Life's Indulgences

A friend I meet once a year

2012-02-03T07:30:00.001+08:00

My friend isn't rare, beautifully colored nor endangered but each year I'd visit its favorite winter location just to see if it made it back. It has been three years now since I first noticed this Brown Shrike that will quietly sit on a fence keeping a look out for prey.

This smart fella will dart into the gated area if it gets disturbed. Here's a bird that has learned to use man-made confined space to secure itself.

However, this Tiger Shrike that I watched turn from a juvenile to an adult (winter 2009/2010) never came back. But it was such a joy to watch the transformation. Unfortunately, the area that it favored was destroyed by a gardening contractor because the overgrown area was unsightly at the edge of the reserve.

Then again we seldom see adult Tiger Shrikes wintering in Singapore only juveniles. I wonder where the adults go?

Happy Year of the Water Dragon

2012-02-01T10:13:00.001+08:00

It was a hectic week before the lunar new year but I managed to squeeze in sometime for my annual walk around Chinatown before the new year. All the usual hawkers were in their usual places hawking fruits, waxed meats, melon seeds, flowers and porcelain.

dragon figurine abound

buying kum is a must

chopsticks that either bare Chines zodiac or family names

As with all lunar new years, Singapore Pools will have a huge Ang Pow (red packet) draw that will draw punters of all ages to buy the lottery in the hope of striking it rich.

he's checking his list very carefully

Kingfishers found in Singapore

2012-01-20T07:30:00.002+08:00

When you are a beginner, you get excited about seeing birds of any kind. When you have been photographing or bird watching for sometime, it's all about ticking off groups of birds. I finally completed the Singapore kingfishers (both local and migrant) collection. But I don't think I will tire from photographing these birds as they are another of my favorite bird families.

White-throated Kingfisher

The White-throated Kingfisher is probably the most common kingfisher here but it is in certain places being displaced by the Collared Kingfishers that are moving inland from coastal areas.

Collared Kingfisher

Together with the Stork-billed Kingfisher they make up the Singapore tree kingfisher family group.

Stork-billed Kingfisher

Then there's the smallest one - the Blue-eared Kingfisher - that is from the river kingfisher family group.These deep blue jewels are about the size of a sparrow and they live within our nature reserves.

Blue-eared Kingfisher

During the Northern hemisphere winter, we get four migrant kingfishers. Two tree kingfishers join our local stock - the Black-capped Kingfisher and the Ruddy Kingfisher.

Black-capped Kingfisher

Black-capped Kingfishers can (if you are lucky) be spotted along our mangrove and river mouth (un-damed rivers) areas.

Ruddy Kingfisher

Lastly, two sparrow-sized kingfishers -the Common Kingfisher and the Black-backed Kingfisher - bring the total kingfishers found in Singapore to eight.

Common Kingfisher

The Common Kingfishers can be seen in our parks but you will have to be very observant to be able to spot them sitting quietly on plants on waters edge as they hunt fish.

Black-backed Kingfisher

The Black-backed is harder to spot as it disappears into our catchment areas and largely lives around very thick cover near water.
As for me, it is time to venture further a field to capture images of other kingfishers found around this region.

Singapore's only resident Pitta

2012-01-16T10:23:00.001+08:00

Yet another tick on my list. Finally, after countless trips in the past two years, I met the elusive resident pitta of Singapore - the Mangrove Pitta. This species is found throughout Southeast Asia's mangrove region but it is considered threatened due to habitat loss as more mangroves are being cleared away for human habitation.

Mangrove Pittas have similar coloration to the Blue-winged Pitta, a winter visitor here. What tells them apart is habitat and the Mangrove has a longer and slightly thicker bill.

Mangrove Pitta

Blue-winged Pitta

The other migrant pitta that you may encounter is the Hooded Pitta. Don't expect to see these brightly colored terrestrial birds hopping around gardens. They tend to hide among bushes feeding on worms and snails.

Mynas

2012-01-14T07:30:00.002+08:00

To many of us mynas are so common that we don't even pay much attention to these birds. But did you know that we have three species of urban dwelling mynas in our midst.

Crested Myna

The Crested Myna is a resident species that has been displaced by the other two introduced species - Javan and Common. To spot a Crested Myna look for pale (almost creamy) bill and an all black plumage.

Common Myna

The Common Myna used to be abundant but they too have displaced by their cousin, the Javan Myna, which can be seen everywhere. Their distinguishing features of the Common Myna are yellow eye patch, a black head and a brown body plumage.

Javan Myna

Then there's the most common of them all the Javan Myna, which can be easily mistaken for its two cousins. The Javan has a crest like the Crested and a black head like the Common but it does not have the pale bill nor the yellow eye patch. Don't worry it took me a while to pick out the differentiating features of these mynas.

One of my favorite bird family group

2012-01-12T07:30:00.003+08:00

The first time I laid eyes on Bee-eaters was probably five years ago was in Bishan Park canal (now converted back to a river). To me Bee-eaters always seem to be such happy birds because of their melodious chirps and soaring/gliding flight pattern. Till today, I am still fascinated with them and have gotten introduced to more from the family group.

I remember when I hung out my window trying to get a decent photo of a Blue-tailed Bee-eater sitting on my neighbors' antennas (which meant crappy and unnatural perches).

Then trying to sneak up on Blue-throated Bee-eaters as they sat on dead standing trees on the edge of the nature reserve.

We have two species of bee-eaters here. Each species spend 6 months in a year in Singapore. The Blue-tailed are here from October - April there about, while the Blue-throated arrive April - October to begin their breeding season here. Given that we are land scarce, there will be fewer nesting sites available for these bee-eaters in years to come. A quirky family trait, bee-eaters don't nest above ground but dig nests in light sandy soil to raise their young.

In December, I went on a drive vacation with friends up to West Malaysia, and I had the best time with the Blue-tailed Bee-eaters there in open paddy fields.

In addition, I got introduced to another bee-eater, the Chestnut-headed Bee-eater that breeds in Penang.

Go further north to Thailand and you will see Green Bee-eaters.

The cutest little blue bird

2012-01-10T07:30:00.009+08:00

One of the reasons why I keep going back to the Land of Smiles. There's something magical when birds have no fear and approach you. This little Siberian Blue Robin was hopping around us and at one point it was literally staring at me from less than 0.5 meters away.

He later very obligingly posed for us on various pieces of wood.

Despite its name, the Siberian Blue Robin does not exist only in Siberia. The species breed across East Asia right to Japan, and they winter in Southeast Asia. If you are lucky, you can spot them in Singapore's nature reserves too but don't expect one to come hopping up to you.

Wonderful landscapes

2012-01-08T07:30:00.004+08:00

I like to bring along a second camera on my trips. Often we end up in the most spectacular locations for the wildlife and ignore the wonderful scenery around us.

Pak Thale salt pans may be the location where the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers winter but the salt pans are very pleasing to the eye too.

weather won planks that lead one to the vast salt pans

it takes just one person to care for the salt pans.

Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary too had some wonderful sites that are very camera friendly. These were shot at sunrise.

mist rising off the lake

even the dilapidated bird watching shack is picture worthy

White-throated Rock Thrush

2012-01-06T10:07:00.001+08:00

White-throated Rock Thrushes are rarely seen in Singapore. Last year a pair was spotted at Bukit Timah Summit but when I huffed and I puffed my way up there. All that was left was the female White-throated Rock Thrush.

female

While in Thailand, we heard that a male had taken up residence at Khao Yai National Park, and we had to place it on our target list. Lucky for us the bird was still there when we went. According to the Thai birders we met. They only see the males.

male (non-breeding plumage)

My question then, is where do the females winter?

Having two faces

2012-01-04T07:30:00.004+08:00

In the human context being labelled two-faced is not a good thing. However, in the animal kingdom it is a simple case of survival for one of the smallest owl species in Asia, the Collared Owlet.

side profile showing false n real face

We were fortunate enough to meet a couple of Thai birders on our way out of Khao Yai National Park. It was they who kindly pointed out their sighting of this difficult to spot owlet. The Collared Owlet unlike their larger cousins the owls are active even in the day. It will perch quietly in a tree watching and listening for their preys. These tiny owlets hunt small birds, lizards, rodents and insects.

The owlet that was pointed out to us was in the midst of a hunt. We had no more than five minutes with the bird but it was the best five minutes we had.

The steady stare of the Collared Owlet

The false face looking at the camera

We knew it had locked its sight on a prey across the road and before we could change our settings the owlet was off like a bullet.

Prince Caspian

2011-12-31T07:30:00.003+08:00

The prince of terns is the world's largest tern. When one was sighted in Singapore, it sent many bird photographers to try and capture shots of this tern. At the brine shrimp ponds and on a sand spit off Laem Pak Bie, these terns were plentiful much to my delight since I missed the one bird in Singapore. I even got my flight shot with glorious blue sky and ample light out in the Gulf of Thailand.

Red-necked Palarope: but where's the red?

2011-12-29T10:42:00.001+08:00

Waders are just mind boggling difficult to identify. We went from Pak Thale to Laem Pak Bie and during the travel there. We made a quick pit stop for a small flock of birds that was suppose to be at the brine shrimp breeding ponds.

As luck would have it, the birds were not there. However, on our return trip, we made another stop in the evening and much to our delight the birds were around. Four little birds bobbing in the wind swept pond that they were feeding in.

Red-necked Phalaropes are a small wader. The only time that they display their red-necks is when they wear their breeding plumage. They are yet another long distance traveler, breeding in the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia and winter in the tropics.

These blue birds made my day

2011-12-21T07:30:00.005+08:00

We drove over 300 km from Khao Yai (town) to Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary for two blue beauties - the Blue Pitta and the Siamese Fireback.

Blue Pitta


Siamese Fireback - national bird of Thailand

Operation Spoonie

2011-12-18T07:30:00.006+08:00

Meeting one of the world's most threatened bird species - Spoon-billed Sandpiper - that is hurtling towards extinction with fewer than 100 breeding pairs.

These birds breed in the remote north-eastern area of Russia on the coastal tundra. During winter these tiny birds fly 8,000 km to South and Southeast Asia. They are threaten due to habitat loss at their breeding ground and wintering range. The BBC reported that 13 spoon-billed sandpipers will be housed at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserve in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire to start a breeding program in an attempt to save the species.

Four individuals were spotted at Pak Thale Saltpans and we went there to meet these critically endangered birds.

A quick trip to the Land of Smiles

2011-12-15T09:27:00.000+08:00

Made a quick 3-day trip to the Land of Smiles for a critically endangered shorebird. We were lucky that the avian gods were smiling on us as we managed to locate the one or two tiny individuals among the flock of 50 or so other species. More will be posted later.

During this trip, we went to Pak Thale, Laem Pak Bia, Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary and Khao Yai National Park. It was tiring but worth the effort. We didn't mind baking in the hot sun and inching very slowly on soft marine clay to keep a very low profile. At the end of the day we were a muddy mess but got to observe the shorebirds without disturbing them.

Flying snakes

2011-12-12T07:30:00.001+08:00

Exception luck presented me with two flying snakes, which almost ended up with me missing the Ferruginous Flycatcher (my original target). Both were spotted sunning themselves one on a sampling and the other on the boardwalk.

As I was pressed for time, the first snake got all my attention. I quietly walked past the second trying not to scare it away with the vibration of my foot falls on the boardwalk.

Twin-barred tree snakes are the smallest and rarest of the flying snakes in Southeast Asia. They share the same habitat with the other two flying/gliding snakes - the Paradise Tree Snake and the Golden Tree Snake.

This species is by far the most colorful tree snake species with its broad red bands across the body with a corresponding thin white bands that is bordered by two black bands.

Shorebirds: Godwits

2011-12-10T07:30:00.000+08:00

Godwits are a group of large, long-billed, long-legged shorebirds that make short rest stops in Singapore. They are different from the curlews, which have down turned bills. Godwits have straight or slightly upturned bills. Here we don't get flocks but individuals that are mixed in with the general population of shorebirds. Their drab winter plumage also makes the birds difficult to differentiate. s are fairly drab.

This season we were lucky to have the two species found in Asia stop by Singapore. The Black-tailed Godwit, which is classified as near threatened. These birds are found in Europe and Central Asia. The ones we see are on their migration to their wintering grounds in Australia.

Black-tailed Godwit

Then there the more common Bar-tailed Godwit, which hold the record for the longest non-stop flight of any migratory bird. This bird can fly 11,680 kilometres without stopping to rest or feed. Just our good luck that several individuals did stop to rest and feed before they took off again.Like the Black-tailed, they winter in Australia as well as New Zealand.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Finally a Common House Snake

2011-12-07T07:30:00.025+08:00

I didn't think that there were Common House Snakes in my area but then again I never tried looking for this species. My helper texted me from outside my gate saying there was a snake being harassed by one of the neighborhood stray cats.

When I went out with a torch light to check, I found a small snake no more than 10cm long valiantly defending itself against the cat. It was leaping off the ground trying to bite the cat. Once I spotted the whitish collar around its neck, I knew it was a Common House Snake.Sent my helper into the house to get a small container and net so that I could safely remove the snake from harms way.

I later released it into the garden where I knew there was ample food for a little snake to eat.

This nocturnal non-venomous species is fairly common in Asia. They live in forested areas and near human habitation as they prey on lizards such as geckos, which is abundant in and around houses.

Old world flycatchers

2011-12-05T15:21:00.003+08:00

Another group of winter migrants that fascinate are the Old World Flycatchers. They are very small to small birds with plumage that is often dull. Many of these flycatchers are so nondescript that most people will over look them. The males of some species may have brighter colors, and they originate from the Old World, which comprises Africa, Asia, and Europe (collectively known as Afro-Eurasia). If you do see them they are usually lone birds passing through the area.

The most common of the winter flycatchers here are the Asian Browns. This species breeds in Japan, eastern Siberia and the Himalayas, and migrates to the southern parts of Asia and Southeast Asia.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Easily mistaken for the Asian Brown is the Brown-streaked Flycatcher. This species is similar to the Asian Brown and is considered a sub-species by some.

Brown-streaked flycatcher

Then there's the Dark-sided Flycatcher, which has a wide distribution in Asia. The birds that are further north will move south during winter.

Dark-sided Flycatcher

Here's another brown bird - the Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher, which is a species that is considered vulnerable. This is because the habitat that they live in lowland tropical and sub-tropical forest are being destroyed to plantations and human habitation.

Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher

Okay, not all old world flycatchers are plain Janes. Many do have gorgeous color and here are a couple.

Mugimaki Flycatcher

The Mugimaki Flycatcher breeds in eastern Siberia and north-east China. They move down to eastern China, Korea and Japan in spring and autumn, and winter in in South-east Asia.

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

Then you have the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher that is found eastern Asia that winters in South Asia.

Ferruginous Flycatcher

Last but by all means not the last is the Ferruginous Flycatcher, tends to be a rusty-brown color hence the name ferruginous.

Shorebirds: Terek Sandpiper

2011-12-03T07:30:00.015+08:00

Here's a shorebird that looks different than the rest of the shorebirds but if you think that they will be easier to spot. They are not because the Terek Sandpiper is only slightly larger than the Common Sandpiper and if they are mixed in with the general population of migratory shorebirds one can spend quite a bit of time picking them out.

Terek and a Common

What makes these birds different are their long up curved bills. Another strong flier, they migrate from their breeding grounds near water around the taiga (the world's largest biome found between the tundra, and the temperate forest in the Northern Hemisphere). During winter these birds will fly south to tropical coasts in east Africa, South Asia and Australia.

competing for food

They can be found on mudflats during low tide or at Sungei Buloh where the disused prawn ponds are drained to allow shorebirds to feed during high tide.

Nostalgia: In a blink of an eye

2011-12-01T08:58:00.002+08:00

May be it's because we are coming to the end of 2011 and I am getting a little nostalgic with all the announcements of change that we've had this year. It seems like in a blink of an eye many of the things and places that we knew as kids growing up are quietly fading away or making way for development.

I decided to swap my telephoto for a zoom lens and do a little street shooting.

Here's an 87-year-old business in the bird trade that is past its heyday. I remember it fondly as it was where I'd use to go with my dad and uncles to buy pets. These days, I prefer my birds and animals wild and free.

During lunch with friends I was asking if there were any street-side barbers left in Singapore. Never thought I'd find one on the same day.I'm sure there are a couple more tucked away somewhere but they are disappearing too.

Before the days of modern cobblers in malls, there were the cobblers on the road-side who would mend your shoe if it happen to break while you were rushing around. These days, the quick fix is hobbling into a shoe shop and buying a new pair.

The traditional bread bakeries that bake the ubiquitous blackhead bread that we all love with our kaya (coconut and egg jam) and butter toast. There aren't that may such bakeries left and I happily wolfed down two slices of fresh bread generously covered in kaya, which I bought at the bakery.

Shorebird: Red-necked Stint

2011-11-28T10:38:00.001+08:00

Try finding these tiny birds among the flock of shorebirds that are wintering on our island can be quite a challenge. Then again that is the fun of learning to identify waders during the winter migratory season.

Red-necked Stints are among the smallest of waders. They measure about 17 cm in length, and can be hard to pick out in the distance.

This small group was photographed at Sungei Buloh at the start of 2011 winter migratory season.

The birds that we see now are all wearing their none breeding plumage. They breed in summer along the Arctic coast and during winter they will fly south and spread from the Indian coastline through Southeast Asia right down to New Zealand.

A couple of us were lucky enough to find this lone individual on a mudflat at low tide. It was very gregarious and had no fear of us as we sat on the mudflat photographing waders. This little bird literally walked right up to us and foraged for marine worms giving us the opportunity to shoot a minimum distance.

I love Salties

2011-11-24T07:30:00.012+08:00

Did you know that the largest crocodilian on Earth, saltwater crocodile has made a come back in Singapore? Even though we spot them quite regularly at Sungei Buloh, saltwater crocodiles are considered critically endangered in Singapore. Historically, saltwater crocodiles were found throughout South-east Asia. However, wild population of saltwater crocodiles have not been seen in their natural habitats for decades. In fact, they are considered extinct in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and possibly Cambodia. Conservation efforts have seen wild populations come back. The population of saltwater crocodiles in Borneo has increased dramatically in the past decade that reptile is no longer on the endangered list. Yay! because I love great come back stories.

A bunch of us were at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on our annual winter migration waders watch. While scanning the waders, my one eye was on the look out for a salty that I know was around the area. I had a series of shots already sketched out in my head if the salty would come up in the right spot and position itself correctly. It didn't take long for the fella to haul itself out of the water to recharge in the morning sun.

Experience also taught me that a reptile after warming up needs to also regulate its body temperature. So I baked along with the salty for over an hour waiting for the salty to gape.The wait paid off and these are some of the shots I got of this very clean and healthy salty before it disappeared into the water after it's sun bath.

Endangered raptors - Changeable Hawk-eagle

2011-11-21T07:30:00.004+08:00

2011 has been a year of raptors for me. Just within the year, I have watched a pair of Black-winged Kites raise a family at Tuas Grassland and encountered three of the less common raptors know to reside in Singapore. Unfortunately, access to Tuas Grassland has since been blocked as the land is being prepared for development. The family of Black-winged Kites will be evicted along with all the other animals living on the seemingly barren grassland.

March - I caught a glimpse of a Changeable Hawk-Eagle sitting on a dead standing tree in the noon day sun while driving along Neo Tiew Road (this was my first close encounter with this species).

dark morph

I cautiously approached the bird as most raptors do not tolerate presence of humans. They will take off the minute they catch sight of you approaching, which can be a long way away. To my delight this bird stayed and was not the least bit bothered by my presence.

September - a family of Grey-headed Fish Eagle.

October - a Serpent Crested Eagle.

Never did I expect to see another Changeable Hawk-eagle as they are uncommon. On November 16, I spotted an odd extension on a dead standing tree standing at the door way of my house. A quick scan with my bino revealed a Changeable Hawk-eagle basking in the noon-day sun.I grabbed my camera out of my car and walked to where the bird was to grab some shots before it took off.

pale morph

This bird stayed a pretty long time giving me a chance to take quite a number of shots. It flew off when it heard the call of another Changeable Hawk-eagle.

Look what a fruiting tree attracted

2011-11-19T07:30:00.004+08:00

The Jurong Lake district isn't too far away from Malaysia and for birds it's a stone's throw away. Fig trees were fruiting in the area and any avian photographer knows that fruiting trees attract birds. A quick scan of one such tree yielded a male Koel hopping around in the tree greedily swallowing figs.

Suddenly two shadows flew above and into the same tree. Lucky me, a pair of Pied Imperial Pigeons have flown in to feed.

Why was I excited? It's because Pied Imperial Pigeons are rare, non-breeding visitors to Singapore. These birds reside in Malaysia. My previous sighting of these pigeons about a month back were captive stock in a walk-in aviary at the Jurong Bird Park.

Personal observation: Wild birds look healthier than captive birds. Though this pair was smaller, their feathers were in better condition. May be it's the varied diet and the ability to exercise their wings, this pair were sleeker.

It took a lot of patience waiting for the pair to finally come out into the open and on the lower branches to allow for some good photos.

Even kingfishers migrate

2011-11-17T13:47:00.002+08:00

We have three migrant kingfishers that winter in Singapore during the Northern Hemisphere fall migration. The Common Kingfisher and Black-capped Kingfisher will winter here along our water ways. While the Ruddy Kingfisher, which is a forest kingfisher can be found inland.
The easiest to spot of the three is the Common Kingfisher, even though it is the smallest migrant. This sparrow-size bird will emit a short sharp whistle when it is flying, and its call makes it easier to locate the bird. I have been lucky to photograph both sexes very early into the migratory season.

male with a little fish between its beak

Both male and female Common Kingfishers are almost identical in appearance. The only way to distinguish the sexes apart is by looking at the beak. Female Common Kingfishers have an orange tinged lower mandible with a black tip.

female

Then we had a bumper season with four may be five Ruddy Kingfishers arriving over a period of two weeks. These are widely distributed Kingfishers that has a range as far north as Japan and South Korea right through to the Philippines. The species is no longer found here in Singapore although there may be some that still live on our outer islands. As to why there were so many sighted on the island of Singapore this season we can only guess.

young adult photographed 4 Nov 2011

young adult arrived on 10 Nov 2011

With the addition of the Ruddy to my collection, I have photographed 7 out of 8 kingfishers that can be found in Singapore. I need a Black-capped Kingfisher to complete the Singapore collection.

Playing catch

2011-11-14T08:27:00.001+08:00

I haven't been dozed off.

Many things have kept me busy these past couple of weeks and I have neglected my blog.

As many of you may know migratory season is upon us and we seem to be having a bumper year with many rare gems passing through (may be because of the floods up North).

So far we've had - Black-tailed Godwits, Bar-tailed Godwits, Black-winged Stilts and Ruddy Kingfishers just to name a few.Besides, that I have completed a photobook on Wild Singapore (a compilation of Singapore's fauna). Anxiously waiting for the book to arrive. Another on vanishing trades is about sixty percent drafted.

Catching up with old friends

2011-10-28T15:02:00.003+08:00

It's been sometime since I've dropped in at the Singapore Botanic Garden (SBG) but my personal project forced me to sit down and sort through my 4-year wildlife photo collection. It was only then did I realize that I had to re-take a number of subjects as a number of earlier photographs were terrible.

I chose SBG as I knew a number of my subjects could be found there. Stork-billed Kingfishers are the largest kingfishers found in Singapore. Even though they (like other kingfishers) are brightly colored, many would not even know they are there.

Stork-billed Kingfishers will quietly sit under shade gazing intently at the water surface hoping catch a fish off guard. This individual is no different. It will pick a location that is quiet and settle in to hunt. My last encounter with this species of kingfisher at SBG was in 2008 and it is good to know they are still thriving there.

The other subject was the Olive-backed Sunbird, which the opposite of the Stork-billed. It is very small and very active. This little bird proved harder to nail.

I spent three mornings among the heliconia waiting for an Olive-backed Sunbird to come into sight and on a perch that I liked. Finally, got what a keeper after over a hundred shots.

BTW, sunbirds aren't humming birds. You may see them hover and yes they feed on nectar but that is where the similarity ends. Sunbirds are a different species. They are distributed throughout Africa, South Asia and into northern Australia while humming birds are only found in the Americas.

Flowerpeckers can be comical

2011-10-27T09:02:00.001+08:00

I've been nursing a head cold these past couple of days and I thought fresh some fresh air would do me good. With the constant sneezing, I chose not to set my goals to high but decided to take some improvement shots of the Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, which is a common bird.

Old photo of a male from 2008 when a pair was nesting in my neighbor's backyard

After standing at the drive way of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve for two mornings, I only sighted the female. In both instances the tiny flowerpecker was not facing me, and I ended up with two comical photos of the bird.

peeking at the lens

exclamation!

Freezing motion

2011-10-18T07:21:00.002+08:00

Black-naped Tern landing

Bungy jumper's leaping off the bridge

Ever so often we, photographers, love to dabble in action photography. The ability to freeze a bird in flight or motion never ceases to fascinate me.In order to freeze motion, you need to ensure that you have the right setting on your camera to give you the best exposure.

Egret gliding in for a landing

You will need high ISO to boost the sensitivity of your image sensor.

Next, ensure that you have shutter speed of more than 1/2000s (this is my minimum shutter speed).Lastly, aperture.You can choose to use shutter priority (TV) or manual to ensure that the action you are trying to capture is sharp.

Once you've got the basics, you need lots of practice. Get to know your equipment and its limitations, and then figure out what settings will yield the best results.

On site, it is also important that you study the area that you wish to shoot and watch the activities that take place around you first. This will help you figure out where you want to position yourself as you want to be at the right place at the right. Lastly, is timing as you need to press your shutter at the right time to freeze the action you want.

Egret landing from a different perspective

Arial battle

Crested Serpent Eagle

2011-10-10T09:05:00.005+08:00

A Crested Serpent Eagle was sighted in a little pocket of land that is home to tall albizia trees not far from town. This piece of land is frequented by three species of raptors - the Changeable Hawk Eagle, Brahminy Kite and the Crested Serpent Eagle but the Crested Serpent Eagle was the hardest one to spot. It took many trips to the location before I finally met up with this bird.

My last encounter with this species of raptor was with captive birds in Luang Prabang, Laos. As always my knee jerk reaction was to offer to buy and release them but I know that they may not survive, and with money changing hands it only encourages people to take more from the wild. This bird was healthy and well cared for but not the ones that I saw in the remote villages.

The Crested Serpent Eagle is mid-sized bird of prey that is found in forested habitats throughout Southeast Asia. In the Singapore's context, it can be seen in our nature reserves and are considered rare.

This individual gave us an insight on how the species is surviving in Singapore. In most literature, the species is listed as is a specialist hunter that targets reptile reptiles. However, the individual caught and consumed a toad.

May be it was forced to change its diet to survive in our environment.

Connectivity

2011-10-05T08:49:00.001+08:00

Connectivity issues plagued me for over a month now. Dogged perseverance has seen me through them all.

Glitch #1: Uploads to Flickr stopped working; Facebook uploads took forever; e-banking failed; and emails weren't getting through.

First round of calls to my broadband provider raised my blood pressure till one customer service staff took it upon himself to work with me to troubleshoot. It turned out that there was a signal interference that caused the glitch. Yeah!!! problem solved (and I gave two thumbs up to the service provider).

Glitch #2: Three days later, the fault resurrected itself. This time it took more calls to my service provider and sending them more ping and trace route test results.

Their assumption - problem at the user-end. I made them send an engineer down to check the cable modem just to proof to them that the fault wasn't on my end. It then took daily calls from me to find out if the network fault was being looked into. After over a week the network problem has finally been fixed.

During the week, I also learned that fibre access was not an option as it had not reach my area. If I wanted to get on the new infrastructure, in addition to charges levied by the last mile provider, I had to pay $450 to the fibre provider.

Glitch #3: My external hard drives were all NTFS formatted. The iMac could read files but could not write to them. I needed a solution that would allow me to operate between Windows and Mac OS. After consulting with friends, I made a trip down to the friendly IT store. After reading information on the boxes of external hard drives and asking questions I settled on Western Digital's My Book Live. Forty-five minutes later, I had my personal cloud storage up and running. My laptop, Mac and iPhone are all configured. Only draw back - I haven't found a solution that would allow photos taken using the iPhone to be transferred direct to external storage.

Shorebirds: Sand Plovers

2011-10-01T12:32:00.003+08:00

Set myself a personal challenge to learn to identify as many migratory shore birds that drop in on our mud flats. Thus far I think I am doing pretty well with up to 15 species under my belt.

Below was a small flock of Lesser Sand Plovers or Mongolian Plovers taken several weeks ago. These birds have an extensive although discontinuous distribution that extends from the Pamir Mountains in the west, through Central and North-eastAsia to the Chukotsky Peninsula in the north-east.

They are still in their breeding plumage.

non-breeding plumage

These birds will leave their breeding grounds and migrate south-west, south or south-east to winter along the coasts of East Africa, the Indiansubcontinent, South-east Asia and Australia. Hence, we have the opportunity to see these birds.

Then there's another species that is very similar to the Lesser Sand - the Greater Sand Plover. This species breeds in the semi-deserts of Turkey and eastwards through Central Asia and winters on sandy beaches in East Africa, South Asia and Australasia.They too have landed in Singapore and they are not easy to tell the two species apart. I spent two days sitting on a beach trying to spot the Greater among the Lesser. The trick is focusing on the bill and legs - the greater has longer and paler legs and longer and thicker bill.

greater sand plover

Endangered raptors - Grey-headed Fish Eagle

2011-09-26T10:36:00.001+08:00

Went to check on a family of Grey-headed Fish Eagles in the Mandai area. Didn't see the family till one of the three eagles appeared from under a Flame of the Forest to try to pick-up a fish from the river. It's first attempt failed but the second was a success as it took off with half an arowana and down river.

flying off with half a fish

Next thing I knew there were loud calls from at least two raptors. Grabbed my gear and followed the calls down river to investigate. The scene that greeted me caused some anxiety as the young eagle was hanging sideways off a tree stump covered with creepers while one of the adults was perched above it. Initial thought was the young bird had somehow gotten entangled with fishing line and was stuck. I very nearly sent out SOS for the bird but I decided that may be I should watch first as it may be a false alarm. The parents were calling to the young bird but did not seem overly stressed out. Eventually, the adult with the juvenile flew over to the Albizia and the young bird managed to right itself.

juvenile after righting itself

My guess was the young bird in its excitement to finish the fish may have gotten tangled in the vines. It only righted itself after finishing the fish as during the entire episode the fish that the parent brought was nowhere in sight.

adult keeping the juvenile company

My initial concern for the young bird was not unfounded. The quite area is frequented by a number of fishermen who know that it is illegal to fish there but continue to do so. All seem to be blind to the PUB signs. The man walking towards the other two was fishing next to the sign much like the other two further up river.

men fishing illegally

The beauty of tall trees

2011-09-19T09:31:00.004+08:00

Often we take trees for granted till they are gone. I've seen many a tall tree being reduced to pieces of wood and saw dust because of the fear of trees falling and destroying lives and property. Like the old tree that use to stand at Changi, which was the home to a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagles.

And I have wondered how could I photograph trees to show their beauty? Recently, a bunch of us stood under very tall Albizia trees photographing a feral population of parrots that call these trees home. Albizias are brittle trees that grow to great heights but they have a tendency to break-up during heavy equatorial storms and many have been chopped down in recent years.

These trees are also favored by raptors and in this area alone, we have counted two locally endangered raptors - the Changeable Hawk Eagle and the Crested Serpent Eagle in this one location very close to town.This prompted a switch of lenses and camera in my quest to represent the beauty in these trees that mean so much to these birds.

lying on the grass looking up at the trees that surround me

growing tall takes a lot of effort

the old tree that stand outside SBG grounds

Wonder how long they will last before they are gone too?

Trying out the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM zoom lens

2011-09-16T11:25:00.003+08:00

Had an opportunity to take the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM zoom lens out for a try.

This recently available lens is the world’s first fisheye zoom lens offering both circular and full frame images. When paired with a full frame camera, such as the Canon 5D MarkII, photographers are able to capture circular to full-frame fisheye images.My test location was the National Museum of Singapore, and boy! did I have fun with this lens.

Trees on Fort Canning Road used as a frame

Museum's main lobby (set at 8mm)

Set at 8mm the lens gives you a circular image which can be very interesting but there's some vignetting as is seen in the image above where there's a purplish tint around the edge.

What I loved about this lens is its versatility. At 15mm it becomes a great super-wide angle lens that allows one to take it all in and the image is wow!

Abbas, 45 years in photography exhibition hall (set at 15 mm)

It can also be used in a situation if you have an interesting subject in an area that you want to highlight.

Overall, the lens is a great one to have and allows you to get creative. As it is an extreme fisheye be careful not to get your feet, arms, bag, etc into your photo like I did.

This lens is now on my wish list.

You don't look for hornbills, they find you

2011-09-13T16:04:00.001+08:00

My hornbill sighting luck has been pretty bad until recently. After countless trips to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve with the start of migratory season, the resident pair of Oriental Pied Hornbills took pity on me. Instead of teasing me with their calls through an impenetrable tree line, the pair flew out into the open at the main bridge. They even sat there long enough for me to capture photographs of the pair in light rain. Woohoo!!! My luck with the hornbills have changed.

female

male

Three hours later as I lugged my gear to exist hide 1C, I was greeted by the same pair of hornbills in the hide. The male was perched on the trash bin while the female sat at the window. As luck would have it, the camera was on the wrong setting for the male bird inside the hide but I did get the female nicely framed in the window.

The male hopped out of the hide but he was still too close. Here's when you need to be flexible and improvise or lose the opportunity completely. I zeroed in the best features of the bird as it sat briefly.

In the old days, Singapore had three species of hornbills - the Rhinoceros Hornbill, the Helmeted Hornbill and the Oriental Pied Hornbill. The first two species are locally extinct, while the Oriental Pied was only re-discovered in 1994 on Pulau Ubin.These Oriental Pied Hornbills are part of the Oriental Pied Hornbill Conservation Project that was launched in 2005. The project sort to understand, conserve and reintroduce this species back to Singapore. Needless to say the project has been a success, and today you can see them on Pulau Ubin and in many parts of Singapore (if you are lucky).

It's a duck. No, it's a grebe

2011-09-08T09:01:00.002+08:00

What kind of bird comes to mind when you see these birds? Ducks? No, they are water birds but not from the duck family. These tiny birds are from the grebe family of freshwater diving birds. Little Grebes are the smallest in the grebe family and can be found in much of Asia.

In Singapore, there are two known locations where these birds are found - Singapore Quarry and Lorong Halus. The population at the Singapore Quarry site, according to fellow bird photographers, isn't doing well.This family that I've been watching at Lorong Halus are and they are thriving in a smelly pond in a disused refuse dumping ground. These two chicks are the second brood for the pair this year. The previous brood consisted of three chicks.However, I reckon that only one will survive to adulthood as the second has a badly deformed joint and its tarsus (lower leg) drags in the water. In the photo below you can see it sticking out of the water.

Chick on the left - tarsus sticking out of the water

Pit Vipers of Singapore

2011-09-05T15:19:00.001+08:00

It's been quite a while since there was a post on this blog on snakes. This is because they have become harder to find and encounters during my morning walks in the Central Nature Reserve (CNR) have dropped to zero sightings. A quick check with other regulars also confirmed that snakes have all but gone from the usual places we use to encounter them.

Though Shore Pit Viper is not rare at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR). They are not easy to spot. They sit very still on branches in the mangrove area and blend into the surroundings.I was lucky to have had the opportunity to photograph two small individuals recently during weekdays when the reserve was empty which meant calm quiet surroundings.With this species captured in pixels, means that I have completed my collection of Singapore pit vipers.

First individual coiled up in a ball

Second individual with a purplish hue

Wagler's Pit Viper

The Shore Pit Viper can be unpredictable. Best thing for snake and human - leave the resting serpent alone.

Shorebirds: Malaysian Plovers

2011-08-26T12:09:00.003+08:00

As luck would have it, two nature photographers wondering along a beach had a lone Malaysian Plover stand quietly for us to photograph.

Initial thoughts were, we had found a rare White-faced (Swinhoe's) Plover, which is quite similar to the Malaysian Plover. After much debate, the bird was determined to be a young bird of no more than a year by experts.

Even though it's not the White-faced Plover, the Malaysian Plover is a species that is classified as near-threatened in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with about 10,000 individuals. Their decline is thought to be brought on by loss of habitat and human disturbances.

These birds are known to breed in Singapore but there's not much viable coastline left for these birds here too.

iPhoneography

2011-08-25T08:37:00.008+08:00

Most of us have an iPhone in our pockets or bags. Did you know that you can turn your smartphone into a cool photographic tool? Head over to App Store and check out some of the applications - Pic Grunger, Scratch Cam and Instagram just to name a few.

I took some of my photos and turned them into new pieces.

My cat, Sweetie, sleeping surrounded by billowing curtain material.


Farm workers on a watermelon farm in Xinjiang.

You could even turn a collection of photos into a book like I did. Check out faces @BlurbBooks.

Otters@SBWR

2011-08-02T14:18:00.001+08:00

Always thrilled to spot the otters at Sungei Buloh. This time there were only two adults - a male and a female. These days I hardly hear the otters call to each other. Of late, most of my sightings during the weekends have been by spotting them silently moving along the river.

This pair were cautious and as they purposely went about their business - hunted, ate, then indulged in a bit of sand bathing before coming up to the fresh water pond where the female took a brief cat nap. The male swam in the fresh water pond and then went on to scent mark the area.

I believe the female is lactating as her mammary glands were engorged. She may have pups hidden in a den somewhere. After her nap, the proceeded to scent mark and then slip back into the river.

Unfortunately, for me, it was a Sunday morning and noisy people were everywhere. As silently as they arrived, the pair slipped away leaving the noisy people behind.

Slaty-breasted Rails

2011-07-29T15:41:00.001+08:00

Here's another shy rail that inhabits wetlands of South East Asia. The Slaty-breasted Rail can be found in Singapore but are usually extremely shy and hard to spot among the tall grasses. Because of the clearing of a large piece of land for industrial use this family of seven was displaced. Giving many an opportunity to see these usually shy birds.

Although the chicks were able to fend for themselves, their parents still cared for them. Both parents would find earthworms and hold them out to the chicks for them to eat.

Two weeks after these photos were taken, the adults have left their five chicks to fend for themselves. The chicks have since disappeared into another area where there are tall grasses.

Brain screeches to a halt after this indulgence

2011-07-22T15:38:00.000+08:00

It's Friday and we decided to kick back and indulge at Fat Boy's the Burger Bar. Our order was for 2xBushtucker, 1xSwiss Shrooms and 2xchocolate milkshake. They came pretty fast and the fries that came with the burgers were just the way I like them - thick cut.

Now if only the weather held up for just another day, I would have had an opportunity to walk off the lunch. A nap right now is sounding terrible good.

Khao Yai and Kaeng Krachan national parks

2011-07-18T22:55:00.001+08:00

Made a quick three day trip to Thailand to visit two national parks - Khao Yai and Kaeng Krachan. It seems that Khao Yai faces many similar problems to our nature reserves. Being the closest nature reserve to Bangkok, it is accessible to many people. There were signs that try to educate people not to feed the wildlife within the reserve and it showed rather graphic details of animals that get killed on the roads within Khao Yai. In addition, there is also motorbike racing within the Khao Yai, with big heavy bikes gunning down the roads at high speeds (you may follow developments at Khao Yai News.)

Despite the blatant abuse, the wildlife are still there. I manage to catch up with a couple of the big animals but not the wild elephants and guars.

Northern Pig-tailed Macaque

Note: Macaque is yawning

Barking Deer

Sambar Deer

Over at Kaeng Krachan, I managed to spot a Crab-eating Mongoose, which was a gem of a find since the animal is usually nocturnal.

Crab-eating Mongoose

This mongoose can be found in northwestern India, Nepal, Myanmar, southern China, and through South East Asia.Despite its common name, its diet consists not only of crabs, but also just about anything else they can catch.They are excellent swimmers, and spend a fair amount of time in or near water or other moist plots of land. This mammal is protected in Thailand under Thai Wildlife Protection laws.

Having a hoot with this cutie

2011-07-12T08:36:00.000+08:00

The Collared Scops Owl is a common owl here in Singapore, however, because they are nocturnal and small sized they aren't easy to spot.Recently, there was a family of four that were spotted in a park. This family provided many with the opportunity to photograph them in daylight.

This little one was such a blast to photograph as it kept giving us quizzical looks out of the tiny window that we shot through.

A shy rail revealed

2011-07-07T09:39:00.001+08:00

The White-browed Crake is a member of the Rail family that lives in well vegetated wetlands of South East Asia. It was once considered very difficult to spot and photograph because it likes to skulk around in marsh lands.

Recently, two families of White-browed Crakes were discovered living in relatively open areas at one of the ABC water project sites. And much to the delight of photographers they were unafraid of humans (provided the humans were silent and did not move around). These crakes will come out into the open to forage for bugs among the water plants.

They are highly methodical feeders, and will go around a clump of vegetation several times over picking off juicy morsels before make a short flight over to the next area.

Who let these birds out?

2011-06-30T12:43:00.001+08:00

Orange-cheeked Waxbill

It seems like 'Operation No Release', an initiative led by the NParks and PUB, did not deter people from releasing animals before Vesak Day and on Vesak Day itself.

Sightings of non-native birds were being made by many photographers across Singapore. The birding community has been having a field day with birds mainly imported from the African continent.

The Black and White Mannikin was first sighted at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Then news spread that they were also at Lorong Halus Wetlands.

Black and White Mannikin

Next came the waxbills, so named because of the prominent red (the colour of sealing wax) of their conical bills. These seedeaters were sighted flying around in flocks and seem to be thriving in the grasslands mixed in with other local seedeaters.

Crimson-rumped Waxbill

Common Waxbill

There are many others, which I have not had the good luck of photographing such as the Black-rumped Waxbill, the Streaked Weaver, the Golden-backed Weaver, Vitelline Masked Weaver, Zanzibar Bishop, Red Bishop (Southern Red Bishop), the Golden Bishop (Yellow-crowned Bishop), Red-headed Quelea, and the Yellow-fronted Canary.

We know that releasing animals creates demand for more animals to be trapped and sold in shops. Why then does AVA allow more birds to be imported? Won't stringent control on supply increase the purchase price of each animal sold and deter mass purchase for release?

Small Croc at SBWR

2011-06-28T20:12:00.002+08:00

Dropped in at Sungei Buloh last Sunday morning during neap tide in the hope to catch sight of otters and to see if there were any illegal drift nets set near the river mouth of Sungei Buloh. Like this photo taken on one of my previous trips.

Instead of seeing poachers, this was what greeted me. Two huge barges with excavators on them. Could it be there are plans to construct more floating fish pens? If that happens what will become of the otters? The fish pens stocked with captive fish will be tempting tempting for the otters. Will the fish farmers end up killing the otters?

While looking out at the monstrosities out at sea on Platform 1, something resting on the edge of the surf line caught my eye, it was a small Saltwater Crocodile. May be it was me or the large Water Monitor that was in the area, the meter long crocodile slipped quietly into the water while I assembled my camera.

Standing on the platform, I was between the large monitor and the little crocodile. I wondered if the monitor picked up the scent of the little guy and would I witness the monitor kill and eat the crocodile (a role reversal as a large crocodile was last seen killing and eating a monitor). Lucky for the croc, the monitor didn't like my presence and turned away.

I left the little crocodile sitting quietly in the water as I headed off to my next destination.

Tattooed man, the poacher

2011-06-15T22:13:00.001+08:00

Encountered a tattooed Malay man at the Jurong Lake District, nothing unusual but the man had a fishing rod and hung on his bicycle was a tarpaulin bag. He gets off his bicycle and starts to cast his fishing line into the lake while I was busy breaking down my camera.

Suddenly the tarpaulin bag begins to move and there was scratching sound. Left my bag and walked over to the bicycle to investigate knowing full well that there was an animal in the bag. Meanwhile, the tattooed man hauls another turtle from the lake with his fishing line. Tried to persuade him to release the turtle he caught and to release whatever was in his bag.

Conversation: -
Me: Hello! Did you know that you are not allowed to catch animals? What is in your bag? Lizard?
Tattooed Malay man: Why cannot? Turtle.
Me: Please release them or I will call the police. You cannot catch animals here.

Tattooed Malay man: Mind your own business! I sell the turtles in the market for money. Why you want to make trouble? Police car pass by also never stop me. Call the police lah! I run away.

His body language turned threatening being the only person in the area no choice had to back down. He puts the second turtle in his bag and quickly cycles away.

This encounter like other encounters have left me feeling frustrated that little or nothing is being done to stop poaching.

Meanwhile, there are wild boar traps in our forested areas and these traps are maiming stray dogs (video of one of the dogs that has lost three legs) and probably killing other wildlife such as mouse deer, pangolins, and civet cats all priced for their meat too.

When life begins on bare ground

2011-06-07T12:43:00.000+08:00

You may know that some bird species do not build nests. Example: some cuckoos are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species. Other birds like terns and nightjars nest on bare ground.

In Singapore, if you are lucky, you can observe Little terns, Black-napped terns and Large-tailed nightjars nesting in the most in hospitable places. Here are some photos from the recent nesting season of the black-napped terns and large-tailed nightjars.

A lone chick day old chick that was beside another egg that hasn't hatched on a wet thundery morning.

Proud parent with its newly hatched chicks, attempting to feed one with a freshly caught fish. The obvious disadvantage of such open colony nesting is predation by humans and other birds and chicks drowning if they fall into the sea.

Meanwhile, on a disused putting green, two large-tailed nightjar chicks began their life among browned leaves and rubble.

Mother Nature made these nocturnal birds masters of camouflage. However, being in distinguishable from your surroundings could also mean certain death under the foot of any unsuspecting person. Adults can fly off but young chicks have no way of avoiding a foot coming down on them..

Fortunately, for these two, they fledged.

Pulau Ubin's Wayang

2011-05-30T17:32:00.000+08:00

A fun way of looking at photos that were taken of the wayang that went on during Tua Pek Kong's birthday celebrations on Pulau Ubin.

Painted Faces Slideshow: Shirley’s trip to Kampong Melayu (near Pasir Gudang), Johor, Malaysia was created by TripAdvisor. See another Pasir Gudang slideshow. Take your travel photos and make a slideshow for free.

And then there are five

2011-05-26T21:43:00.002+08:00

In February, we noticed that the pair of Black-winged Kites had begun to nest. This post is the result of many trips to observe the pair, and watch them successful raised three chicks over a period of four months.

06 March: the female was seen eating a rat at dawn brought to her by the male. These mid-sized raptors are just about the best rodent control I've seen. It's a pity that there's less and less land available to these raptors in Singapore.

Based on research the female will lay 3 to 5 eggs, at intervals of 2-3 days. She then incubates her eggs over a period of 25 to 28 days with male feeding her on or close to the nest during this period. Her eggs will hatch at 2 to 3 day intervals, which means that a complete brood may take a week or more to hatch. Despite the wide variation in the size, older chicks are rarely aggressive to the younger chick.

26 March: The female was seen bringing a rat into the nest for her chicks in March.

09 April: Chicks could be seen sitting in the nest. These white fluffy balls were vulnerable to attack by other predators. All through out this period the female stayed close. When necessary the pair would defend their chicks from crows that harassed them constantly.

23 April: The three chicks are almost full grown and were observed flapping their wings to strengthened their wing muscles. Two days later, the two older chicks took to the air for the first time.

17 May: All three chicks fledged successfully. The juveniles would return to the nest between their flights, and were fed by adults away from the nest.

Lantern bug

2011-05-24T14:49:00.000+08:00

Lantern Bugs are the Pinocchios of the insect kingdom. They are actually planthoppers that have long beaks, called rostrum, which they use to suck the juice out flowers and fruits. The lantern bug can grow from 1.5 to 3 inches long from head to thorax and has a wingspan of about 2 to 2.5 inches wide, depending on the species.

Weaver birds - native and non-native

2011-05-16T08:15:00.000+08:00

The Baya Weaver birds are in the midst of their nesting season. Last year, this site was a hive of activity but this year the number of nests are fewer and there weren't many complete nests.

There was one nest that was near complete and the pair were busy putting in the finishing touches.

Only to be interrupted by several bullies that came to raid nest materials. The weavers couldn't do much in terms of defence and the mob strategy didn't work with the Asian Glossy Starlings. They left only when the leader of the flock decided to leave.

On the opposite side of the island, another colony of weaver birds were also in the midst of nesting at Tampines Eco Green. However, these birds aren't native species, the Asian Golden Weaver birds are usually found up north of Singapore in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

No one knows how these birds came to be in the park but these introduced species seem to be thriving. Best guess is someone released a cage of these birds into the park. It may not be recent but the act of releasing animals to gain merit or as a symbolic gesture of compassion is still practiced by some. Here's my post from November last year where a family was seen releasing bags of fish into the Jurong Lake. Remember releasing animals into the wild may do more harm than good most will not survive. Those that do compete with our native species like the American Bullfrogs. Read these posts: -

Alien species breeding at the Singapore Botanic Gardens
Someone Dumped Bullfrogs Into The Stream

Mementos of mum

2011-05-04T13:47:00.001+08:00

It's almost two years since my mum's passing, and we're still uncovering things that she left us that included recipes scribbled on pieces of scrap paper. Like my mum, I love collecting recipes. Mine are tucked away on my hard disk and backed up on a server in the cloud somewhere.

My mum's Sambal Udang recipe
Spice mix (pounded or ground-up)
2 tsp turmeric power
1/2 lb small red onions
10 dried chilies
3 fresh red chilies
2 buah kenas
1 to 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
1 pint Water
12oz prawns
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves

Method
Fry spice mix until fragrant in vegetable oil
Add in water, lime juice and sugar
When gravy comes to a boil add in prawns (head and shell intact)
Cook on high-heat for 1 minute then simmer for 15 mins
Sprinkle on chopped coriander leaves before serving

My mum's Opor Ayam recipe
Grind these into paste:-
4 shallots
1 clove garlic
½ tsp balachan

4 tbsp cooking oil
½ tsp ground turmeric (kunyit)
1 tbsp ground galangal (langkwas)
1 tbsp ground candlenut(bua keras)
1 tbsp ground lemongrass (serai)
½ tbsp ground coriander (ketumbah)
2 tbsp assam juice
¼ tsp cumin (jintan puteh) powder
½ tsp ground chili
2 ½ glasses thin coconut milk
1 glass coconut milk
4 Indonesian bay leaves (daun salam)
2 kaffir lime leaves (lemau perut leaves)
5 green chilies
5 red chilies
1 kg chicken

Method
Fry paste till brown
Add remaining ingredients
Add chicken pieces fry till fragrant
Add think coconut milk and leaves simmer till tender
Add chilies

A wildlife drama: The saga of blue-eared kingfishers in love

2011-04-27T19:30:00.001+08:00

A pair of young adult Blue-earedKingfishers (princess in the photo above and prince below) decided to dig their nest cavity under the boardwalk in the CentralCatchment Nature Reserve. Although Blue-eared Kingfishers are found through out Southand South-east Asia, the species is considered nationally threatened. They were considered common in the last century, but has rarely been seen since 1927. Due to their highly secretive behavior no one knows how many mature individuals there are inSingapore (according to Wang & Hails, 2007 the population is estimated at 10).

The naive couple put up with all the humanintrusion that was force upon them. The prince and princess paid no attention to the avian paparazzi. Even when some started to trespass into the area where the pair were courting and resting. They even resorted to pruning plants to allow them better view of the pair. Despite the invasion, the pair went about theirbusiness of procreation unaffected by all the activity around them. On the week that they should have welcomedtheir next generation, a nasty person decided to destroy their nest byplugging up the entrance. There were many theories as to who was responsible. Perhaps the deed was done by an illegal fisherman who hasn't been able to fish at the area where large prized female Tomans (snakeheads) are known to raise their brood because of the presence of the paparazzi.

Unfortunately, we also lost a great opportunity to gain some insights into the lives of these secretive jungle royalty. Unlike the Kings (Mar 2010 and Nov 2010) that built their nests on private property, and raised two successive families. This pair were on public land and there was no way of protecting them against unscrupulous people. This failed nesting is the second in two years at the CentralCatchment Nature Reserve.

The good news is thepair is safe and may get to a family in the immediate future. Hopefullythey will be wiser after their encounter with humans and build their home faraway from prying eyes.

If you are wondering if there are Nature Conservation Laws (section from the Singapore Red Data Book, which is much easier to read)that protect our flora and fauna in Singapore, we do it is called the Parks and Trees Act.

The cutest bird species yet

2011-04-25T21:45:00.000+08:00

Broadbills are a family of small passerine birds. They are chunky birds that range 13 to 28 centimetres in length with a short, wide bill having bristles or wattles at the base. Many of these birds are brightly coloured, and live in the dense canopies of forests, allowing them to hide despite their brightly coloured plumage.I was lucky enough to meet several species of broadbills. At Bukit Tinggi, West Malaysia, the Silver-breasted Broadbill.

Recently, at Sepilok's Rainforest Discover Center, four other species were sighted. The Green Broadbill and the Banded Broadbill, which I didn't get a chance to photograph. However, I did manage to catch these two - Yellow and Black and Red and Black Broadbills.

I just think that they are so cute.

Brood parasitism

2011-04-04T19:30:00.003+08:00

Pasir Ris Park was a buzz recently when word got out that a pair of Golden-bellied Greygones were nesting at near eye-level on a tree. I was late heading down to the site as there were too many people focused on the two little birds and I didn't want to be a part of the human jam.

Gerygones are from the flycatcher family and are very tiny at 6 cm long. These birds are often heard in the canopy but are hard to spot due to their size and quick movement.Pasir Ris is probably the best place to spot these birds are they do come down to the lower branches when they pursue prey.

There were four of us at the location two Sundays ago and we were happily snapping photos of the parents feeding a rather hungry chick.

When someone remarked that the chick look to be a lot larger than the parents feeding it. It was then that light bulbs started going off in our heads. We were all watching and documenting brood parasitism at play, the gerygones were raising a cuckoo chick.

Unfortunately, I was unable to document the fledgling of the cuckoo chick, which most of us think is a Little Bronze Cuckoo. The Little Bronze is also the smallest cuckoo at 15 cm long. I did however manage to locate the parents and their mega-gerygone chick the following day. Here's mega-chick that was heard constantly calling to its parents to feed it. That was also how I managed to locate the chick by its incessant calls of "feed me!"

I only managed to get one shot of the parent feeding the chick before my time ran out that day but good enough to show you how the parent's head almost disappearing into the chick's mouth.

I'm glad to be able to witness and share with you a strange side of nature.

Be wary of the kutu babi

2011-04-01T19:30:00.002+08:00

Only recently that I became very aware of kutu babi after coming into contact with these nasty critters on the boardwalk of Lower Pierce. I thought nothing of the initial bite on my wrist as it healed within two weeks leaving a reddish pin-head size scar. The next bite was on the tip of my middle finger of my left hand. The finger digit swelled up till it felt like it would burst. Thank goodness after three days of applying steroid cream on it the swelling subsided.

The third time I wasn't so lucky. A kutu babi had attached itself to my lower leg even though I had sprayed myself with insect repellent. This bite swelled up immediately and itched badly. The next day blisters started to form and before long infection set in.

You might be scratching you head and asking yourself what is a Kutu Babi? Don't worry I didn't know either till I got bitten. The kutu babi is a wild boar tick or hog tick and its host is a wild boar. With herd of wild boar taking up residence in Lower Pierce, the ticks have reached an area where parasite and humans come into contact with each other. An immature tick is about the size of a dot and this is what is inflicting the itchy bites.

Below are photos from my friend Colleen that shows you a kutu babi (it's the dot to the right of the finger).

This tiny tick became the subject of my research as I scoured the internet for information on the tick and ways to sooth the bites. I found very little information on how to treat the bites. There were just two articles from Malaysia that talked about being bitten by these ticks and the terrible itch they caused - The agony of wild boar ticks and Jungle Itch.

If you do visit the area and there are signs of wild boar activity in the area avoid it if possible. If you do enter the area, do not sit, squat or touch anything in the area as the ticks are most likely lying in waiting. They can get on your clothes and shoes, and travel home with you. Should get bitten check to see if the tick is still attached. Do not pull the tick off as the head will remain buried in your skin. The head is going to cause the infection and it may be the source of future infection.

On Colleen's advice I soaked my shoes in Carrington's dog wash and washed myself down with A-lices Scalp Hygiene Shampoo. The infected bite may look bad but it is not painful. It is being treated with creams that a doctor prescribed.
It may be psychological but each time I discuss the subject of kutu babi I begin to itch and scratch.

Poaching still going on in Singapore

2011-03-29T16:22:00.004+08:00

There seems to be a trend going on - people bringing caged birds into our nature reserves.

This morning two men with five caged males White-rumped Sharmas were at the edge of the CNR. They were using the caged birds to lure the wild ones that are in the reserve.

Last week, I witnessed similar activity at Lower Pierce where a man with a caged White-rumped Sharma sitting in the reserve. The man walked out of the reserve with his caged bird when he noticed me walk by with my camera.

Makes you wonder why we have gazetted nature reserves when poaching is still going on right under our noses. I'm sure those of you who frequent the reserves would have seen: -

Families with young children armed pails and nets wading into streams to catch fish on weekends
Men with pails, nets and fish rods
Men with catapults and knives
Men with bird traps

I am probably just scratching the surface as these are but some of the activities that go on during the day.

Can you resist these faces?

2011-03-28T20:35:00.000+08:00

You are looking at the faces of two very adorable Olive-backed Sunbird nestlings. They are eagerly waiting for their parents to return with food.

I was lucky enough to have a chance to glimpse a pair of sunbirds raising their chicks for about an hour.

During the short period of time, both parents actively fed their chicks with insects and spiders. Because they are so small, it was difficult to see what they brought to the chicks until I started reviewing all the photos I snapped.

After interesting activity is after feeding the chick will dispel a fecal sac to the waiting parent. A fecal sac is a mucous membrane that is generally white or clear with a dark end. It encases the feces making it easier for the parent to dispose of it. In this instance, the Olive-backed Sunbird chick turns its butt to face the nest opening as a signal to its parent that it is ready to defecate. The parent will receive the fecal sac from the chick's vent and dispose of it.

Black-winged Kites

2011-03-22T15:57:00.004+08:00

Spent a number of days searching for these small raptors. Though said to be a very common resident, the Black-winged Kites weren't that easy to find in our increasingly urbanised landscape.

They fascinate me with their piercing red eyes, which you can only see through a high powered lens or a pair of good binoculars.

These raptors are distinctive with long-wings; white, grey and black plumage; and owl like forward facing eyes. They are also known for its habit of hovering over open grasslands, which I have yet to witness.

Like all raptors they have very good eye sight making photographing them difficult. They will take flight the minute they feel you are too close for comfort.

I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to photograph them.

Things that make you go hmmm...

2011-03-21T21:31:00.002+08:00

Oops!!! Sorry for the radio silence again. I've been out observing our fine feathered friends raising families. On Saturday, I made a stop over at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve for a look around. As I hung around the main hide area looking for the salty as the tide ebbed, a couple strolled out towards the main bridge with a caged bird.

My initial thought was they caught the bird but upon a closer look the bird in the cage was a Peach-faced Lovebird.Why in the first place did someone allow the couple to enter the reserve in the first place? I followed the couple out to the visitor center and asked the staff on duty why the couple were allowed to enter with a caged bird. He watched the couple stroll out with the caged bird and replied a new sign was needed that said no birds allowed as the sign only indicated no dogs allowed.

The urbanised egret

2011-03-01T15:04:00.003+08:00

Since 2008 a dark morph Pacific Reef Egret has been seen fishing in a canal on the east coast. It recently became the subject of much interest to photographers who been following the bird up and down the canal to try to catch shots of it fishing.

This shoreline egret comes in two colors. One form (or morph) is completely white, with a pale yellow bill and yellow-gray legs. The other morph has a similarly colored bill and legs, but its plumage is dark gray. Pacific Reef Egrets hunt alone or in small groups, feeding on small fish, crabs, and mollusks. When hunting, they hold their heads and bodies almost horizontally and often shade the water with their half-spread wings.

Typically this uncommon Singapore resident is be found on our rocky shores, exposed reef flats and sometimes along sandy shore and low-tide mud around mangroves. However, this individual seems to have found itself a niche in a concrete waterway that still ebb and flow with the tides. You can't miss the bird as it is a solitary individual in the canal with a couple of Little Herons for company.When I was there during the weekend, it was hunting as the tide flowed in. It was hard to see with the glare of the sun on the water but small fish were coming in with the tide and the bird was having a feast chasing these fish.

Here it was seen skimming over the water chasing its prey before landing to try to catch its meal.

The smallest woodpecker in Singapore

2011-02-21T17:34:00.002+08:00

The Sunda Woodpecker is very common in our gardens but not many will notice them as they are the smallest woodpecker in Singapore. Like all woodpeckers, they are noisy birds but you need to know your birds before you can spot them out. Like all woodpeckers, the Sunda has strong bills for drilling and drumming on trees to seek out the juiciest grubs hiding in tree trunks. Woodpeckers are able to drill and drum on trees because they have evolved in a number of ways to prevent brain damage. These include small brain size, the orientation of the brain within the skull (which maximises the area of contact between the brain and the skull) and making sure that the duration of drumming is short.

The short video below shows you how the woodpecker chips away at the wood to excavate its nest cavity. It performs the same activity while foraging for grubs but with short spurts and it moves up and down a tree trunk.

Happy Valentine's Day! Look what the birds are up to.....

2011-02-14T19:40:00.002+08:00

It's Valentine's Day today and spring is in the air too. The birds have been busy planning their new families. If you walk in our reserves now the most common bird song you will hear is that of the Coppersmith Barbet males calling their lungs out. You will hear the loud rather metallic chunk…chunk…chunk sound, reminiscent of a copper sheet being beaten, giving the bird its name.

Here's a video of the bird hard at work.

Not only are the barbets busy, the Olive-backed Sunbirds have also been busy constructing their nests and collecting soft downy materials to line their nests.

The Oriental Pied Hornbills have been observed in courtship and prospecting for nesting cavity.

Expanding out of the box

2011-02-07T22:29:00.004+08:00

Happy Year of the Golden Rabbit and I should be back to updating this blog on a regular basis.There were many milestones during the last quarter of 2010 and into 2011: -

Climbed the Summit at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve with my camera gear to photograph migratory birds feeding on a fruiting fig tree (literally huffed and puffed my way up, totally out of shape).
Next was parking myself at the playground in Hindhede Nature Park to wait for Mugimaki Flycatchers to appear.
Next stop was Bidadari (or as we, avian photographers, jokingly named the area Casperland) for cuckoos.
Even hopped across the border into Malaysia for a weekend to explore Bukit Tinggi, a hill resort in Pahang near Genting Highlands for more birds.
In between all the running around, four photobooks were completed - Xinjiang, New Zealand and Laos.
Over the Lunar New Year weekend explored a section of Pasir Ris Park (PRP).

It seems that PRP is Red Jungle Fowl central. The ancestor of the domesticated chicken is not as rare as we thought. They were everywhere but quite shy.

There were lots of birds too.A juvenile Large Hawk Cuckoo

A flock of Little Bronze Cuckoo

Two pairs of Pied Hornbills

Spotted Wood Owls

Coppersmith barbet

And at the mangrove area, to my surprise, a pack of four Smooth Otters.

Overall, the six hours spent slowly walking around the area with camera gear was well worth it.

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth

2011-01-22T09:49:00.003+08:00

Apologies for the long break in between posts. Too many balls to juggle and wildlife to chase that this blog was left to languish. Hopefully, past the Lunar New Year, things will get back on track with regular posts.I did manage to do two things this week, head down to Chinatown and to the Thaipusam festival. I know some of my friends think the Chinatown today is but a tourist trap. I agree and that is why visits to Chinatown is only once a year where the glitter mixes in with the traditional food stuff that is a must.

Such as waxed meats - sausages, duck, ham and a number of other meats that were hard to identify.

Then there's the stuff that makes you go hmmm.... What were they thinking? Here's Twist Potato, essentially a potato sliced by a special equipment brought in from Taiwan and deep fried.

Two days after visiting Chinatown, a trip to Little India was planned. I chose to head down early morning when it was still cool and the light was softer. This year's festival was more subdued but I did see a number of familiar faces from last year's festival.

The Sri Perumal Temple seemed less packed. It seemed that there were more bystanders and photographers in the temple but I did get to talk to a couple of people to find out a little about why their families are involved in the festival.

For example, I learnt that it will be the last time this gentleman participates in the festival after being given the nod to do so.

Good bye Mandai Orchid Gardens. Farewell to our feathered friends

2010-12-31T22:56:00.000+08:00

Today is new year's eve and also the day Mandai Orchid Gardens closes its doors. For those of us who know and love the inhabitants in the garden. It is a sad day as we do not know who is going to take over the land and what the land will be used for.

Today, we bid good bye to the following: -
The Little Spiderhunter

The Crimson Sunbird

The Plain Throated SunbirdAnd many more wonderful wildlife. Let's hope that they have a place in the grand master plant and we do not see concrete pour over the land.

Happy New Year to you as we reflect on the loss of this gem of a place.

Bitten by Bittern fever

2010-12-21T20:43:00.000+08:00

These rather secretive wading birds are quite fascinating if you get a chance to spot one. Of late, I've gotten the bittern fever. Bitterns are sub-group from the heron family and they tend to be shorter-necked but don't be fooled. They usually frequent reed beds and marshy areas to hunt for amphibians, reptiles, insects, and fish.

In Singapore, we have the Yellow Bittern, which is small and not easily spotted. When spotted these extremely shy birds will take off and often with a call of protest.They are also highly territorial and sometimes the best way to spot a bittern is when they have a squabble over territory.

I tend to look out for these birds as they are great subjects to photograph. Below is the classic Yellow Bittern position among reeds as it waits for its prey to approach.

Sometimes, you may even find them walking on water.

Recently, the arrival of an uncommon winter visitor - a Black Bittern caused quite a stir.

The bird is rare here and it was lame. Much to the delight of many bird enthusiasts it chose a rather open area to winter at. Because of the location It picked, it also has a number of guardians who constantly worry about its well being. Many worry that the bird is hurt and unable to hunt. However, through the weeks many have come to realize that it is able to fend for itself and the best thing to do for the bird is to leave it alone and let its body heal itself.

It hunts well albeit rather clumsily at times.Tell me if you think that bitterns have short necks. Here are both species stretching their necks

Chronicle of Mr & Mrs King - a surprise visit (Dec 16, 2010)

2010-12-16T17:50:00.001+08:00

The familiar calls of Mr King was heard this morning coming from the backyard during the morning drizzle. He's back! I thought as I ran from the front of the house to catch a glimpse of Mr King. Then I went upstairs to have a better look at Mr King. As I was spying at him behind curtains, another kingfisher joined him on the wire. It didn't take me long to realise that the second bird was one of the fledglings.

I spyed the two young birds just yesterday at the open field learning to hunt on their own, and had made a mental note to try to make time to photograph them before they are chased away by their parents. I didn't think that my opportunity would be presented to me by papa bringing one over today for a visit. (I grabbed the camera out of the dry box and not wanting to bump the ISO up too high fired off a couple of shots at shutter speeds that were too slow for handheld shots).

The shot above is of the young adult. It still has the tell tale dark beak and feet. In addition, it didn't have the trademark white throat of an adult. The throat area was white with dark markings across it.

The differences become apparent when the two birds are side by side. The young bird is in the front. Papa looks fat because he fluffed up his feathers in the drizzle. I personally feel that the young bird is also slightly larger than its parent.

It is quite rewarding to see both fledglings thriving and honing their hunting skills under the watchful eyes of their parents.

I am truly lucky that these usually secretive birds gave me a chance not once but two years running to be a part of their lives. As you've seen it is hard work for the pair to raise a family. Overall, it takes up to six months to from digging a nest cavity, incubation and raising the chicks. No one knows what is the survival rate of the young birds after they leave their parents but each pair only has two chicks a year.

Black Swan family

2010-12-14T20:44:00.000+08:00

Those who frequent the Singapore Botanic Gardens would know that the Black Swans are raising a family of four fluffy cygnets.

The Black Swan is a large waterbird which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia.

Yes, they are an introduced species but swans have been synonymous with the Botanic Gardens for as long as I can remember. However, this is probably the first time that they have bred successful.

All who have seen the family have been smittened. Who can resist the fluffy balls of feathers. Whoever called a cygnet an ugly duckling is totally wrong.

Go have a look yourself but do treat the family with respect and try not to over feed them.

Who would have thought....

2010-12-06T14:03:00.001+08:00

I'd have as much fun with an idiot proof iPhone camera but I am. I finally made the leap from a hand-me-down iPhone to the 4. Along came the discovery of some nifty camera applications through word of mouth. Downloading the applications were a breeze too, via iTunes. As most are relatively cheap acquisitions, I am not complaining. Thus far, I have Hipstamatic, Pudding Camera, Plastic Bullet and Retro Camera.

These were the photos taken with the following applications: - HIPSTAMATIC

PUDDING CAMERA

RETRO CAMERA

The application that I like the most is PLASTIC BUBBLE (It allows you to manipulate photos taken with other cameras. Here's a series taken with my Canon dSLRs and processed with Plastic Bubble).

Chronicle of Mr & Mrs King - Fledging (Nov 25 2010)

2010-11-25T15:20:00.001+08:00

Almost two weeks after a near catastrophe, the Kings finally brought their babies out to meet the world. My reward for saving the family, was a front row seat to witness two fledglings emerge from their nest hole. The first came out at around 6.30 am (because of poor lighting the photo is fuzzy).

I suspect that there may have been a third fledgling that emerged earlier as Mrs King stayed in the forested area while Mr King was responsible for coaxing the two fledglings out with the promise of a tasty morsel of food in this instance a small millipede.

He flew to the nest entrance to tempt the last fledgling before flying up to his usual wire perch. to watch gently coaxing the fledgling in the nest Finally, the little bird gains enough courage to fly a good 10 feet to my neighbor's awning.

Papa flew back to the nest entrance to check if there were any stragglers before he flew over to tempt the last fledgling with food. By 8.30 am the family have safely re-located to the edge of the forest. If I'm lucky I should still be able to catch glimpses of the family as the parents now need to teach the fledglings how to hunt. I hope the pair will return again next year to raise kings again.

A damselfly that is the size of a pin head

2010-11-22T21:10:00.001+08:00

Was out chasing birds when a chance encounter with this unknown damselfly sent me scurrying to the car to grab my other camera with my trusted macro lens.

While squatting by the edge of a small drain, I could see tiny little white dots floating by. Upon a closer look, I realized that the dots were tiny damselflies. Wohoo!!! I have found the mother load of Pinhead Midgets. They are suppose to be common but they are so small at 17mm, many of us do not even know that they existed. I thought there were three species, till research told me that they were all the same species.

This pretty ghostly white Pinhead Midget is a mature male.

The female is a gorgeous red and harder to spot.

The immature adult looks like a shrunk down larger damselfly.

If you do happen to be in a park where there's a clean water around squat down and look. You may spot these damselflies, they usually perch on grass.

Chronicle of Mr & Mrs King - Nov 18 twenty10

2010-11-18T11:09:00.000+08:00

For some reason, my neighbor insisted on cutting grass on the slope during the heavy downpour on Nov 14. Despite my usual note of caution to the gardener about the nest site, mishap occurred. The gardener accidentally stepped above the nest hole and caused the entrance to collapse as the soil had softened with all that rain water, all the kings hard work almost came to nothing.

A frantic Mr King came back with a lizard only to find that he could not enter his family's nest cavity. After several attempts he flew off disheartened. However, luck was on his side, as I had noticed his distress and went into action. The gardener was summoned back to my neighbor's compound to repair the damage. With guidance he was able to clear the area and create a rather crude new entrance.

When asked if he could see life inside the cavity, he insisted that there was nothing but upon my insistence he looked closely and spotted a chick inside. I made the decision to leave things as is as chances of hand rearing the chick is slim.

The next 24 hours were stressful ones as I wasn't sure if Mr King would return and if Mrs King wasn't buried inside the nest cavity. In the morning Mr King came back and checked out the nest hole and flew off after singing a rather sad song. I had thought that everything was lost but at 3 pm when I returned from my meetings. I heard Mr King sing his usual song with a lizard between his beak. His chick or chicks survived within the 15 minute window he brought two large lizards and successfully handed then into the nest. But what of Mrs King? To this day, I still am not clear as to whether she is in the nest cavity with the chicks or she perished. She is not in her usual position keeping a close watch on her nest.

I do know that the chick/s are well as I can hear them calling from my bedroom, the widened entrance has created a loud speaker.

The shy heron

2010-11-10T16:42:00.000+08:00

It takes a person with very sharp eyes to pick out the bird that is hidden among the lotus leaves. This very quiet bird is a rather large bird that stands at 90 cm, yet if it doesn't move no one will know it is there.

The Purple Heron is a resident wading bird but it can also be found across parts of Africa, Europe and Asia.Even though it has colourful plumage, the colors actually provides excellent camouflage among the water plants.

It is a shy and solitary hunter that prefers to stand and wait motionlessly in shallow water for its prey. Another interesting thing about the Purple Heron is its long snake-like neck which is usually held in a prominent kink (can be seen even with the neck extended out).

This heron prefers to feed in freshwater wetlands and are said to be less tolerant to human activity. This bird has been feeding in an artificial habitat and seems to be able to tolerate having people around it. On several occasions that I've seen it, it will even stand out in the open to sun itself.

Things that you should not teach your children to do....

2010-11-05T21:06:00.000+08:00

A family of ten were at the Jurong Lake area not for a picnic but to release fish into the lake. They walked up to the edge of the lake with bags of eels and fish that they released into the lake.

We went to the security guard to ask that she stop them but were told that the area outside Japanese Garden is managed by PUB. Here's the family each release their quota into the lake.

The anti-litter campaign has worked as the family gathered up all their empty plastic bags. The no release rule is obviously one that no one seems to care for.

Alien species breeding at the Singapore Botanic Gardens

2010-11-04T12:37:00.000+08:00

Spotted in a pond at Evolution Garden a healthy population of American Bullfrog tadpoles.

How can this alien species be allowed to breed at the Singapore Botanic Gardens?

American Bullfrogs can destroy local ecosystems, yet people persist to release them into our ecosystem. They are voracious predators that eat anything they can swallow, which includes numerous species of frogs, lizards, fish, birds, mice and even their own kind. See previous post 'Someone dumped bullfrogs into the stream'. Shouldn't they be systematically removed to ensure that the population does not explode?

Chronicle of Mr & Mrs King - Oct 26 twenty10

2010-10-26T19:30:00.001+08:00

For those who are looking out for updates on the feathered pair. They are still keeping house. On the menu are: Four-lined tree frogs, geckos, skinks and a gliding lizard.

The photos of the gliding lizard shows Mrs King with her tasty morsel. The photo below shows Mrs King on the right with a skink's tail still sticking out of her mouth. The skink was still very much alive as the tail moved around.

Oriental Dollarbirds@the Civic District

2010-10-25T21:26:00.000+08:00

Had an hour to till before heading to Suntec to attend Micheal Yamashita's workshop yesterday. Pit stop was the Civic District to make some photos of the facade of the former Supreme Court. Upon ditching the car at Empress Place, the oh so white statue of Sir Stamford Raffles caught my eye. At the area, a rather bored looking snake charmer and my take of Singapore's history.

Time was of the essence, and the former Supreme Court beckoned. While standing at the Cricket Club side, unfamiliar bird calls were heard but where were these birds?

It wasn't till a familiar bird flew out and crossed over to the flag pole of the Art House.

Mystery birds were a pair of Oriental Dollarbirds. The bird got its name from the two silvery white circular patches on each underwing, that flash as it flies. Upon spotting the birds, these were the scenes that were observed. Territorial squabble - pigeon vs dollarbirds and mynahs vs dollarbirds

It is always a surprise to see how animals, if given a chance till reclaim what space they can from us.

Travel slide show - Kuching, Sarawak

2010-10-23T17:15:00.000+08:00

Around The Kuching Area Slideshow: Shirley’s trip from Singapore to Kuching, Malaysia was created by TripAdvisor. See another Kuching slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

Northern Xinjiang slide show

2010-10-23T07:58:00.001+08:00

Northern Xinjiang Slideshow: Shirley’s trip from Singapore to Urumqi, China was created by TripAdvisor. See another Urumqi slideshow. Take your travel photos and make a slideshow for free.

This diminutive bird keeps us coming back for more

2010-10-21T21:45:00.000+08:00

The Common Kingfishers have migrated to Singapore to Winter here. This kingfisher is sparrow-sized but it has the typical short-tail, large-head profile of a kingfisher. The photo above is what the bird looks like on a rock with no cropping.

Closer shot and cropped to show how handsome this bird is.

Below was a pair of Common Kingfishers, shot in Kerala, India. Males have all black bills while the females have orange mandible (lower bill).

An interesting observation, so far all the Common Kingfishers I've shot here are males. The females are quite rare.

Monkey throws away, birds pick up

2010-10-18T21:57:00.000+08:00

The Long-tailed macaque stole a loaf of wholemeal bread from my kitchen. It was only the next day, that I realized that he did not consume the bread but scattered the slices down the slope after the gardener cut the grass. I heard a small flock of Scaly-breasted Munias happily chirping away. Upon locating the flock, I spotted the reason for their joy. They were eating a slice of wholemeal bread.

I climbed down the slope to sit and watch the birds.They immediately flew away and sat on the fence. One bird flew back to the slice of bread and then the rest followed.

Half an hour later the birds had eaten up the slice of bread.

Landscape photography workshop that wasn't

2010-10-18T21:32:00.000+08:00

The main reason for the 9-day trip was to pick-up tips and develop my eye for landscape photography.

However, the workshop wasn't too hot and things went south for me very quickly. My biggest issue was the lack of guidance and the lack of translation. We were all just turned lose when we got to each location. I know how to handle a camera but I paid to attend a workshop to learn, and I expect proper guidance from the workshop leader. Instead, instructions were passed around participants willy-nilly.At one location, I scratched my head when another participant told me that the workshop leader had said to line up the wind turbines in the background along with lighthouse. Huh? They were all too far apart to get onto a frame.

I had to climb up a flight of stairs to look for the person to clarify. Only to get a different set of information while the person was busy taking photos.
At another location, I decided to test the person by asking for help, all I got was a silly response. It wasn't the kind of response I expected of an instructor.

The final straw that broke the camel's back - was being told to get out of the way as I was in the photo.

Meat so fresh it is still warm

2010-10-15T22:09:00.000+08:00

We were taking a walk one evening in Hemu and we came upon a butcher who had just slaughter a Fat-tailed sheep at a mutton soup stall. We decided to hang around to watch him process the carcass.

This place is quite popular with Chinese tourists during the golden week. We passed it the next morning, and another sheep had been slaughtered.

Chronicle of Mr & Mrs King - Oct 13 twenty10

2010-10-13T22:45:00.000+08:00

I thought Mr & Mrs King abandoned their nest as I didn't see them at their nest site for over a week but they haven't. The pair are back and Mr King has started bringing lizards to Mrs King.

I suspect that the wet weather is making the hunt for protein harder and the pair seem to disappear and appear again. He is now coming back with lizards for her but not in the frequency I saw last year. In the past two days these were some of the lizards he caught.

As you can see all three are different species of lizards. I would have documented more but the pair want their privacy, and I don't want to push them out of their comfort zone.

Lost

2010-10-13T22:16:00.000+08:00

As you can tell I am having major problems putting words to my just concluded trip to Northern Xinjiang. My bad, atrocious Chinese meant that I couldn't completely comprehend the local guides. It didn't help that the Singaporean lead never provided location information. I am still trying to decipher the mambo jumbo trip itinerary that was given to us.

Therefore, I'll just concentrate on the key areas that are known to me. First stop, after the whistle stop at Burqin was Hemu, a village that is one of the three residences of the Tuva Mongol people in China. The Tuva Mongol is believed to be the offspring of the troops of Genghis Khan. The Tuva Mongol of Hemu Village live in wooden framed houses half-buried in the ground to keep warm during the winter.

What I like about this village once one gets past the real basic facilities and the bare minimum lodging, was the rustic life. Oh yes, forget about trying to avoid dung as it is everywhere. It is in one of the scenic areas and I came away with lots of photos.

Urumqi International Bazaar

2010-10-09T20:21:00.000+08:00

The Urumqi International Bazaar or Erdaoqiao Bazaar is one of the largest bazaars in the world. We went into the bazaar for an hour and had fun taking in the sights, people and munching on fruits.

Did you know that Xinjiang is a grape growing region? I didn't till I got there and they had mind boggling array of different grades of raisins that were really tasty. The fresh grapes were just as good.

They also sold sun dried cherry tomatoes, which were so sweet. I wished I could have brought back some. We then bought some figs from a street vendor to try.

Melons were in season and the hamigua were just delicious. We all stopped to photograph this fruit seller who was very good with his knife skills, and then rewarded him by each buying a piece of hamigua to eat.

What was of most interest to me were the people, they were all so photogenic.

Day 1 - Urumqi

2010-10-07T21:21:00.000+08:00

We got on an Air China flight to Chendu at 2 am on 20 Sept. from there we caught our connection to Urumuqi. Being only my second trip to China, everything was new to me. Our group were met by the local guides and driven to our first lunch in Xinjiang.

Imagine our surprise when dish after dish kept coming out. We had a unique papaya, mayo and orange concentrate cold dish, followed by a plate of assorted meats to vegetarian dishes as among the group was one vegetarian. The dishes were all tasty, may be it was because we were all hungry we managed to finish much of the eleven course mean. We also found out that fruits in Xinjiang had higher sugar content and tend to be sweeter.

Appeal: Help the animals of Mdm Yap's shelter

2010-10-04T15:57:00.001+08:00

The dogs and cats of Mdm Yap's shelter will lose their home by end of Oct 2010. What will happen to these babies? No one knows....Urgently seeking adopters for the dogs and cats in the shelter. There are about 35 mongrels (not HDB-approved) and abt 60 cats. We are also looking for donations of cash and food and also volunteers to help out (esp during weekdays). Contact Ray @ 91027973 if you can help in anyway.

HELP TO PUBLICISE THEIR PLIGHT. TIME IS RUNNING OUT.More info can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mdm-Wongs-Shelter/312804877843?ref=ts

Produced by Colleen. Pictures courtesy of Colleen, Vanessa Ho, Joe Goh and Mdm Wong's Shelter.

Back from Xinjiang, China

2010-10-04T13:43:00.000+08:00

Haven't fallen off the face of the earth but rather at the farthest western-end of China in Xinjiang. The trip was an eye opener in many ways. Yes, I am shifting through tons of photos. In addition, to fighting a bug I picked up along the way.

Two evenings with a Chinese street opera troupe

2010-09-15T19:30:00.005+08:00

I finally got my chance to spend some time with a Chinese Street Opera troupe at a Taoist temple near my home. I approached the troupe and sort their permission to photograph them as they busied themselves for their evening performance. I climb onto the crammed makeshift back stage to watch the performers put on their make-up.Chinese street opera troupes have dwindled and these days they are usually found at temple functions. Street operas are intimately linked to Chinese religious rites. These performances play a ceremonial role as offerings to deities during temple celebrations and even as a "show" for spirits released from the netherworld during the hungry ghost festival.

Though my Hokkien is limited, I had a great time with the troupe. I came away with a huge collection of photos of the troupe and their performance. On the second evening I drove to Bukit Batok. The troupe had de-camped and moved to a temple there. This evening I spent less time backstage and chose to spend time in front of the make shiift stage watching their performance. It took me a while to understand the performance but unfortunately I was unable to stay the full 3-hour performance.

Chronicle of Mr & Mrs King - Sept 14 twenty10

2010-09-14T21:48:00.000+08:00

Activity around the nest site has stepped up with the pair spending more time deepening the nest hole. Today, was especially intense. Mr King worked even in the heat of the mid-morning sun. Family is on their way as the pair had mated several times in the past week.

Halloween - pumpkins of all kinds are coming

2010-09-12T19:30:00.000+08:00

Yes, we have pumpkins all year round but it seems like there's more varieties as we approach Halloween in the supermarkets. Recently, I picked fried pumpkin as one of my choices for a cheap $2.50 chiap chye rice lunch. The Chinese style stir fried pumpkin was pretty good. After several slow mouthfuls to analyse taste and possible ingredients. I managed to narrow down the ingredients that accompanied the pumpkin - garlic, oyster sauce and dried krill.It so happen that I had a piece of pumpkin hiding in my fridge for sometime and I decided to try to recreate the dish and I succeeded. A simple delicious one dish meal that goes very well with steamed rice.

Ingredients
A piece of pumpkin (cubed)
1 clove of garlic (minced)
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dried krill
1 tsp knorr's chicken stock
1 tbsp oil

method
Heat wok with oil till hot.
Saute garlic till golden and add dried krill in to brown.
Thrown in pumpkin and saute them
Add oyster sauce and chicken stock
Add water just enough to not let the dish burn
Cook till pumpkin is soft.Add seasoning to taste. (I find that I don't need additional salt in mine)
Enjoy!

Monkey menace

2010-09-10T19:30:00.000+08:00

Having lived next to the nature reserve for seven years. This is the first time that Long-tailed Macaques have become a menace in the neighborhood.

Despite authorities imposing fines on people who feed monkeys. Many with young children in cars are still doing so along the fringes of the huge nature reserve. Someone had pointed out that may be these families feel it is okay to feed the monkeys. They pay $5 to feed the captive animals at the zoo, on the fringe of the reserves it is FREE and they can feed the monkeys for as long as they want.
Most may not realize that feeding wild animals, disrupts their natural behavior and causes them to lose their fear of people. Do these people know what happens to the monkeys that are caught when they are deemed a nuisance? There is no such thing as re-location or rehabilitation for these monkeys. They are put down.

In a span of three days, my home has been the site of monkey mayhem. On Saturday, a lone male with a badly healed broken leg (exiled by his troupe) wrecked havoc in my kitchen. It tore through several packets of biscuits that I had on the counter and scattered crumbs all over. It could have been worse had I not gone downstairs to investigate. He ended up sitting on my neighbor's roof eating his spoils.

You can see from this photo how crooked his leg is. I thought it had gone back into the forest but it seems that it craves human food. This monkey has has stolen bread and eggs from my neighbors during his previous raids.

On Monday, a troupe of eight were on the roof top raiding gutters and one went dumpster diving. I managed to chase them away. Before they departed they decided to show their displeasure by doing a monkey dance on the Plexiglas roof.

These days, I more vigilant and do my part in ensuring that I do not encourage the macaques to visit. I do not leave food trash outside my kitchen. The minute I see a troupe or a lone macaque loitering on the roofs, I close all windows and doors. If there is nothing to tempt them, they will leave and head back into the forest where they belong.

Chronicle of Mr & Mrs King - Sept 8 twenty10

2010-09-09T08:29:00.001+08:00

Construction effects have been stepped up from only morning excavations to twice daily. Mr & Mrs King definitely are in the nesting mood now. Both birds sing to each other from great distances, and when they come together it is amazing that one can hear their joy and excitement in the way they speak to each other.

Yesterday, I spent a little more time with the birds as they too focused on their nest building but I ensure that I give the pair privacy and not disrupt their activities.

Mr King perched on my neighbor's fence below.

At the entrance of his new nest hole.

Excavation work begins.

Flying back to his perch for a break.

This is what Mr King looked like after his afternoon dig flying out of his nest hole.

A better look at Mr King after a hard day's work.

Breakfast with a Milky Stork

2010-09-08T09:33:00.000+08:00

Went in search of a little kingfisher that recently got his passport stamped to winter in Singapore. Yes, the migrants are arriving in hordes from as far Siberia and Manchuria. Instead, a vagrant species that has a relatively healthy population here decided to have breakfast with me.

Someone, I know laughed when he saw me concentrating on the Milky Stork having breakfast. In his words, “Aiyah! This bird you also want.” Well I like insights into animal behavior. I don’t care if the bird is or is not an introduced species if it allows me a glimpse of it life I’m taking it.Anyway, this solitary Milky was minding its own business searching the pond for tasty morsels among the lotus plants, when a man comes along with a bag of bread to feed the fish. Milky realizes that it too had a chance of an easy meal. It ran towards the bridge and positioned itself slightly before the feeding frenzy that was created by fish and turtles. When it picked out a likely prey, it would stick its bill with mandibles open as though it was herding a fish away, and to lessen reflection off the water a wing would be opened to cast a shadow over the water.

During the short feeding frenzy, Milky caught two good sized Tilapias for breakfast.

For those of you who have not seen a Milky Stork, it is a large wading bird in the stork family. Not the prettiest of storks but still quite a commanding bird as it stands approximately 97 cm tall. It is a predominantly coastal resident in Indonesia and Malaysia, inhabiting mangroves and adjacent, less saline, swamps. It forages on tidal mudflats, in saline pools, freshwater marshes, fishponds and rice-fields. The species is listed as in 2010 IUCN Red List Category as vulnerable because it has undergone a rapid population decline owing to ongoing loss of coastal habitat, human disturbance, hunting and trade.