Paradise Tree Snake by Daniel Koh

Rather humourous shot of the snake peeking from behind a rock! Must see
link


Thanks for Daniel for graciously allowing his pics to be used here.

Crow-billed Drongo @ P. Ubin by mphil

"P.Ubin's CBD - Crow-billed Drongo

---

Not the business district, but a very shy and elusive bird. Managed to take some pics of this bird that has a beak like a crow and tail feathers of a drongo. There is at least a family of 4 CBDs living on the island. Spotted them several times before but never been able to get a clear shot of them yet."
link

Sunda (brown-capped) Woodpecker Dendrocopus moluccensis by Daniel Koh

Excellent Close up of Sunda Woodpecker by Daniel Koh!
link

Thanks to Daniel for allowing me to reproduce his images here!

Atlas moth @ Sungei Buloh by lovells19

I haven't seen its wings folded up before its antenna is also clearly shown in the pic! Someone posted the larva stage as well. Hmm seem to recall that their appearance is seasonal. Has it been a year already? Time flies
link

Butterfly Common Rose @ Istana Woodneuk by espion

There's a Papilio polytes romulus (Common Mormon) and a Common Rose in the CS thread
link

Baby Clouded Monitor by Hiker (Daniel Koh)

Wow never saw one this small before :)
link

Wild Boar @ Ubin by mphil

Gosh its been a while since i saw one on Ubin and I was thinking they were all caught and eaten already!


Thanks to mphil for graciously providing the images for me to be reproduced here. Picture copyrights remain his!
link

Seahare Bursatella leachii @ Chek Jawa by kevin

Seahare Bursatella leachii @ Chek Jawa by kevin, originally uploaded by koiyau.

The photo looks abit strange in the center cos that's the part of the

seahare poking out of water as it's gliding across a seagrass meadow

:) if you see more clearly you can see other sea hares that I can't

crop out cos they were all clustered together!

Hornbill snacking on a mantis by Allan Teo

Interesting shot!

" The Hornbill not only likes to eat a lot of fruit. It also takes
Lizards, Snakes and Insects..
In this case the Mantis which is still alive , looks shocked that it
has been caught off guard.. This particular mantis is quite
large if you compare it to the size of the Hornbill's beak"
link

LIzards and Monkeys

trying out posting videos as well.. so dun be shy give me ur low res videos as well.. if its a sighting its a sighting..
this particular one i chanced upon from google video :)
the author has this to describe ..
" The first shot is a lizard on the first floor of Jen's mom's condo. Next is a shot of the condo complex over the resevoir and then...nothin' but monkeys!"



I might be digressing too much but seeing postings of commonly seen animals often gets me thinking..

was reading an article in the papers today about expats living in sg. This guy said something about how kids of yonder years could name any tree/ creature but kids now are so divorced from nature they hardly can tell the difference between two. I can substantiate his story with friends (with a Bsc in Biology) who thought that penguins are mammals, whales are fish and other related guffaws..

Perhaps this is the root cause of environmental destruction. When you lack a name for something you kinda of are more detached to it.
case in point?
this report starts with
" Since 1500, more than 150 bird species have disappeared from the world,...."
hmmm 500 years and only 150 extinct? that doesn't sound too bad..

but the full sentence reads
" Since 1500, more than 150 bird species have disappeared from the world, including the much lamented dodo. "

Ah the dodo, I could tell you stories about why it is lamented that the dodo died and if only ppl cared more ....
I wonder if there are 149 more stories like the dodo.. or were there none simply cos too few got to know the animals beyond a scientific name or a given name to care..

Shark, Cuttlefish, Longfin Batfish, SeaHorse @ P.Hantu by Chay Hoon

Wow all these were shot on the same dive!! Amazing huh? I just hope that posting a list of the marine creatures found at Hantu I dun in advertently create a shopping list for unethical marine aquarists. If you poachers just note the details and inform the coast guards!
link

Nudibranches, Octupus @P. Hantu by Ivan

Gosh his pics are gorgeous! I would love to see the bigger res ones tho!
25th Feb sightings

edit: Thanks to Ivan for graciously providing his images for use here. :)
click the link to view more (I have only taken a few to show for lack of space)
Visit his site for deals on dive reference books!
link

Monitor Lizard mistaken for croc @ East Coast by Stomper Gerald

The curious title "Baby croc" spotted at East Coast? made me click on the link. Reading the article confirmed my suspicion that its just a monitor lizard. It isn't the first time that people mistaken it for a croc (which is rather curious when you consider most have not seen a croc in the wild before). Although there are real wild crocs here in sg.

see my previous post for more info on the monitor lizard
link

Huge Nudibranch @ Kusu isle

This one is really BIG.. not kidding you have to see it to believe it...

edit: found this post on seaslug forum about the biggest nudibranch
link

Common Gliding Lizard & Banded Woodpecker @ SBG by meerkat(AngHY)

There are interesting creatures at SBG as well! Happy CNY to you!
link

edit: thanks to AngHY for allowing me to reproduce his images for direct viewing!

OT: Wildlife Photo Contests

Sony Nature (ending 28 Feb hurry!)
http://www.a-click-of-nature.com.sg/aclick/index.htm
Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/Competition/

Sorry for the off topic but thought this might interest you readers.. here's a photo to finish this pseudo post :)

Earth Shots

Photo of the Day: 16 Feb 07

White Crested Laughing Thrush bathing @ BTNR by pacer

Hmm hot weather must have made this pool a popular place
link

Mangrove tree dwelling crab Selatium brockii @Southern Isle by kevin

Mangrove tree dwelling crab Selatium brockii @Southern Isle by kevin
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

This crab was posing quite inanimately on a juvenile mangrove tree. (am tempted to call it Mangrove small tree Clinging for dear life crab) Thanks to the sharp eye of ysf (who was trying to id the tree actually) I could take a close shot of this crab and id it from a BP guidebook from the greenish tinge of the eye. I am guessing the loss of habitat for this crab forced it to find shelter in quite an inappropriate tree size for itself

Male Ornamental tree trunk spider by syazkal

link

Variable squirrel Callosciurus finlaysonisnacking noni fruit by Daniel Koh

Wow haven't even heard of this particular species before. Its also known as Finlayson's squirrel species name is Callosciurus finlaysoni . Id is by Daniel Koh (how does he spot these creatures??) Got the name from Kwok Wai's Wildlife Singapore. Its listed at wikipedia as an introduced species (i can't confirm this. anyone can verify?)

Budak points to this other source that says its introduced

p.s. for more shots of this furry creature check out Daniel's post

Land hermit crab Coenobita purpureus @ Southern Isles by Kevin

Land hermit crab Coenobita cavipes @ Southern Isles by Kevin
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Ha this poor bloke was housed in a Giant East African snail shell (which is very incongruous with a sea shore). Even though the shell was already pretty large, the Land Hermit Crab still can't hide itself into the shell. Oh well at least the soft bits are protected.

wow thanks felix for digging up this old post!

I based my id on this http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/2063.htm

will doublecheck this...

here's relevant links for those interested in the differences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenobita_purpureus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenobita_cavipes

Storkbilled Kingfisher Taken @ Pasir Ris Mangrove Swamp

there's also a unknown bird in this thread
link

Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis by Arthur Chng

Female with a fish

link

Singapore Fishing Spider Thalassius albocinctus at singaporefauna blog!

link
http://www.singaporefauna.blogspot.com/

Various Insect Macros @ BTNR by Wee Lee

Thanks to Wee Lee for consenting to use the pics here
link to cs post

Jumping Spider eating mosquito @ Punggol Park by tchuanye

More great shots by the maestro of macro

Seahorse @ Chek Jawa by Shufen

For their other finds check out Teamseagrass

Thanks Shufen for letting to use her great photo!

Paradise Tree Snake Chrysopelea paradisi @ SBG by Micheal Lim

http://forums.clubsnap.com/showthread.php?t=247488

"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. This is a back-fanged colubrid with weak venom sufficiently powerful to immobilise its small prey, which comprises mainly tree-dwelling lizards. The species is active by day."
Excerpted from ecologyasia.com

Hmmm I wonder with all the rain what happens to the sun loving reptiles... probably more lethargic and more daring to come out into the open for more warmth..Excellent combi for photography?

Bone Rooms, Bird Bodies, and Biodiversity Informatics

link
Wow, there's certainly stuff that I can learn from here! Excited!!

Elegant bronzeback(?) eating a Green crested lizard by yangsf

Can anyone convince the snake to change its diet to the more common non-native Calotes?

ps is this elegant bronzeback?

Striped Kukri Snake @ Lower Pierce by Mendis

http://forums.clubsnap.com/showpost.php?p=2687206&postcount=1

Phew one more post before i log off... there's a comment on whether the blue tip is part of a microchip tracking device? Any idea ppl?

Thanks for Mendis for kindly offering his photo for me to use on this blog. Photo copyrights belong to him!

Carpet Eel Blenny Congrogadus subducens @ Raffles Lighthouse by Danny Soh

Nice close up shot of a marine fishie!

Type: Blenny
Scientific Name: Congrogadus subducens
Common Name: Carpet Eel Blenny
Date Taken: 4th Feb 2006
Place: Raffles Lighthouse, at depth of about 6m.
Size : Slightly larger than the size of a large tube of tooth paste

Hard coral genera of Singapore by Jeff Low and Staad3

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cat64fish/sets/72157594364391590/

post from Jeff
"I started to compile some of my hard coral photos and put them in this album. As my collection grows, hopefully it will cover all the coral genera that we have in Singapore. Sorry I can't go to species, because most (but not all) corals will require microscope work for that. The main reason I started this was because most of the idenification websites either cannot be searched, or use scientific names to search. If I already knew the scientific name (or common name), I probably won't need to search, right? So, anyway, at least for corals, you can use growth form to narrow down your search, based on the collection that is in the album. Staad3 has also contributed some of her photos If this "idenitification" album works out, I will try to do for the other organisms as well. Comments to improve the search functions of the album welcome. If you have photos you would like to add to the collection, please let me know. Enjoy! Jeff"

Bruguiera cylindrica @ SBWR by Sherlynn

This picture of the flowers of the Bruguiera cylindrica was taken at about 9:28 am on the 26th of November at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (Mangrove Boardwalk).

edit: yangsf has kindly pointed out that this is a picture of Bruguiera cylindrica actually :) and not Nyrieh (Xylocarpus granatum)
"The leaves of Nyrieh do not grow in a whorl and are compound leaves, not simple leaves as shown in the picture posted. The flowers are also different. Below is a pic of Xylocarpus granatum, leaves :) "


CoUrTeSiEs:
OnG QiAn Yi SheRLyNn

Yellow Bittern hunting @ SBWR by skfoo

http://forums.clubsnap.com/showthread.php?t=244574
beautiful series of photos by skfoo once again. This time its of a Yellow
Bittern hunting for fish 

Little heron Butorides striatus catching a tilapia(?) @ SBG by Steven

http://forums.clubsnap.com/showthread.php?t=242806
haha I wonder if the little heron finally got the fish into itself. I suspect that the fish is a tilapia (an introduced food species) which is very aggressive both in behaviour and in terms of replacing many of the native fish species. I never thought that other than humans there are animals that feed on tilapias here in Singapore.

read more about little herons here
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Butorides_striatus.htm

Various marine life

Sea snakes, Eeltail catfishes, pufferfish, Anemone shrimps, etc at this unexpected stretch of shore at Sentosa where wild life other than Stone fishes can be found
link

" TWO small cuttefish" and "groupers, rabbitfish, fusiliers and TONS of nudibranches." and "Juvenile Tigertail Seahorse" at P. Hantu..
link

Note: I be away for army training so expect a break of 3 wks for this blog.. sorry guys..

Star Puffer Arothron stellatusand Sliver Moony (fish) @ Pulau Hantu by Debby

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/news/pulauhantu/2006/11/star-puffer-and-silver-moony.html

Colugo (brown variant?) Cynocephalus variegatus by Daniel Koh

Another sighting of a brown lemur posted on clubsnap
refer to earlier post as well link

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

the true nature of naturespies-PostgreSQL, GIS,GPS, photos

Dear readers,
I don't know if i have mentioned this before but I had loftier dreams
for naturespies than in its current incarnation. The idea was a photo
database preferably with GPS coords and time of spotting of the
individual(hmm shld add comments about individual markings to id the
individual). The idea was a wildlife research resource. So that
population statistics and even movements of these animals can be
tracked and be used in studies. Trap and recapture info would be great
too. The initial idea was met with slight opposition which are valid
concerns about the data being used for poaching. (so i think i should
refine the idea to keeping the coords data open to people who email me
for access). I am still in the process of refining the design of the
database. Any comments and ideas are appreciated! email me if privacy
is required :)

Leopard Lacewing Cethosia cyane (Drury, 1773) @ Jurong by Sunny Chir

"here is a record shot of a male Leopard Lacewing taken in the shade at low shutter speed on the vicinity where the 2 females were shot "


link
Photos and text copyright of Bluesteel edit: Thanks for allowing me to repro the fantastic pics!
excerpted from original post
"One specimen of the butterfly was first seen and recorded on Western Singapore on 13 Dec 05 , another butterfly was last seen on 7th June 06 at Upper Seletar Reservoir Park.Have the good fortune of encountering 3 of them today on a field off Old Jurong Road.With this encounter , it appears that the butterfly has established itself on the Island."

to see more of Sunny Chir's photos (Silverstreak) for more beautiful butts go to The Circle of Butterfly

possibly Clouded Monitor Varanus nebulosus @ BTNR by Leonardo

link
pending verification
clues
1) smaller (scale from the logs)
2) its in BTNR (forested areas are the Clouded Monitor's habitat)
3) pending (position of the nostril)

Green Crested Lizards

link
Wow a starting post by hiker invited lots of shots by various ppl. warning- not for those with lizard phobia ;)

Wagler's Pit Viper @BTNR by hiker,sponge

Close up shots by Daniel of the adult and a headshot of a juvenile by sponge.

Owl in Jurong Apartment by Yullis Gwei

video at
http://202.157.174.100/20061019-news-owl/Player.html
Original post in http://www.stomp.com.sg/stompcast/newstips.html

'Exotic owl found in Jurong apartment   19 Oct 2006 - It's not everyday a 'giant flying object' lands in your living room. Yullis Gwei and her son, Jia Jun, were stunned to find an exotic-looking owl in her Jurong East condominium on 12 October. The owl was later released back into the wild by condo's security guards. "Could it be the haze that is causing this unusual big bird from the wild to seek refuge in buildings?" Yullis wondered.'

sorry wanted to link to the article but the site isn't done like a blog with a permanent link. So I had to resort to replicating the post here in case it gets lost.

Mousedeer spotted! Rare sighting! by Daniel Koh

cropped pic
link to CS

WOW! Double Wow!! Daniel has outdone himself again by managing to photo a mousedeer *gasp* in our forests this weekend!
Trying to get more details
added a cropped pic with the copyright left in for a better view
in here...

Banded Leaf Monkey by hiker/Daniel Koh

http://forums.clubsnap.com/showthread.php?t=225021
New sighting for today!! It wasn't too long ago that Daniel spotted them!
Thanks Daniel for kindly allowing me to directly link to his pictures.

edit: sorry to Daniel for getting his name wrong! Wat a faux pas!!

Blue-Throated Bee Eater Merops viridis @ Marina by skfoo

link to photos

Beautiful photos!

references
info on the Blue-Throated Bee Eater
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Merops_viridis.htm

nesting behaviour on the BES blog
http://besgroup.blogspot.com/2006/09/blue-throated-bee-eater.html

More images on google
http://www.google.com.sg/search?q=Blue-Throated+Bee+Eater

Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis @ SBWR by Steven

link to photos

Did you know that the 'Common' kingfisher in Singapore is not common? And it might be a true "fisher" in the sense that it really specialises in fishing!

references
Info on the common kingfisher
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Alcedo_atthis.htm

Photos @ Pulau Hantu by Jeff

Take a peek into Singapore waters! Who said sg dives are boring?
link

kacang-kacang Aegiceras corniculatum @ Pulau Ubin by Shufen

kacang-kacang Aegiceras corniculatum @ Pulau Ubin by Shufen
Originally uploaded by koiyau.

Spotted by Shufen on one of our trips to Ubin, this uncommon mangrove plant

was just beside us when we were looking at mudskippers. Its in a rather

precarious position right now.(right beside a track). A funny story was that

when we saw the propagules, one of us thought its immature, another thought

that it can't be all immature at the same time and clustered together in one

bunch. Guess who was right? Hint: check out the word crytovivipary



mangrove flora: kacang-kacang (Aegiceras corniculatum)

http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/1048.htm

Vivipary

http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/1044.htm

Red Jungle Fowl Gallus gallus @Central Catchment area by Daniel

link to post

Wow. Another rare sighting and by hiker (aka Daniel Koh). They are rare and even described as "almost living dinosaurs and are of great interest and value." ( ref1). I saw pics of it at the Ubin info center and on habitatnews, but never thought that they can be spotted on mainland. But apparently I was wrong when I checked this with Dr Wee YC from the BES blog

edit: added photo whose permission was kindly granted by daniel. All copyright remain his.
References

Jungle Fowl
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/4665/JUNGFOWL.htm
Pulau Ubin stories
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/heritage/ubin/stories/2004/06/red-jungle-fowl.html

Green Crab Spiders Dieta virens (Thorell) 1891 by tchuanye

Great photos again by tchuanye looking at these photos I would think this spider is really really hard to spot. Much less to photograph so beautifully. I can hardly id this from the online photo in the guidebook.
if you wish to purchase any of his pictures
visit his gallery at http://www.tchuanye.smugmug.com

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

Banded Leaf Monkeys @ Lower Pierce Trail by hiker

link to clubsnap post
WOW!! .. Rare sighting !!!

note: thanks to hiker for generously allowing me to post the pics here for you!
all rights remain his.


if the name doesn't say it all for you visit here for the reason why this is exciting
http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/factsheet/bandleafmonkey.htm


and here's the firsthand account of the sighting!
(with minor edits to hide the location to protect the monkeys)
email if u NEED to know the location.
p.s. i wonder if there were sightings of more than a pair by others.

its was friday, 11aug, about 1745hrs.
i was walking along lower peirce reservoir, XXX trail.
then i heard a loud 'crash' among the canopies, at first glance,
i thought they were the common long-tailed macaque...,
then i saw one swinging pass the trees like a spider monkey!!

!!Banded Leaf Monkeys!!!
then a second one swing by.. , about 20m behind the first one.
i took out my camera to shoot but no more came by....
THERE ARE ONLY TWO???

both the monkeys disappeared into the trees before i could get any shot.., i waited at that spot for some time to see if there is any
more coming.... , sadly, no..

so judging the direction they were going..,
i made my way to XXX trail and waited..

15mins later, both of them came by again!
i managed to shoot those few pics shown in clubsnap..
then they disappeared again heading south..

then i made my way south too, but the forest ends there,
behind the petrol kiosks...,
there were dozens of long-tailed macaque there, some cars
drove by, throwing some food out to feed them.
so i dun think i will see them appear again, so sad.

the end.
http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/lptmap1.htm

Great-billed Heron Ardea sumatrana by skfoo

another great series by skfoo here's the writeup excerpted from his post

images and text copyright of Foo Sai Khoon!

Great-billed Heron (Ardea sumatrana)

---

I have seen a Great-billed Heron on a number of occasions at Chek Jawa (Pulau Ubin). Alone in solitary as it hunts on the mudflats/sandy banks during low tides. Accordingly, this is the tallest living bird in Singapore. It is bigger than the more commonly seen Grey Heron and easily mistaken for the Purple Heron. As its name suggest, it is known for its massive bill. It is a rare resident of the South Islands, very rarely seen on the mainland (West and East only). Its habitat is mangroves, mudflats and rocky islets.