Butterflies of Taman Negara and Fraser's Hill in
Malaysia.
In May 2019, on a family/birding holiday in Peninsular
Malaysia it was Stefanie, my 8 year old daughter who first
showed some keen interest in Butterflies. In the same month
I also visited family in Belgium and this was an opportunity
to go through some of my old slides... now only I realize
how much I did on Butterflies, Dragonflies and Wildflowers
in Europe as a young boy. Because I ran out of birds perhaps
but then I expanded my horizons. Anyhow, I think papa knows
where daughter's keen butterfly interest comes from. And it
wasn't hard to pick things back up for myself especially
also thanks to the 200-500 Nikon lens. I wouldn't go
catching butterflies for identification but whenever we got
a picture it was fun to check up the butterfly's ID in the
evening and my daughter loved some of the names. It all
started with a "Chocolate Albatross" when visiting Taman
Negara National Park. Later we continued on Fraser's Hill
and where else can one do butterflies and see 5 species of
primate + some real good birds all in the same day? Oh, of
course I managed a bit of birding, not much new after
previous trips but it was great to find Large Frogmouth,
Malayan Peacock Pheasant, Malayan Partridge, Black
Laughingthrush and Malayan Whistling Thush + good photos of
Striped and Large Wren Babbler. Anyhow, this page will be
about the butterfly photography.
favourite butterfly. It is widespread in Asia, big but always on the wing so I did an effort to get a flight shot.
photos of the fancy looking Five-bar Swordtail taken in Taman Negara National Park. And indeed, success! What a
mesmerizing beauty we were able to enjoy on our next visit to Sungai Relau at the Merapoh entrance of the NP.
about nature butterflies would still provide great aesthetic pleasure; something special for anyone to enjoy!
Branded Imperial along the old Gap road at Fraser's Hill. It doesn't stop there, while photographing the butterfly
we noticed some movement in the trees nearby... a family Siamang, our largest Gibbon species.
taken to our room as a friend for my daughter to take care of. It was also our first butterfly identification
job and we pulled out a rather fancy name for this common species; The Chocolate Albatross.
the leaf litter absolutely well, that is, until it flies when it will show some amazing flashes of bright blue on the upperwing.
On the right another puddler from Taman Negara; The Common Bluebottle.
Sergeant, Sailor, Lascar... a big group of butterfly species with many very similar in appearance.
So I needed to add a flight/record shot of this extremely fast fluttering little one as the human eye simply is too slow.
Catch or photo ... that's when it reveals some ID clue; Malayan Sunbeam.
they are quite interesting and both species above belong to the subfamily Coeliadinae or Awlets, Awl and Awlking.
Photo on the left is the Orange Awlet and on the right is the Orange-tailed Awl.
Middle; This Malayan Zebra was found singly puddling together with Lesser Jay and Common Bluebottle.
Right; The Striped Blue Crow.
No easy identification and it's not even a Sergeant; The Short-banded Sailor.
I'll be off to Borneo soon, now just looking forward to the new field guide to come in August 2019;
"A Naturalist's guide to the Butterflies of Borneo" is due to get published by Honor Phillipps.
On the right is Malaysia's most famous -and also the national butterfly; The Rajah Brooke's Birdwing.
Note this butterfly was named by the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace after James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak.
Striped Wren Babbler, Large Wren Babbler, Streaked Wren Babbler, Pygmy Wren Babbler, Black Laughingthrush,
Red-headed Trogon, Fire-tufted Barbet, Blue Nuthatch, Malayan Peacock Pheasant, Lesser Shortwing, Green Broadbill,
Crested Fireback, Rufous-browed Flycatcher, Black-eared Shrike-babbler, Common Green Magpie, Slaty-backed Forktail
Mammals; Siamang, White-thighed Langur, Dusky Langur
