Diario de ruidasilvapinto

Located in Suco Nipane, Sakato, Sub-District Pante Makassar, Oerupan spring (-9.1882405; 124.463466; 60 meter asl) is a small spring found some 30 minute walk from the main road to the East border with Indonesia. Here the vegetation resembles that found in other springs elsewhere in Oe-Cusse. Main “crop” trees found here are betel nut (areca catechu), edible fruit bearing trees included Schleichera oleosa and interestingly Salacca zalacca, with the dominant leaf matter found in the water pools appeared to be from S. oleosa alongside some flowers from Barringtonia racemosa (in a localized pool). Unlike other sites, this site had little to no large basalt outcrops along the waterway. A water distribution system has been built here by Warsilla (opening day 3-Sept-2018), part of the CSR and it is composed by a sand filter up stream (65 meters above sea level), and a water tank at 15 m above sea level.

The walk starts from the main road (Figure 1) and after some 10 minutes walk you reach gardens where Sesbania grandiflora has been planted for fodder. These trees are often cut every couple of years and new trees are then replanted (Figure 2)

Figure 1- Start of the walk

Figure 2- Recently cleared S.grandiflora plot

The water is fairly contained in small shallow puddles on hard rock, (Figure 3, 4). O. testaceum, N. impercepta, P. pilidorsum and R. pagenstecheri (?) have been recorded here during the dry season. N. impercepta was found to be the dominant species, followed by R. pagenstecheri. with fewer P. Pilidorsum and the odd O. testaceum.

Figure 3- Puddles viewed from above
Tenerals of N. impercepta were found in shaded areas with a lot of leaf matter. Adults tended to be found closed to water. N. impercepta was found to be flying relatively close to the ground. R. pagenstecheri varied significantly in this site, with some displaying dark metallic blue tipped wings to no metallic blue.

Figure 4- Slow flowing water

Observations from this site
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16281930
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16279293
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16279287
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16279286
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16279290
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16304433

I have my macro lens for since April. I'm happy with the overall results. The lens and camera body combination have allowed me to record and upload 400+ observation. I have found the lens auto focus to be somewhat unreliable, and the implementation of the focus limiter dial to get to 1:1 somewhat disconcerting, as I start to move more the use of manual focus I have come to realize that at dusk, my light is not being properly diffused and I need to change my set up to enable a more flattering light. The 60mm MZuiko f2.8 is somewhat short for Dragonflies, but the option of having the 75-300 mm with a Raynox DCR250 proved to be quite cumbersome to carry on my walks and hard to focus. I'll continue to use my existing flash perhaps try to use a flash bracket and a foldable diffuser to spread the light more evenly and avoid loosing details and altering the colors of what I'm photographing.