Blue-crowned hanging parrots

Often we hear the high pitched honking calls of the blue-crowned hanging parrots as they zip around the Little Red Dot. They are also the only parrot that you will hear along the busy roads of our business district. This is because they favor the yellow flame trees that are planted along the roads, which provide them with food and ideal nesting holes. Their diminutive statue and green color make difficult to spot among the leaves. They are also not as noisy as the parakeets and can move quietly among the foliage. It takes a lot of patience and ignoring stares of people around you as you peer closely at a tree to spot them.

Can you spot the parrot?

Although they are nectar and fruit feeders, they need protein too to survive. In the wild, nature provides them with larvae. In the photo below you'll see a parrot drinking nectar. Look at the leaves of the tree, they've been punched full of round holes. These holes are the result of an infestation of bagworm moth larvae.

I was lucky to have seen photos from a friend who had photographed these parrots doing something unusual, they were harvesting larvae to eat. Spent some time to document this behavior plus I couldn't resist getting better shots of the handsome male blue-crowned hanging parrot.

Plucking larvae to eat

Male blue-crowned hanging parrot

How many species of otter world wide?

Many may not know that we have only 13 species of otters world wide, and all of them are on the IUCN Redlist.
The 13 species are: -

1. African clawless otter
2. Asian small-clawed otter
3. Congo clawless otter
4. Sea otter
5. North American river otter
6. Marine otter
7. Neotropical otter
8. South American river otter
9. Eurasian otter
10. Spotted-Necked otter
11. Hairy-Nosed otter
12. Smooth-Coated otter
13. Giant otter

Source: IUCN OSG

Blogging again....

Some of my friends have been urging me to start writing again. Since I wasn't teaching and still nursing a cough, I thought I'd refresh my blog and also write an update. 

Wow! it has been a year since I last posted. During that time frame many things happened: -

The Famous Five is now the Bishan 10

The pair had another litter of five pups in the Kallang Basin area at the beginning of 2016. Since then they've been in the media darlings. BBC News called them "Singapore's celebrity urban otter family". NatGeo Wild, referred to them as the river-siders in their documentary - Otter Town that was recently released in the US. The family is also in the running to be our 51st icon to represent our nationhood. They also delighted many of the delegates from the 13th International Otter Congress 2016, which was held here in Singapore. The International Otter Congress, held once every few years, gathers members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Otter Specialist Group (OSG) to discuss conservation statuses, future strategies and threat mitigation for the 13 otter species.

Bishan otter has a mate

This rather territorial big bird alerted me to the presence of something in the river when it flew down to the river. On getting closer, I spied the familiar dark brown shape of an otter in the water. Then another head pops up from under water. The Bishan Park otter population has increased. Since I had no camera with me during my walk, I had to walk very quickly home (30 mins) to get my kit.

My first sighting of an otter in Bishan was on 12 September. I shot this photo with my iPhone.

The one with two pairs of legs per segment

Encountered a giant millipede marching along the wooden railing one morning. It was at a perfect height for me to photograph it and get lots of details with my macro lens. My subject was also covered in dew which made it all the more interesting.
Millipedes have two pairs of legs per segment (except for the first segment behind the head which does not have any appendages at all, and the next few which only have one pair of legs). Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one.
The head contains a pair of sensory organs known as the Tömösváry organs. These are found just posterior and lateral to the antennae, and are shaped as small and oval rings at the base of the antennae. They are probably used to measure the humidity in the surroundings. The Millipede's eyes consist of a number of simple flat lensed ocelli arranged in a group on the front/side of the head.

Another Colugo Encounter

I spotted this little fella last week and did such a bang up job on taking photos of it that I had to look for it again. Well I found it hanging upside down, which is how Colugos rest in the day.Once it knew I was there it moved and I finally got the shots that I have been dying to get. A Colugo looking straight at my camera lens. Notice how large the pupils are, Colugos are nocturnal hence the large pupils to allow more light it much like a camera shutter.Colugos live alone or in small loose groups and they spend their time in dense foliage high in the tree canopy or in tree holes. They feed on flowers, buds, shoots, young leaves, fruit, nectar and sap.

On A Hot Sunny Saturday

Saturday was hot and muggy, and I thought it would be a perfect day to out looking for reptiles. However, the reptiles of the slithery kind were hell bent on not showing themselves to me despite my heading out twice that day.
I did get some interesting photos of nature around me. The beauty of a tree fern against the sunlight.My favorite Long-tailed Macaque, Half-tail. I am glad that he is still around as I was told he was no more. To me, he usually minds his own business but apparently he can be a nuisance and aggressive.I then wondered over to the stream and found these brilliant blue damselflies skimming the stream. Sadly there were no snakes to be seen anywhere.

A New Location To Explore

Got invited to the opening of the new Dairy Farm Nature Park by NParks. It was a great excuse to go explore a new location as I am after all a creature of habit. Since my situation has changed I am able to explore.The opening was held at the old Cold Storage dairy farm shed, which has been converted into exhibition halls and meeting facilities named the Wallace Education Center.The park looks very inviting and there's a hodgepodge of things that should be of interest to anyone who loves to poke around. Such as an old ramshackle black and white bungalow up on the hill.This Evel Knievel Green Crested Lizard was spotted at the top of a palm tree, to evade me it leapt from palm tree to the asphalt and as I approached it scramble to the scrub area.There's also heaps of plants everywhere and pink flowers was the theme for the opening.With flowers everywhere, the butterflies were also present. Chased a Common Birdwing but it just won't stay still. Instead, spotted a Cruiser feeding on the Lantana blooms.Overall, there a little of everything for everyone.

The Perfect St Andrew's Cross Web

Not many people will get excited at seeing a large spider sitting on its web. Then again, I not like many people. Came upon this large St. Andrew's Cross spider with a perfect web on Island Country Club Road. Fantastic opportunity to photograph this spider with relatively good lighting and background that allowed me to photograph the spider from both sides. It had already sucked its breakfast dry.Day two, the same spider with a large breakfast this time. The web is slightly damaged probably from the struggle that the Katydid put up before the spider over powered it by wrapping it up in silk.Close up of the unfortunate Katydid all wrapped up.Click St. Andrew's Cross spider to find out more on the spider such as how it got its name and how to tell male from female.

Mucking Around A Stream

Destressed by hanging out with my friends as they worked to maintain a stream within the reserve. While they worked I mucked around looking for interesting life living in and around the stream.
While sand was being cleared manually, it also stirred up the ground revealing the creatures that live in the sand. The first creature that flopped out on the sand was a fresh water shrimp about 2 cm long.Hot on the heels of the shrimp were two tiny fresh water crabs.Did you know that there are spiders that live in the water. The disturbance had these spiders jumping around.Then I spent over an hour chasing this one damselfly up and down stream only to get one shot of this insect.The icing to a great morning mucking around was my encouter with a Twin-barred Tree Snake sunning itself on a chain-link fence.

Silent And Shy Mammal

Most people miss this shy nondescript mammal of the jungle floor as it quietly moves around going about its business.Managed to observe this Lesser Mousedeer as it allowed me to. We made a silent agreement as we quietly looked at each other. So long as I respected its space, it will let me observe. For me it was the greatest experience ever to sit there and watch.

A Flying Lemur

It was a hot muggy evening and I decided to take a drive to a different location of the nature reserve to do a little hunting with my camera. Not long into my walk I chanced upon this little fellow clinging on to a palm tree trunk, and trying to look invisible.Fortunately for him, I wasn't a poacher and it was safe. As for me, I was delighted as I haven't seen a Colugo in a while. I had to photograph it. See how its coloring blends in with the tree trunk.All this fella can do when it is spotted is look at you with its big doe eyes.And then it'll slowly move around the trunk to get away.No wonder they are easy targets for poachers with catapults.

A Bountiful Harvest That Is Not Wasted

I was reminded of a conversation I had with someone about a rambutan tree on the edge of the reserve when I was walking my regular route. Lots of ripened rambutans scattered on the ground, which is not unusual during the fruiting season. This morning I found bees feeding on the fruits. This person remarked to me that it is strange the rambutan tree that stands tall and heavily laden with fruits did not attract the long-tailed macaques. To which I responded that the tree's fruits are sour. This person then remarked that the tree should be chopped down and a new one that bears sweet fruits planted in its place. I told the person that despite the sour fruits, the tree provides food to butterflies, other insects, birds, and bats, and that the tree should be left alone. Like dead standing trees, this tree and many others in the nature reserve have a purpose within the ecosystem.

Semakau Landfill Revisited

It was in 2005 when a project landed on my lap to help with public relations effort for the opening of Semakau Landfill for recreational activities. It was an interesting project as it was different and intriguing.
While researching landfill, I found that the other site that was similar to Semakau was the Fresh Kills Landfill on the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. Both landfills have been turned into recreational areas for human use.
Waking up at 4 am and heading to the pier to catch the boat brought back lots of memories and some amount of excitement as this was my opportunity to see a different aspect of Semakau since the launch and I am glad I finally went back to revisit by signing up for a trip with the Raffles Museum of Diversity Research. Here's the group of eager explorers and their guides.Upon reaching the mangrove area on Semakau, it was a short walk through the mangrove area to reach the beach. We walked from the sea grass area to the coral rubble zone to the reef's edge all the while keeping a look out for marine critters in the tidal pools. Here's what we found... An almost transparent shrimp.Star fishes - Sand-sifting Sea Star, a Cushion Star and a Knobbly Sea Star a teddy bear crabAnd an eel I throughly enjoyed the trip.