Morning Walk At Venus Drive (25 May 2013)

It rained in the early morning but not wanting to miss the opportunity to test out my new camera, I decided to still go to Venus Drive for a quick walk. The place was wet and the prospect of finding beetles in such wet condition seemed slim.

After walking for 5 minutes, a beetle finally flew past and landed on a leaf nearby. It was a 3 mm Spiny Leaf Beetle. Notice the wetness of the leaf that the beetle was on.

The next beetle was a common Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulental). Although this is a rather common beetle that one would encounter in our parks and nature reserves, this was the first time that I come across it at Venus Drive.

After encountering the Tiger Beetle, it was a while before I found this Fungus Beetle sitting calmly on a white fungus. It was motionless despite all the camera flashes on it. This was probably due to the wet weather and overcast sky.

The next beetle was this <3 mm beetle on a blade of palm leaf. You can easily find this type of beetle in abundance after rain.

Moving further down the trail, a Darkling Beetle was found hiding between a leaf and a dead log. This type of beetle usually come out in the night, and finding it in the morning was really a surprise find.

Another 'late' sleeper, a nocturnal Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis) that can occasionally be seen in the day time.

Walking further down the trail, a flash of red passes the corner of my eyes. It was a Net-winged Beetle (Dictyoptera aurora). This is a hyper-sensitive beetle that is easily spooked.

This Leaf Beetle was found under a leaf. It must be due to the overcast sky as it remained motionless despite me turning the leaf over and kept flash photographing it. It remained motionless after I returned the leaf to its original position. Amazing.

Into the shaded area of the trail, an interesting beetle (~15 mm) was found in between two leaves.

Coming to a rotting tree stump, a small (~5 mm) Ground Beetle (Pericalus tetrastigma) was seen running on it. I did not spot it until it started to move. It blended nicely with its background, and with the low light condition, it was almost invisible when it stopped moving.

Passing a group of bird photographers, I came across this small 3 mm Leaf Beetle. Thinking back, it was such a big contrast as I was only carrying two small cameras, whereas the bird photographers were lugging all their huge and heavy gears (super-zoom telephoto lenses, tripods, etc). Glad that I am taking macro photographs of beetles.

Another 10 minutes passed by before this lovely beetle appeared.

Walking into another shaded area, a 5 mm Leaf Beetle was found resting on a leaf.

Nearby, walking gingerly on a wet leaf was this interesting looking Weevil Beetle. This was the first time that I come across this type of beetle. It was a fast beetle and did not for a moment stop moving around.

Almost at the end of the trail, a small (~5 mm) Click Beetle was seen resting on a shaded leaf.

The last beetle (~2 mm) was found at the base of a big tree. Although it was a rather small beetle, its orange coloration contrasted  strongly with the brown background of the tree, thus making it to stick out like a sore-thumb.

Although the trip was a short one, it was a good opportunity for me to get familiar with the new camera. Hopefully with more of such trip, I will be able to get better photographs in the future.