A Matter Of Luck

BobCheong · April 10, 2007

Sometimes butterfly shooting is a matter of luck. And today, the butterfly fairy smiled on me again. I was at this patch of undeveloped land at the northern end of Singapore, and not a butt was in sight. I took to shooting hoppers and dragonflies while hoping a butt would appear, any butt. But no, for more than an hour, the butts seemed all but disappeared into thin air. Then, as if by magic, a butt was sitting motionless right in front of me, and within arm length! I raised my camera to shoot, but that startled it. It flitted away to land a short distance away. I gingerly moved towards it, it stayed. I mount the camera on the monopod and took aim. It looked similar to a Black Banded Silverline, but the color's wrong. But a butt's a butt. I keep shooting and moving forward until I got it full frame. Then I saw that the 2nd & 3rd silvered lines of the forewing formed a V. It has to be a Long Banded Silverline! I've yet to have it in my collection! So I went back home and post it in our butt forum to confirm the ID. And yes, its a Long Banded Silverline. It's the only butt I got all day, but its a +1 to my collection.

Long Banded Silverline:

saurora · April 10, 2007

That is a beautiful butterfly and a great capture! I don't think it was just luck....you were out there making this happen, so give yourself some credit!!!

Awais Yaqub · April 10, 2007

wow beautiful photos of very beautiful butterfly it seems like it has 2 faces !

ShepsMom · April 10, 2007

I was gonna ask, this looks like 2 butts in one. (that didn't sound right)

I feel your happiness, you put so much work into hunting this thing! Good for you. Hope you get more of those guys, they're beautiful!

Skippy · April 10, 2007

BobCheong wrote:

Sometimes butterfly shooting is a matter of luck. And today, the butterfly fairy smiled on me again. I was at this patch of undeveloped land at the northern end of Singapore, and not a butt was in sight. I took to shooting hoppers and dragonflies while hoping a butt would appear, any butt. But no, for more than an hour, the butts seemed all but disappeared into thin air. Then, as if by magic, a butt was sitting motionless right in front of me, and within arm length! I raised my camera to shoot, but that startled it. It flitted away to land a short distance away. I gingerly moved towards it, it stayed. I mount the camera on the monopod and took aim. It looked similar to a Black Banded Silverline, but the color's wrong. But a butt's a butt. I keep shooting and moving forward until I got it full frame. Then I saw that the 2nd & 3rd silvered lines of the forewing formed a V. It has to be a Long Banded Silverline! I've yet to have it in my collection! So I went back home and post it in our butt forum to confirm the ID. And yes, its a Long Banded Silverline. It's the only butt I got all day, but its a +1 to my collection.

Long Banded Silverline:

Hi Bob, what a beautiful and odd looking Butterfly.
I have never seen one of these ever, this is the first one I have seen.
WOW it looks like two creatures all rolled into one.
Excellent capture too

The butterly has quite a thick body to go with that odd looking Butt

Congratulations on your capture and thank you for sharing.
....... Skippy
.

JillG · April 10, 2007

I agree with everyone else:D beautiful butterfly and great capture. Hope to see more of your shots.

Jill

BobCheong · April 11, 2007

Thanks for your comments folks! There are quite a number of butterflies that have tails and eye-spots to fool predators, heres another, the Common Imperial: