Singapore Nature Spots

8-spotted crab spider

Quite uncommon.

Found in Pasir Ris Mangrove.

Related to the crab family.

It has eight spots on its body.

Identified by Dr Leong.

The Olive-winged Bulbul (Pycnonotus plumosus) is a species of songbird in the Pycnonotidae family.

It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum) is a species of bird in the Dicaeidae family. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Black-naped Oriole, Oriolus chinensis, is a member of the oriole family of passerine birds found in south Asia.




A golden-backed woodpecker with long and solid black stripes. Both sexes have black eyestripes joined to black rear neck stripe. Male has red, female black crown. I think this picture I took was a male golden-backed woodpecker.

The Beauty of the East- Pasir Ris Mangrove

I spotted some fish swimming in the murky waters
I managed to take this photo of the water monitor lizard 'showing off ' its blue tongue.

I saw this pinching creature some what camouflaging itself.

There are many more crabs to be seen along the mangrove boardwalk.

Home Grown

It's so exciting to see the green peppers turned red !

Orgainic and fresh, but why the colour of the lady's fingers still light green ?

THE MOST EXTREME

Hi! This is Lower Pierce Trail!! You like it?? It is clean and green with lots of plants and animals!The trail starts from here!! The trail end over there! Look at the scenery, check out the matching trees.
Want to go for free guided walks there?? Go to the National Parks website.


So,.....what are you waiting for??Look on!!!




2.



Knock!Knock!
Who's there?
Nepenthes.
Nepenthes who?
Nepenthes is on fire!!!
(ni-pan-tease)

Special Thanks to Uncle Johnny and Uncle Derek for imparting

their precious knowledge about photograhy to me.

1.

Two colugo hang on a tree.
One glided off, and there left one.
One colugo hangs on a tree.
One has been shot by a poachers and there left none!

The colugo photo was contributed by Uncle Derek.

Do not underestimate the Forces of Nature

Water Spout sighted in East Coast Park! (Just realized it recently, heard of it but doesn't know it looks like this. Wanted to edit my post earlier but have no time. Thanks Uncle Ron!)

It started at about 1.07pm-about 1:27pm.
A tent flew up about a cm high than landed on the ground.
There is a message I want to pass to you
:Anyone can be in danger at anywhere.

Eagles flying

Taken at Pasir ris Park.14/10/07

This pictures are now taken by me at Upper Selatar !!.....Fascinating, right!!!!

Anyway, this is a white-bellied sea eagle!
Sorry! My pictures are not clear!!!!

Fascinating photos of creatures

The mangrove cat snakes with jaws wide open to show how white its fangs are.It is a very rare (to me).

Singapore's largest predator goes to........drumroll........the White-bellied sea eagle!!!

Photos contributed by:Uncle Derek Liew

Sow from seeds!

Look!These are are sowed from seeds by my mother and I!

They are beautiful, aren't they!

We are in the process of taking the seeds and plant them again.

Home sweet sunflowers!

Is it a plane? Is it a cloud? It is the olive-backed Sunbird!!

This bird is commonly found in Pasir Ris. Especially in my roof garden!

This species loves my ixora and bougainvillea plants.

The sunbirds has a curved beak and specially adapted tongue allow it to suck nectars from flowers.

SBWR , rare sight ! (To me)

White collared Kingfisher

I managed to have a shot of it. It has a white neck, that is how the bird gets its name.

It feeds on fish, crabs, lizards and insects.

What a rare sight!

One of the wettest land on the island - Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Flap! Flap!
Was taken at the Tower Hide. A magnificent closed -up picture......the white birds you see are egrets on the tree.

Cool Down!
The Malaysian water moniter is commonly found in Sungi Buloh Wetland Reserve. You can either see it swimming in the water or sun tanning.

A Fascinating Sight....

It is an oriental whip snake. It is called whip snake because it will whip when it gets too stress up.

It was me holding the same snake with my sis beside me. She was so fascinated by the snake and wanting to hold it all the time.

From Forest to Mangroves

The Semkau Landfill is Singapore's only landfill for waste disposal. There are a total of 11 landfill cells on the island and out of the 11, 5 cells were filled. In this trip, besides the beautiful scenery and the wide varieties of marine lives, I learnt about the importance of recycling to cut down waste.

We walked from the forest to the mangroves to our final destination, the intertidal walk. Our Volunteer guide for the day was Uncle Ron. Thank you Uncle Ron for being wonderful guide.

Have you seen a Sea Star with 4 arms ? Here is a unique one. We also saw,one with 5 arms (quite common) and one uncommon sea star with 6 arms.

Yes, this is Sea Cucumber. I saw a number of different species. Once they are out of water, they will squirt out water from their anus. They are soft in water and turns hard when out of water. Sea Cucumbers are delicacies to many, but I doubt I'll want to try them.

This photo was taken by my mother.

We also spotted many types of crabs, the Swimming Crabs, Fiddler Crabs and Hairy Crabs, etc. I was fascinated by the Up-side-down Jelly Fish, first encounter in the wild. There are also different types of corals, very beautiful. An eye-opening experience for me and my family. Spider Conch is another rare encounter for us, because it is very well camouflaged, it is different to spot.

Encounters in the Forest

Black-naped Oriole was standing on a 'botak' tree. It is one of the common birds found in Singapore. I found this bird near my place. It was the 3rd time I saw it on the same tree but not sure if it was the same bird.

This stick insect was the biggest one I ever seen in nature. As big as the one at the Fragile forest in the zoo. I touched it, it's legs 'hooked' onto my skin (quite ticklish).

This spider has a unique name. It is called the St. Andrew Cross Spider. A female mature spider spins a web which contains 4 silken zig-zag bands. It resembles the cross of St. Andrew's and it is to mark its territory.

Our forest is filled with Treasures!

Hi, wait ...don't take first,let me wear my shoes....!

Centipede is venomous. It is hard to differentiate

between the head and tail.
See this Giant forest ant, it is about 1 inch long. It is quite rare to find them on the boardwalk.

This is the first time I see a Common Monitor lizard on a tree. It is suntanning itself on the top branch of the tree. As it is cold blooded, its body changes temperature according to the surrounding temperature.

Special THANKS to Uncle Derek for giving me good tips on how to take good pictures.

Lower Peirce Appreciation Walk on 6th Jan 07

This is a golden web spider.....One of the largest spiders in Singapore !!! There are two smaller spiders in this picture too. The one right next to the Golden Web Spideris a male spider.

This photo is contributed by Uncle Derek.

Bird Park (Jurong)

These are wise owls.
This bird is showing off itself to us.
The king crown pigeon is taking up a piece of leaf.
This bird is bowing to the people around it.
I'm keeping my eggs warm, KEEP OUT, or I'll Kick you!

Singapore Zoo

You must be thinking why I write about animals from a foreign zoo....

Now I posted 2 pictures of animals from the Singapore Zoo.

One of the Best zoo in Asia. And.....with the largest collection of primates

I took a very close shot of this ring-tailed lemur, I even patted it.

This gibbon was playing "catching" with its gibbon friends.