Hornbill sighting of the unnatural kind

The picture does say it all doesn't it? U can hardly argue with domestication of dogs, cats, chickens as pets. For dogs, u have to walk them to keep them happy with activity. But I can hardly imagine any sort of activity (mental/physical) that will keep these two happy to be caged up. For me the joy of observing any animal is watch its behaviour in relation to its environment i.e. bird behaviour described in the BES blog, heck even a cat stalking a house gecko is visually more entertaining than a caged hornbill with no stimulation.
The keeping of rare/exotic pets/plants is certainly a problem that can't be solved overnight. Especially when there is no overwhelming impetus for the local authorities to stem the problem. I have heard stories even of biologists guilty of such things. Things like these makes you reflect on the human condition and suddenly you are not amazed at why the world is in a mess.

here's the rest of the original post from Joseph Lai.
"I cannot begin to describe how heavy my heart felt recently when I found two huge Blyth's Hornbills being crammed into a tiny cage and put on sale at Chua's Pet Trading in Hougang. If there is any proverbial cupboard where skeletons are to be found in 'First World' Singapore, Hougang is one. It's the 'Guantanamo Bay' of Singapore... and freedom is taken away for no other crime than being 'wild and exotic' birds.

What else can I say? : ( Beyond what I have just wrote, how do I begin to describe the intimacy with which our own freedom are tied to theirs? I am truly lost for words. However, let me share this photo (right), and invite you to step back in time with me and witness how insistent the hornbills were at biting the cold hard wire

of the cage. They just want to be free; as free as all wild birds are born to be. Would you, my dear sentient friends, share your thoughts and feelings with me too? I look forward to post them faithfully here. Thank you.

WHEN THE BUYING STOPS, THE TRADING WILL TOO."

Banded Woodpecker @Fort Canning Park by Denosha

link to clubsnap post

haven't got much luck with woodpeckers myself. I wonder where these ppl keep finding them! ;p
Thanks to Denosha for graciously letting me post the pic here. Do visit http://denosha.shutterchance.com for more shots!

1st record of Buffy Fish Owl Ketupa ketupu @Sentosa by Yury

link

With regards to the earlier id which was wrong this is actually the rare Buffy Fish Owl Ketupa ketupu. Great Catch Yury! And according to Subaraj, this is a first species record for that island!

Paradise Tree Snake Chrysopelea paradisi @ Sungei Buloh by

link
Wow its just lying on the boardwalk! Lucky chap.. of course he could be luckier and actually spot it 'flying' ... (Yups this snake is able to flatten its body and glide through the air!)
"The Paradise Tree Snake is considered by some to be rare, however in Singapore it is commonly encountered in a variety of habitats including mangrove, secondary forest, and parks and gardens. "

p.s. read on the thread about another blog on Singapore Snakes

References
Snakes of Southeast Asia : Paradise Tree Snake - Chrysopelea paradisi
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/paradise_tree-snake.htm

Flying Snake Home Page by Jake Socha, University of Chicago: frequently asked questions on the species, quick-time video clips of their flight, photos, maps of their distribution, taxonomic details

Woodpeckers Common Flameback Dinopium javanense) @ Pasir Ris Park, Holland by Nur Bin Muhammad and hiker

A thread in clubsnap with quite a few woodpecker shots
There's one pic of a woodpecker pecking at its reflection in a mirror. Here's a funny report on the damage that it can do (non-ecologically speaking).It's  probably trying to fend off rivals, but I didn't expect females to do it as well. Doing a search on the topic made me realise I was wrong,

Bagworm renovating its bag, photos & write up by Adrian Wee

This is a mystery solved for me. For ages I have wondered what creature hides within this clump of twigs, being the morally inclined naturalist, i was reluctant to pry the home open to appease my curiosity.  But now I know!

here's a passage from the excellent writeup
"Bagworms are a group of highly specialized lepidopterans belonging to the family Psychidae and exhibit extreme development of sexual dimorphism. Males are winged whereas females lack functional appendages. Larvae of both males and females, soon after hatching from the eggs climb up to the top of their host plants in order to have an access to the soft and palatable tips of the growing shoots. They construct a small but tough bag of silk of either cylindrical or conical shape and glue small fragments of plant tissues around their cases. Larvae always keep their body inside the cases. While moving about, their head and thorax are protruded out so that they move forward on their thoracic legs dragging the case behind them, which is gripped by hooks on the abdominal prolegs. When taking rest, the rims of the cases remain attached to a twig by means of silken thread so that the cases hang vertically with both their openings remaining closed."

Savanna Nightjar Caprimulgus affinis by Foo Sai Khoon

Excellent writeup with great pics to boot! No mention of locality where he spotted this one but he does mention where u can see them

here's a preview of his writeup
"Nightjars are birds of legend. In the 17th century Britain, nightjars are thought to be "goatsucker" as people really believed that nightjars visited goats at night and drank their milk! Incidentally, Caprimulgus is a latin word for goatsucker. So you can imagine there are calls for action and cries for the creature blood. But none of the frightened crowd volunteers to venture out into the night ……
In south-eastern parts of USA, it was once thought that the number of times a Whip-poor-will (related to nightjar) sang in succession indicated the number of years it would be before a man married.
In Sulawesi, the Satanic or Diabolical Nightjar (Eurostopodus diabolicus) was named because of the belief that the call it made by night was the sound of it pulling out people eyes!"

p.s. sorry for the long break in posting i shall endeavour to post more frequently!

Defensive Colugo mother spotted by Daniel Koh

link

A mother colugo and her baby shot by hiker from clubsnap. If you are wondering why a colugo needs to fear Homo sapiens you can read it here. The joy of a chance meeting in the reserves with a wild animal is indescribable. To be able to take pictures of them and show others takes the enjoyment of nature up a notch. The mildest word i can think of to use on poachers that choose to take away all these from us is SELFISH. The stronger words I shall reserve.

Thanks to Daniel for graciously providing me with the images!

Oriental Pied Hornbills Anthracoceros albirostris@ Changi by wong1979

Thanks to Wong1979 from clubsnap for graciously allowing me to reproduce his excellent pictures of the Oriental Pied Hornbills [ Anthracoceros albirostris ] here on this blog. Thanks to Sharkspin for id of the birds. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the

Hornbill Project Singapore you CAN make a difference. Read all about
our own hornbills and how you can help with your sightings on the
bird ecology blog http://besgroup.blogspot.com

Be Watchful for poachers though when admiring these birds. It would be sad if they were caught by poachers (like the colugo incident) or the nests were disturbed.

Links:

Oriental pied hornbill on the Forest Department, Sarawak website: brief fact sheet

Fact sheet with photos on flora and fauna of Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin

Picture of a Male from the Oriental Bird Club.

Wonder about the name in Chinese, Japanese and vietnamese?

Rat catching White-bellied Fish-Eagles? @ changi boardwalk by wong1979

LOL I stared at the screen for 5 mins to think of a title for this post. Firstly I didn't know that rats can swim out to sea until the owner of these pics did a bit of research(see original thread). Can anyone id the eagle and also comment on this behaviour? text in italics belong to the pic owner

UPDATE: Thanks to Dr Wee and Mr Subaraj, the identity mystery is somewhat solved. They should be juvenile White-bellied Fish-Eagles Haliaeetus leucogaster

here's rest of Subaraj's reply
Though somewhat dark, they appear to be juvenile White-bellied Fish-Eagles Haliaeetus leucogaster. Fish Eagles are known to take anything swimming in open water. Besides fish, they are also known to take sea snakes and turtles. A rat swimming should be no exception. This rat could have been swimming across somewhere or may have come off a boat.

I saw some eagles hovering above the sea and thought they must be fishing for fish until on closer inspection ...huh? Fish got tail meh?




I thought it could be some kind of monitor lizard or sea creature with a tail, but from the vague shape I can make out of, it looks like a rat. So I went googling and found out that indeed, a rat can swim half a mile out into the sea.

After which, I saw another eagle sparring with it, as if to snatch the food:
hmm the pic looks brighter with another computer but its too dark to see anything on this one.. uploading new edited for brightness

Collared Kingfisher on No fishing sign by Roger

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=191188

Check out this humorous pic by roger! Although amusing, i think it does
drive home another more subtle message. The message or rather the reason
for not fishing illegally at nature reserves. While you are there
fishing for some weekend fun, these creatures are just feeding their
mouths and that of their offspring (and they do not have weekends mind
you). Depriving them of a food source is really make their already hard
lives (due to habitat loss) harder. In fact the first time i held a
collared kingfisher was during my class when we set up mist nets to
catch birds in Kent Ridge as a demostration. It might not be obvious but
at that time I was like "WHAT?? KINGFISHER?? IN SECONDARY FOREST? KENT
RIDGE? GOT FISH MEH???" hahah well, apparently some of them have taken
to alternate feeding habits and not feeding on fish solely. I wonder if
this will lead to further speciation but that's another topic... its
truly sad that a kingfisher has no fish to feed on.

Flying Lemur/Colugo @ Bukit Timah Nature Reserve by vbs1979

link

Abit wary of posting colugo sightings after the poacher incident
But there's no denying that these creatures are in the central nature reserve. We can't fight for the conservation of forest plots if there are no species(plants and animals pls) there worth preserving but letting others know of the presence will tempt poachers (of plants and animals too!) to go in there and take what is meant to be shared. Undeniably, humans are the biggest impact on wildlife proof is here. Still no news of the poachers, and I doubt they will be caught but I hope that people out there will keep a lookout for poachers while noting the fauna as well. On a brighter note check out an 'ah beng' version of the colugo lol wonder where it gets its fur dyed.

1.5m Spitting Cobra(?) Naja sumatrana @ Kent Ridge Park by Curare

link

ID unsure and kindly done by cerebrus. Any input please post in the comments.

on a personal note: DARN IT! How come I never see them before?? haha but if it is a spitting cobra I guess I won't want to go too near to them as well.

Orange-bellied flowerpeckerDicaeum trigonostigma by Jeff

Images copyright of Jeff from CS
link to CS post.


There is a beautiful picture of the bird on a bottlebrush tree (Callistemon rigidus). Can't find alot of info on the bird but there's a site that describes it as residing in 'upper canopy' and ' primary and disturbed forests, open wooded areas, beach vegetation and stunted kerangas forests'. Strange huh? Wouldn't think it will be found on low enough ground to be shot then. but here it is on what I am guess is a Melastoma malabathricum so i guess it justs goes where there's food and not limited to high canopies. Want to see more of this bird? I guess you can plant more Straits Rhododendron shrubs and bottlebrush trees then. Oh another thing apparently members of the Nectariniidae are not found in Japan!

Birds of Sarawak
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/6980/dicaeum.html
Mangoverde World Bird Guide Species Page: Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
http://www.mangoverde.com/wbg/spec/spec169-22.html
straits rhododendron (melastoma malabathricum): info fact sheet
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/plants/melastoma.htm
Nectariniidae
http://www.cjvlang.com/Birds/sunbird.html

More spiders by tchuanye @ Henry Park (showing food web!)

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=187642
Amazing series of shots documenting the demise of 2 spiders....

excerpted "I was at Henry park again today, and I saw a really amazing site! Really the law of nature at work.

First, the Lynx was already feeding on this spider...not sure how long....when I notice this little heavy jumper sneaking over, peeking at them. At first, I thought...nah...so small its not going to eat the lynx.

Later, it started to approach closer, than stalk it....than "POUNCE!" in a blink of an eye, it grabbed the lynx at the middle and ended up suspended with its safety line. The lynx meal was thrown aside of course. The jumper stayed at that position for quite sometime, I guess to let the venom sink in. Later it started to drag it along to somewhere.

Wow, I have seen spider eating spider before, but not 3 in a row....so seems like Heavy Jumer>Lynx>some unknown spider... thats the law of nature at work!

I am posting the sequence as I saw it, and both taken with FZ10+6T+Sigma CU and A610+reverse lens, + my Achiever 828 with taped on Stofen.
All at F8, ISO 50 various speeds"

Estuarine Crocodile 2.1m Crocodylus porosus@ Sungei Buloh posted by Freddie Young

Wild Crocodile at Sungei Buloh

Dear All,
This is another wild crocodiles spotted at Sungei Buloh Wetland in March 2006. The location of the sighting is below the bridge and it is about 2.1 m long. I understand from the park ranger that this beautiful creature is often found roaming underneath the bridge during low tide.
Thank you,
Freddie Young

Estuarine Crocodile Crocodylus porosus@ Sungei Buloh posted by Freddie Young

Wild Estuarine Crocodile at Sungei Buloh
Originally uploaded by Freddie Young.

Dear All,
I have taken this photo at Sungei Buloh Wetland on 1 April 2006 at 3.00pm near to the waterhole no. 1.12. The location is after the bridge and turn left for approximately 20m. I have saw this crocodile twice on separate dates and according to the staff, it is very frequently seen roaming there. The crocodile is about 1.6m long and should be quite young. Currently I am going island wide to look for wild crocodiles. Pls let me know and share the photos with me if you happen to know where I can found one.
Regards,
Freddie Young

kevin: Wow, you spotted the croc! I believe the species name is Crocodylus porosus Perhaps its the same one here.

There's more info on this species at the ecology asia site.
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards/estuarine_crocodile.htm

Buffy Fish Owl (highly rare!) by Abdul

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=185547

".... This is the the Fourth sighting of this Buffy Fish Owl which is believed to be extinct on the main island based on Threatened Animals of Singapore-1995....." - Abdul

Darn I wish I could see it in real life too.

Black-eyed Litter Frog Leptobrachium nigrops @ Lower Peirce by Kevin

Black-eyed Litter Frog Leptobrachium nigrops @ Lower Peirce by Kevin
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Black-eyed Litter Frog Leptobrachium nigrops spotted at Lower Peirce Reservoir. Spotted by Chengpuay actually but too bad he dun have camera that day so I am posting this pic. This nocturnal frog has large jet black eyes, I guess to hunt in the dark. I don't know about average frog leg length but apparently this guy has rather short legs and can't hop around very well. Funny right? There's more "When disturbed it will assume a low crouch rather than attempt to flee." Hmmm I wonder if its because of the short legs.

"The species breeds in shallow forest streams and the tadpoles are large and black. The Black-eyed Litter Frog ranges from Peninsular Malaysia to Singapore and possibly Sarawak, Borneo. Size (snout to vent) : Female 5 cm, Male 4.5 cm"


References

Wild Singapore site
http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/factsheet/frogblkeyed.htm

Amphibians of Southeast Asia : Black-eyed Litter Frog - Leptobrachium
nigrops
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/amphibians/black-eyed_litter_frog.htm

Colugo attacked by poachers! (reproduced from wildsingapore)

This time this is a sighting of an ugly side of human nature instead
of nature--poachers. I hope everyone can play a part in protecting
what precious little we have....
Kevin

Colugo attacked by poachers!
Photos and details on Aaron's post on the Nature Photographic Society forum
http://www.naturephotosociety.org.sg/dcforum/DCForumID2/574.html#1

Poachers shot down a mother colugo (flying lemur) and her
baby on Sunday. A group of civic-minded people alerted NParks who took charge of
the situation.

More about colugos...
Norman Lim who studied them
http://www.wildsingapore.com/riablog/people/norman.htm

Fact sheet and photos of colugos on Kwok Wai's WildLife Singapore
website http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/factsheet/colugo.htm

"Flying Lemur thriving in Singapore's Nature Reserves"
http://www.molluscan.com/forum/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=printer_format&om=153&forum=DCForumID14

The nature reserve is supporting a 3,000-strong colony of flying
lemurs, which were previously thought to be near extinction in
Singapore.

Associate Professor Peter Ng, director of the Raffles Museum of
Biodiversity Research: 'This animal is secretive and rarely seen. A
study like this shows that an endangered animal like the flying
lemur is doing better than we thought.'

However, other less-adaptable species could be in trouble.

Earlier this year, a landmark study by the National University of
Singapore and Australia's Northern Territory University found that
Singapore has lost about half its animal species in the last 200
years.

Based on detailed documentation of the state of mammals, birds, fish
and butterflies on the island, it found that at least 881 of 3,196
recorded species, or 28 per cent - had vanished forever.

Taking into account the probable number of animals here before
detailed records were made in the late 1800s, it predicted this
figure was actually higher - about half Singapore's animals.

And more than half of those remaining live in the nature reserves.

Considering how many species have gone extinct, Prof Ng said it was
a very pleasant surprise to find the flying lemurs thriving.

'It shows that even though we have small forests, they do contain
some jewels.'

You CAN make a difference!
--------------------------
Be alert to people who are out to hurt our native wildlife.

If you come across suspicious people in the forest, please call
NParks at 64685736.

Branded Imperial Eooxylides tharis @ Lower Peirce by Kevin

Branded Imperial Eooxylides tharis @ Lower Peirce by Kevin
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Finally more pics of my own! This is a Branded Imperial butterfly (Eooxylides tharis subsp distanti) spotted at Lower Peirce reservoir at 2006.02.25. The caterpillar of this small butterfly feeds on the infamous Smilax bracteata, which is a common local forest vine which grows very aggressively.


















References

awakening to the forest riches of macritchie, singapore
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a073d.htm

ARCBC: Biodiversity Information Sharing Service
http://arcbc.org/cgi-bin/abiss.exe/spd?SID=798267605&spd=1009⊂=2096&tx=LE

The Branded Imperial
http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/vines/2382/lycaenidae/tharis.htm

Lower pierce macros 11/03/06 by melvynyeo

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?p=1981792
All insects! But great shots! Would be fun to id all of them if I could...

Blue-winged Pitta Pitta moluccensis @ SBG by SKFOO

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?p=1981472
SkFoo spotted this rare bird who is an uncommon winter visitor to our tropical island in Botanic Gardens and have wonderful pics to show! He has an excellent writeup on their biology as well!
with sources from "Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds" and "Birds –An Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds of Singapore" A must READ!

Oriental Whip Snake Ahaetulla prasina @ Bukit Panjang Mountain Biking Trail by domvonn

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?p=1941941
Oriental Whip Snake spotted at Bukit Panjang Mountain Biking Trail 26/02/06 by domvonn
Busy week! Will post my lower pierce exploits soon.

Adult Wagler's Pit Viper spotted by Barnie Leow @ Upp Bukit Timah Rd

Wagler's Pit Viper - spotted in Sea Almond tree along Upp Bt Timah Road. Photo by Barnie Leow. An adult Tropidolaemus wagleri!!! see my earlier posting about the juvenile one which I saw personally.
Comment by kwokwai: " Nice photo u got there. It's probably waiting for birds or fruit bats."


Ref:
Ecology Asia
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/waglers_pit_viper.htm

Black-bearded Gliding lizard Draco melanopogon @ Sime forest by mphil

More gliding lizards by mphil on 12th Feb 2006! This time its a pair of male and female black-bearded gliding lizards!

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showpost.php?p=1899331&postcount=9

here's an excerpt of his post ".. I am just adding a couple of pics of the black-bearded gliding lizard from Sime Forest. Spent an afternoon looking for them and managed to find a pair of them on a tree. The female is not much to look at but the male looks quite dashing when he flashes his black beard at the female. Pics below are of the handsome one."

Horn-eyed ghost crab @Siloso Beach Sentosa by Windsor Jr.

Spotted at Siloso Beach, Sentosa on 12th Feb by Windsor Jr. Size is 4.5cm to 5.5cm. My guess is Ghost crab or Ocypode ceratophthalma

Update: Confirmed to be a Ghost crab or specifically Horn-eyed Ghost crab
Quote from Ria "It's quite common and can be seen, sometimes in large numbers on almost all our shores. Even busy and over trampled Changi beach! But only at night."
One more pic here by husky link

Ref:
A Guide to Seashore Life by Dr Leo W H Tan and Peter K L Ng
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/pub/seashore/text/191.htm

Horn-eyed ghost crabs (Ocypode ceratophthalma) on the Shores of Singapore
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildshores/crustacea/crab/ocypodidae/ocyceratophthalma.htm

Telamonia sp @Sunset way by Kevin

Spider (needs id) @Sunset way by Kevin
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Spotted this small spider at sunset way on 2005 Dec 10th. It clung onto me

rather than me looking for it. I had to laugh when i first saw it cos it

looks like a soccer ball with so many patches. Can hardly see where its real

eyes are. (it must have alot of enemies)

Thanks to Jeremy for helping with the id of this jumping spider!

Ref:

Telamonia elegans
http://www.miiz.waw.pl/salticid/diagnost/telamon/elega-ph.htm

"A Guide to Common Singapore Spiders" by Joseph K. H. Koh
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/spiders/text/Telamonia_dimidiata.htm

Tent Spider Cyrtophora moluccensis @ Khatib Bhongsu by Kevin

4th Feb at Khatib Bhongsu. This spider was rather big! Slightly smaller than Nephila sp. but heavy bulging abdomen! The web was big too about 1m! its very hard to miss this spider. It is also called a dome-web spider cos of the 3d mesh of web on top and a dome shaped web below. When i saw it it was upside down on the dome. I can't figure if the web catches prey that fly upwards or falls on the dome.. More info on this spider pending! Tell me in the comments if you know more!

id by Shufen

reference:
Tent Spider - Cyrtophora moluccensis
http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_weavers/TentSpiders.htm
A CHECKLIST OF SPillERS FROM SINGAPORE (ARACHNillA: ARANEAE)
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/50/50rbz359-388.pdf

Janss's pipefish Doryrhamphus janssi by Zee

New species record for Singapore! Such a pretty fish.... very green with envy
http://thebluetempeh.blogspot.com/2005/10/jong-dive-of-year.html

While you are there you should check out here as well.
http://www.bluewatervolunteers.org/

For more of its common names, check out here
http://annual.sp2000.org/2005/Fis-25918-show_species_details.html

Hantu pics by Yan 27th Nov 05

Haha sorry can't resist the joke. You won't find pics of ghosts (Hantu means ghost in Malay) here. Rather you will find excellent photos of local marina fauna! If you didn't catch the last "Living Treasures" on CNA channel, you have to see these pictures as proof that there is a great deal of marine diversity out there.

http://dolphymanta.multiply.com/photos/album/6

The Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus by Harlequin

Have you spotted this rare winter visitor lately? Harlequin from clubsnap did and has pictures to show. Have you wondered then about its name? Peregrine is the anglicized version of the latin word peregrinus which means wandering. No prizes for guessing what Falco is. Birds of prey need large areas to hunt and the mountainous regions of Central Asia support populations of these birds. You might think being at the top of the foodchain is easy. But use of illegal pesticides like DDT have diminished populations of birds of prey. Its not easy to see the link: many toxins are accumulative (especially the ones that dissolve in fat), so when you are the top predator you can accumulate a lot of toxins just by feeding normally. When I think about how humans are also a top predator, some how I would feel uneasy as well. In that sense, the degradation of our natural environment are warning signals that something is wrong. I just wish its not too late...

Reference
Biodiversity Hotspots - Mountains of Central Asia - Unique and Threated Biodiversity
http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/central_asia/biodiversity.xml

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
http://museum.utep.edu/chih/theland/animals/birds/falcopere.htm

Peregrine Falcon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_Falcon

Gliding Lizards in P.Ubin & Sime Forest by mphil

Check out a new post in clubsnap this time by mphil about gliding lizards! These are really not easy to spot as they are more well camouflaged to tree trunks than the Changeable Lizard (Calotes versicolor). Personally, I have only seen them in Tioman (Malaysia), and it was only after 10 mins of frustrated pointing by a friend that I just caught a brief glimpse. Similarly, like mphil who had to found them too far away to photograph, in my case the gliding lizard when found scrambles quickly up the trunk and stays very still. Only a digital compact with IS and 10x optical zoom managed to take a shot of it, but definitely not Nat Geog quality lol. Here's mphil's post!

“I have been fascinated by these gliding lizards since I first saw one in a jar in a lab. I have come across some in the wild since then but they were too high up to shoot or I didnt have my gear with me. However, here are 2 that didnt get away. Thanks to the excellent site at Ecology Asia for the ids. Actually they dont fly, but glide down from one tree to another tree - but we all know that!”

#1 Common Gliding Lizard (Draco volans) - From P.Ubin with the "wings" out and waving its characteristic yellow gular flag.


#2 Black-bearded gliding Lizard (Draco melanopogon) - Sime Forest with 'wings' folded.

Reference
Ecology Asia : Lizards of Southeast Asia
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards.htm

Crimson Sunbird Aethopyga siparaja spotted at Mandai Orchid Garden by Peng Eik

Lovely shot of a crimson sunbird on a ginger torch plant! Was blown away...
link

You can go to his gallery to view more of his amazing shots there's even a glimpse of the smooth coated otter!

Asian Koel Eudynamis scolopacea spotted by Jason Tan aka madcatII

LINK
Is it the mating season for koels? I don't know but here's a great series of pictures by Jason of the bid to win the heart of a female koel!

Red-breasted Parakeet Psittacula alexandri spotted in Changi Village by chngpe01

An informative post in CS by chngpe01
"The Red-breasted Parakeet, also known as the Moutacheed Parakeet, are not natives of Singapore and was originally found only in Java and Bali.

Together with many others species of parrots and parakeets, the Red-breasted Parakeet were introduced to Singapore 3-4 decades ago through the bird trade. Most have established themselves in Singapore and have feral (i.e. tame birds that returned to the wild) breeding populations.

These parakeets are found at Changi Village around the village Angsana trees along the main road and they actually nest in tree holes found on those trees. So if you are in the vicinity do look out for them and others

Cheers

PE"

More info can be found here
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/heritage/changi/villagebirds/index.html

Heavy Jumper Hyllus diardi by tchuanye

The first one is his fav.Excellent macros and id by tchuanye @ clubsnap!
always amazed at his shots...the latest one is of a Heavy jumper shot at Henry park! He has kindly allowed me to reproduce the photos here. Copyrights and credits are all his!
His original post in clubsnap is here
His gallery on spiders if you are hungry for more

A good reference on spiders is
From "A Guide to Common Singapore Spiders" by Joseph K. H. Koh
BP Guide to Nature Series published by the Singapore Science Centre and sponsored by British Petroleum© 2000 Joseph K H Koh

Kestrel spotted by skfoo

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?p=1761911#post1761911
by skfoo
"Last year, a Kestrel was spotted at a reclaimed land in Changi. If I am not mistaken, prior to 2004, the last time anyone spotted a Kestrel in Singapore was 10 years ago!

This year, our (Sree and myself) encounter with it came as a shock. Sree almost jammed his breaks when I suddenly sounded out to him that a Kestrel was on the ground. There was a lizard under its claws.

Sree’s equipment was in the car boot. Mine was on the rear passenger seat in his car. Not wanting this rear opportunity to be missed, we decided to setup my gear first. By then, the Kestrel has flown up a nearby tree. As any delay would result in photographing the Kestrel without its food, Sree position his car to allow me to shoot from his rear passenger seat. Half way through, we thought the Kestrel would take its time to feed on its prey. So we backed off for Sree to setup his gear. Setting up the gear was fast but when we returned to the same location, the food is no more. The Kestrel may have swallowed the last bit of the lizard in full."

Grey Headed Fish Eagle Ichthyophaga icthyaetus @ central catchment area by TanGC

http://gallery.clubsnap.com/showphoto.php/photo/13581/cat/500

"A rare resident of Singapore, usually seen only near water."

Grey Heron's Prey @Seletar Dam by Harlequin

http://forum.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=165560
Must See Post! Great pics of a grey heron feeding on a prawn, copper banded butterfly fish, catfish. LOL its almost a study on the feeding habits or perhaps fauna at the seletar dam thanks to a very hungry grey heron!

Thanks to Harlequin for allowing me to replicate his photos!

A large prawn for starter



A Copper-Banded Butterfly fish - not a typical fish (as it is flat and very hard for the Grey Heron to swallow).







Now the real main dish. A X-Large catfish !!










A bit too greedy I would say

Malayan Water Monitor Lizard Varanus salvator @ Sungei Ulu Pandan by Kevin

Spotted 2005 December 10^th 15:41. This is beside the jogging trail in sunset way. Was staring at a piece debris trying to think if its a Malayan Box Terrapin when a dark shape loomed into my field of view and I quickly snapped a few off focus shots. My mind was racing wildly even though they are pretty common. But this was the first time I was soooo close to one! They are usually very secretive jumping into the water if spotted. This one was caught by surprised by a surprised me hahaha. I even managed two shots of it swimming in its undulating fashion that was so graceful. You can tell its a powerful swimmer because it was just effortlessly fighting the strong current. It looked like it was almost 1.5m When it saw me it just sank underwater. DARN! Apparently they can remain underwater for up to 30 mins. I circled the area abit and about 5 mins later, it popped its head up again! It was kinda freaky using a telephoto lens to zoom in on its head. It seemed to be measuring me up. Meal or bothersome ape? Oh by the way they actually have brown eyes! That's something I didn't know. I do know that they will eat anything they can swallow and they are particularly fond of carrion. There's abundant armoured sucker catfishes, tilapia there and lots of herons. Never seen it try to attack a heron but apparently they run very fast with their powerful leg muscles. But herons do eat youg monitor lizards. Of course they are prey to humans, even in Singapore. About 12 years ago, I saw a bunch of people setting up traps in west coast park for monitor lizards, and I know of 2 who actually tasted lizard meat before. Heh that's years ago though.

Ref:

Malayan water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator): info fact sheet, photos

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/verts/monitor_lizard.htm

Wildlife Singapore

http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/factsheet/malymonitor.htm

Forest cicada near Treetop boardwalk by Kevin

Forest cicada near Treetop trail
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Spotted this forest cicada somewhere around the treetop boardwalk in the Central Catchment. The date? Erm..its a year ago. Heh I am really good at procrastination. I shot this at 2004 December 4th at 3pm or so. Forest cicadas are so so so hard to miss....their calls at least. When people tell me they enjoy the sounds of the forest, the call of the forest cicada inadvertently comes to mind. This is a really lucky find for me, I just followed the call of this critter because it sounded really really close. And Voila! There it is. Took a few shots but this is my best. Heh but the resolution is poor because I don't have a telephoto then. Remembered this shot because of a post at the habitatnews blog.

Ref:
The Biology Refugia: Cicada Moult
http://staff.science.nus.edu.sg/~sivasothi/biorefugia/2005/12/cicada-moult.html

Robberflies @ Sime Forest, near the Treetop Boardwalk. by Steven Wee

Nice writeup on robberflies and a shot of one sucking the life out of a
forest cockroach. Heh if I didn't know that there are forest cockroaches
and that they are smaller. I would have easily thought the cockroach was photoshopped onto a normal fly...
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?p=1708278

here's the writeup by Steven
Robberflies make for fascinating macro subjects. A robberfly hunts its prey (mainly smaller insects) and intercepts it in mid air, stabbing it with its piercing mouth appendage. It will then return to its perch and begin eating its catch. This process begins with the robberfly injecting a fluid into its prey that liquefies the internal parts of the insect so it is easily sucked out. With close to 4,000 species of robberflies found throughout the world this highly predatory insect preys on most flying insects including some species of bees and wasp. In this case the prey appears to be some species of forest roach.

Green iguana Iguana iguana@Sungei Buloh by dominator

Green iguana (Iguana iguana) spotted at Sungei Bulohhttp://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=164452

I will be excited as well if its just Calotes versicolor I see day in day out and I see this! Be careful though it might be mildly venomous.Here's another sighting http://pachome2.pacific.net.sg/~tanghb/Green_Iguana.html . I was disappointed though when I found out that these are all exotics. Hmmm seems like there are more and more of these released from the chat going on in that clubsnap thread. Anyway for more info check out the Singapore Zoological Gardens Docents' info trove.


Ref:
Changeable lizard (Calotes versicolor): info fact sheet, photos
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/verts/changeable_lizard.htm
SZG Docents: Complementing educational efforts of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore
http://www.szgdocent.org/resource/rr/c-giguana.htm
Introduced species - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotic_species

Brown Shrike, Richard's Pipit, Collared Kingfisher @ Punggol by ortega

Brown Shrike, Richard's Pipit, Collared Kingfisher sightings at Punggol.
Another post on clubsnap! http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=161619

Collared Scops Owl spotted by Fred in East side of Sg!

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?p=1695226

Another interesting bird sighting on clubsnap.org. It comes with a good writeup as well! Darn never been able to spot owls .. really great shot by Fred here.. a MUST SEE!

Unknown Caterpillar

unknown caterpillar
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Unknown caterpillar on a ginger family plant spotted at botanic gardens... leave a comment or email me if you know what it is!
a few have mentioned that it's probably a moth.

DateTimeOriginal
- 2005:10:08 10:21:59

DateTimeDigitized - 2005:10:08 10:21:59

kevin

Malayan Brown Snake on P.Ubin spotted by mphil

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?p=1637585#post1637585

Malayan Brown Snake (Xenelaphis hexagonotus) as posted by mphil on clubsnap..
The Malayan Brown Snake is a harmless (non-poisonous to us) snake that feeds on fish as well as small animals(such as rats and birds). I came across not one but 2 of them on P.Ubin one morning. Both were around 6 feet. At that time I did not know what type of snake they were so I didnt try to get closer to take close ups of them. They were moving pretty fast in the warm morning sun. Was not in a good position as the snake was between me and the sun and its skin was pretty reflective.

Though not the best effort, these are still very precious record shots of one of them as they have only been recorded one other time before. In fact, this species has not even made it to the NParks list of snakes found on P.Ubin. Thanks to my source at Nparks for identifying them for me.

Lapwing shot on Ubin by mphil

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=131955
hmmm might be a last chance to see them on ubin .. according to mphil..

Hornbill pair spotted on Ubin! by mphil again...

link!
Hornbill pair spotted on Ubin! As posted on clubsnap.org. Wow.. i wish i was out there with this guy rather than surfing net at home... ;p

Otters spotted on Ubin by mphil

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?p=1637595

see link above for the great shots by mphil of otters!

Nipah Palm (wide angle shot)

nipah palm 2
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

DateTimeDigitized - 2005:05:14 08:55:17



wide angle shot reference earlier post :)

Nipah Palm Nypa fruticans

Nipah Palm
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

DateTimeDigitized - 2005:05:14 08:55:17


Attap chee anyone? Heh! I saw this fruit on a trip to Chek Jawa and
resisted the temptation to pry open the fruits to look for attap chee ;p

edit: made a mistake! its fruticans not fruiticans ... thanks to shufen for spotting it

Ref: Nipah palm Nypa fruticans on Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin, Singapore - Link1

Nipah palm Nypa fruticans: info fact sheet, photos Link2

Wagler's Pit Viper Tropidolaemus wagleri

click here for the post on clubsnap.org
DateTimeDigitized - 2005:07:16 16:53:07

First time seeing a viper up close! spotted it at BTNR in the Hindhede Park while taking a course for guiding apparently this is just a juvenile... but beware! its poisonous.. i only dared approach nearer as it seemed oblivious to camera flashes and humans crowding around it for a good view... i reasoned that because of the cold weather it just had to crawl out into the relative open space to have a good sunbath else it prob starve at night cos its too slow. Notice the triangular head!

Wagler's Pit Viper Tropidolaemus wagleri
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Ref:
Snakes of Southeast Asia : Wagler's Pit Viper - Tropidolaemus wagleri
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/waglers_pit_viper.htm

Clouded Monitor Varanus bengalensis nebulosus

Clouded Monitor Varanus bengalensis nebulosus
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Spotted this ~1m specimen in the Macritchie Reservoir whilst going for treetop walk in november.. heh it was trying to hide in the bushes when it spotted me.. but I managed to catch a shot of it..DateTimeDigitized - 2004:11:06 16:11:45



Ref:

Lizards of Southeast Asia : Clouded Monitor - Varanus bengalensis
nebulosus

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards/clouded_monitor.htm

Not sure if i got it right..correct me if you know? Thanks!

Lime Butterfly Papilio demoleus malayanus

Papilio demoleus malayanus (Lime Butterfly)
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Papilio demoleus malayanus (Lime Butterfly)

Spotted in clementi. I think this has to be one of the most common butterfly in HDB estates. the number of lime and pomelo plants around provide ample food for the caterpillars which when young are a perfect example of mimicry.
the young caterpillars look like bird poop. haha really! when bigger they change to a 'lime' green.

2005/01/25 17:44