Star Calathea leaves. They prefer this cosy spot below the canopy of leaves, hidden underneath, safe from predators and away from prying eyes.

At this spot, they became very still with no movement from either one for a long long time.



These are the beautiful damselflies I was trying to photograph earlier. Actually they are quite small, hence the images are blur after some enlargement. Can you see that one has fallen into the water?

I worry that it will drown, so I extented a fallen twig of which it grabbed and flew off immediately. I left the garden for an appointment.


5:19pm
After my appointment, I was still thinking of those tawny coaster butterflies. So, I went up to check if they were still around. Can you believe this? I was just in time to see them crawling out from underneath a leaf. At that instant, they were still attached.


5:19pm
Within seconds, they have split apart. One by one they flew off and disappeared from sight. This was a heart-warming moment for me.

It was a beautiful experience watching them and knowing that they were okay, alive and well. It happened last Saturday, November 5th, 2011. Soon, I hope this wildlife friendly Secret Garden of 1-Utama will enjoy a slight increase in population of tawny coaster butterflies!

31 comments:

  1. Bless YOU
    Kind Friend!



    Aloha from Honolulu

    Comfort Spiral

    > < } } ( ° >

    ><}}(°>

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  2. Great post, the observations recorded so well. Fantastic.

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  3. Cool captures at 1-Utama, even with some butterflies ...

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  4. As i told you a long time ago, you should be given an honorarium by the Secret Garden of Utama as its PR manager/advertising staff. Now another agency should pay you, the Environment and Natural Resources Department for saving those creatures from death. You're a kind soul, you will be blessed. But i wonder why, first the bigger partner i suppose the male is not moving anymore, yet after sometime it moved again? I laughed when you went back to the rooftop only to check whether your saved butterflies are still there, or maybe to check if they are still attached! haha. I would have done the same thing.

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  5. Cloudia, Indrani, Wong, thanks!

    Andrea, thanks for the good words! Actually I thought I read that it should be the female that will be passive or lay still while the male moves about. But based on my pictures the female, i.e. the duller colour one and it is this one which was moving about. I don't quite understand this ?

    As regards to me going back to check again, I really didn't want to see any corpses. At the same time I was also curious how long the session lasted, haha. But believe me, I also feel bad if I have disturbed their peace.

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  6. What an interesting encounter! Bought 4D? You probably save 3 lives or a whole lot more if you include the eggs... Your merits account is growing fast...

    With ladybirds, they can also be in a mating position yet still moving.

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  7. Fortunately for them, a kind soul like you were there to safe them. If not will be like a shakespear story.

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  8. Such a lovely encounter with the butterflies. You saved 2 lives:))

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  9. It was so nice of you to rescue them from the water. And it is amazing how you captured this incredible part of nature...it was fascinating!

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  10. Fabulous, What a wonderful post, so heartwarming :)

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  11. great post i like this a lot. it is really a nice.

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  12. You are so observant! And how wonderful that you saved not only the butterflies, but also the damselfly! I hope their populations increase there, too. From now on, you can wonder if the butterflies you see are from the ones you saved.

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  13. awww, you are so lucky to spot something as beautiful as this :)

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  14. What serendipity. You really had an interesting find and save.

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  15. Oh we are shifting from birds & bees to butterflies & damselflies haha. Very compassionate saving precious lives..Saddhu.

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  16. How sweet! You are kind and patient. And we are fortunate that you shared these beautiful moments with us.

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  17. It is good you could blog about these butterflies and share this great experience. I am always amazed at your abilities!

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  18. i love u

    food-shuvo.blogspot.com

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  19. Now it is my turn to envy your heartwarming experience!! I would be right there with you helping those butterflies. My husband is always amuse that I have to stop and help nature along, whenever I see God's creature in distress. Good job, my friend in capturing amazing experience. I must visit 1-Utama's rooftop garden when I am next back.

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  20. Hi Autumn. I love your name, by the way.

    By saving the mating butterflies (I actually prefer calling them flutterbies) you contributed to the propagation of future generations. That warrants a big round of applause and a standing ovation.

    Thanks you for showing with such eloquence and for including photos as beautiful visual aides.

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  21. ♡°
    º✿
    º° ♥✿
    Imagens muito bonitas.
    Bom fim de semana!
    Beijinhos.
    Brasil
    ♥♡

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  22. Hi Autumn Belle,
    Just wanted you to know that I have moved to a new address. Come by when you are free.

    Happy gardening!

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  23. Had a good laugh at the first few shots... the butterflies must be thanking you then...

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  24. Pięknie opisałaś i pokazałaś chwile miłości motyli :-). Pozdrawiam

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  25. Wow! You have saved 3 life!
    There will be more butterflies soon!

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  26. What a wonderful sharing of nature's happenings, A.Belle! A blessed experience indeed. Hehe... love-making has its pitfalls, huh?

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  27. Magia says, "Very beautiful images.
    Good weekend! Kisses. Brazil"

    Landboven says, "Beautiful pictures.
    Thanks for looking."

    Giga says, "Description of beautiful moments and you show love for the butterflies :-)"

    Thanks for the comments in different languages!

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  28. Love the happy ending story. Now to educate children. A lot of them will freak out when they come across insects and will stomp them to death.
    Unlike us(older gen) we had our wonderful share of country life.

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    Replies
    1. Meileng, Thanks for reading my old post and sharing your thoughts and experience.

      Delete

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