Took a different route this morning and it proofed to be a very fruitful walk. Spotted a tiny stick thin praying mantis that was mimicking a stick insect but it was too small to photograph. It disappeared when I tried to reposition myself for a better shot. Half way through the route, I spotted a snake sitting on a fern tree frond. I had dreamed of seeing a snake on a fern tree frond but I envisioned a male Wagler's Pit Viper but I can't complain as I like my snake encounters. 
I knew it was a bronzeback but which one I could not tell. The snake obliged me with some great shots but as I turned to reposition myself, it vanished never to be found again. Update: this bronzeback has been identified as the Kopstein's Bronzeback. Thanks ShaoWei.
As I was about to move on, I spotted a Copper-Cheek Frog sitting on a Dumb Cane leaf. Hmmm... did I interrupt a hunt?
Doubling back on my way home, I found a skink sunning itself. What made this shot work for me was the background.
Looking up I spot another Copper-Cheek sitting pretty on a green giant yam leaf. Green-on-green.
I knew it was a bronzeback but which one I could not tell. The snake obliged me with some great shots but as I turned to reposition myself, it vanished never to be found again. Update: this bronzeback has been identified as the Kopstein's Bronzeback. Thanks ShaoWei.
As I was about to move on, I spotted a Copper-Cheek Frog sitting on a Dumb Cane leaf. Hmmm... did I interrupt a hunt?
Doubling back on my way home, I found a skink sunning itself. What made this shot work for me was the background.
Looking up I spot another Copper-Cheek sitting pretty on a green giant yam leaf. Green-on-green.
4 comments:
looks like that snake is the Kopstein's Bronzeback.you've got a picture of the snake before.this one just happens to not have his scales flattened out.but if you look closely at the 2nd pic.you'll see that the snake's neck region is orangey red and lower down there's blue showing between the scales.very nice shots indeed.and i seriously love your shots of the Blue Malayan Coral Snake!simply amazing!mind if i ask where'd you manage to get such great pictures of them!do you live near the nature reserves that you frequent and got such pictures from?!
Hi ShaoWei, this snake didn't have the markings of the Kopstein's, which i've photographed before.
thanks i set out to show people animals through my eyes and the way i see them with a soul and as precisous living creatures. snakes have been so misunderstood and often killed on sight by people walking in the nature reserve. hence, i focus on the misunderstood.
I live next to a nature reserve and have been extremely lucky to have fantastic encounters with the animals that live in it. the present themselves to me. however, it took me over a year to see a live blue malayan coral. the first one i was a dead one.
it doesn't look like it did the previous one.cause for Bronzebacks, they hide their bright colours between the folds of their scales.and don't show it unless they feel threatened or frightened.
the colours however can still be seen slightly if you look closely at the 2nd picture.and if you refer to both pictures, you'd see that both of them have a yellowish underside near the head which fades to white.and if you blow up the picture.the orange neck turns blue nearing the body.which is a tell of it being a Kopstein or Red-Necked Bronzeback.
i saw the dead one...it's sad.i do go out trekking in the nature reserves and old abandoned roads and i see snakes most of the time dead flattned as road kill.which is kind of sad seeing that we paved the roads which they sunbathe on in the evenings.
and i'm guessing the nightjar you saw had to be hit by a car or something.i've seen a few nightjars before.they're usually along empty roads or within estates where it's dark and you'd really need quite an eye to spot one.
good luck in getting a live nightjar!and other wonderful creatures! :D
thanks ShaoWei. Yes, it is such a waste.
Not sure how the nightjar met its end as it wasn't damaged in anyway. Just dead by the road side.
Post a Comment