mama snakehead & kids @ kent ridge - Aug2012

The rhythmic bubbling proved curious and the red flashes which accompanied the bubbling also piqued my interest. Could this be some sort of strange hitherto unknown creature in little Singapore. It was not to be but none other than a school of young snakeheads accompanied by their mama who was keeping a close watch on her brood. 

mama snakehead & kids @ kent ridge - Aug2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

A hapless terrapin happenned to float by too close to the group and this deserved a nip from the mama snakehead so much so that the turtle splashed quite a bit or water in shock or maybe in pain... probably in pain for snakeheads have a fierce set of teeth lining their jaws.

From the colouration of the mama fish, it appears to be a Giant Snakehead and it was estimated to be about 75 cm long.

Read more about the Snakeheads :

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

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/freshfish/text/234.htm

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/fishes/giant-snakehead.htm

lineated barbet @ kent ridge - Aug2012

At first i thought this was another pink-necked green pigeon in branches above me. However, the yellowish ring around the eye, the pale orange bill and the striations on the chest region told me it was something else.

This is a Lineated Barbet. Thought to have been an introduced species (in the late 1960s) due to the captive bird trade.

lineated barbet @ kent ridge - Aug2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Find out more about this bird here :

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

http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2009/2009nis39-45.pdf

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=759

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/lineated-barbet-megalaima-lineata

http://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/Online%20Extras/Photo%20of%20the%20Week/Photos/2012/03/Lineated%20Barbet.aspx

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Megalaima-lineata

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/04/28/lineated-barbet-feeding-chick/

http://www.besgroup.org/2010/03/30/lineated-barbet-feeding-on-fishtail-palm-fruits/

wbse re-fishing @ marina bay-Aug2012

The WBSEs seem to have had found a new fishing ground in the days leading up to the National Day parade on Aug 9th. They were hardly seen in the area last week although a friend said that she had seen them fishing at the Kallang Basin nearby.

This evening, they were a no show until about 7pm when one appeared looking for fish. After about a minute, another wbse appeared also looking for fish. The second one made a slow sweep of the water below it before plunging down and grabbing a rather large fish. However, as it was flying off with it, it must have realised that the fish was a tad big and without proper assistance from the right evening breeze, which had all but disappeared, it had to abandon the large fish. I'm assuming that the eagle was reluctant to do so but it let the fish drop back into the water from a height of about 3 or 4 metres causing a small splash and then carried on searching the water for other fish. After about 3 minutes of flying around within the same general area, it went back again for the dropped fish which must have still been close to the water surface. This time, it did not let the fish go and carried it off not without some difficulty gaining height as it flew in a tight spiral towards the Esplanade Bridge before flying off towards the Padang and where it finally landed on its regular feeding perch atop a nearby tall office building. It did not seem to finish its meal as it flew off again within a few minutes. Perhaps the fish took out more energy from the eagle and the eagle decided that it just needed a snack before turning in for the evening.

zeaglerefishing from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

A fabulous show as usual. Just gotta wait for it.

Singapore Got Wildlife, Meh?

Embedded video clip courtesy of David Tan & other contributors.

"A community project based on the contributions of Singapore's naturalist community, this documentary explores a simple question that Singaporeans often ask - "Singapore got wildlife, meh?" and sheds some light on the amazing animals found in Singapore, from the elusive common palm civet to the elegant blue-spotted fantail ray.

This is also Singapore's first ever crowd-sourced nature documentary, bringing together the photos and video footage volunteered by nature enthusiasts from all over Singapore to tell the story of Singapore's surprisingly rich natural heritage."

ashy tailorbird mirrored @ woodlands waterfront - Aug2012

Thud! thud! ...i turned to look at what was thudding but all i saw was a tiny bird sitting atop a rusty barbed wire near a convex mirror. It flew off... and I thought that was it. A few more steps along the waterfront ...thud! thud!. I turned back to find not one but two ashy tailorbirds and a little yellow friend, perhaps a sunbird or an iora?. One ashy tailorbird started assaulting its image in the mirror with some gusto whilst the other and their yellow lil' friend went about preening themselves on the rusty barbed wire. 

I suppose the convex mirror aggravated the tailorbird with the competitor appearing to fly up to meet the protagonist defender each time with the 'thud' adding to the reality of the perceived threat so as to enrage an already excited tailor. Ironical, a self-'tailor'ed conundrum.
ashy tailorbird mirrored @ woodlands waterfront - Aug2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read more about the ashy tailorbirds :

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Orthotomus_ruficeps.htm
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/tailorbirds.htm
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/2119.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashy_Tailorbird
http://www.besgroup.org/2008/08/17/family-of-tailorbirds/
http://www.besgroup.org/2011/03/31/call-of-the-ashy-tailorbird/
http://www.besgroup.org/2011/07/19/ashy-tailorbirds-%E2%80%93-duet-sparring-and-sonograms/
http://www.besgroup.org/2007/09/16/a-family-of-common-tailorbirds/
http://www.besgroup.org/2007/05/25/common-tailorbird-a-failed-nesting/

mangrove pit viper @ lim chu kang - 04Aug2012

This little critter was found late into the pre-National Day Lim Chu Kang cleanup and of all places, right outside a staging point on the beach and before the mangrove proper. At the start of the cleanup, seeing some of the Cleanup volunteers heading into the mangrove behind the beach, I took the oppurtunity to tell them about keeping a good lookout for snakes especially the mangrove or shore pit viper. (I had read that there were pit vipers in the Lim Chu Kang mangroves though i had never seen one myself despite quite a few trips into this mangrove.)

It was only much later when the group was preparing to remove the collected trash that someone spotted the dark maroon snake coiled around a low branch on a small tree on the beach right near to where the supplies (trash bags, gloves etc.) had been kept.

Once its existence was known, the cleanup volunteers were informed to keep their distance from the tree so as not to invite an unfortunate defensive bite from the snake. The tiny snake, which could have been about 25cm long, hardly moved at all and I think it thought it was doing a good job blending in with the tree and minding its own business.

Best to let sleeping snakes lie and keep a respectful distance.

mangrove pit viper @ lim chu kang - 04Aug2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read more about the cleanup :
The 37 volunteers cleared 83 trash bags containing 669kg of trash (not including bulky items which were not weighed).
http://coastalcleanup.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/pre-national-day-coastal-cleanup-2012/
http://www.purplemangrove.blogspot.sg/2012/08/iccs-pre-national-day-coastal-cleanup.html (in mandarin)

Read more about this snake :

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/snakes/purpureomaculatus.htm

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/shore_pit_viper.htm

http://singaporesnakes.blogspot.com/search/label/Shore%20Pit-viper

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

http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/2112.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3245058

http://lifes-indulgences.blogspot.com/2011/09/pit-vipers-of-singapore.html

http://www.naturemalaysia.com/mangrove-pit-viper.htm

http://www.tanngethong.com/Medically%20important%20Snakes%20Malaysia/medically_important_poisonous_sn.htm

black-spitting cobra @ lim chu kang mangroves - 04Aug2012

Came across this beauty about a metre long basking in the morning sun near a Rhizophora. It certainly startled me as I did it.  I had instantly thought i was about to have my first supernatural experience in the mangroves with the tree roots coming to life and moving. It silently slid into the tangle of prop roots below the Rhizophora. ... i could not resist but follow it to make sure where it had gone to. It had moved into the shadows below the prop roots right in the middle of the tangle. After ascertaining that it was safe in the tangle of roots, i knew i was safe to walk on and I did, but I kept a close watch all about me both on the ground for cobras as well as on passing branches for the well-camouflaged pit vipers known to inhabit the mangrove woods.

black spitting cobra @ lim chu kang - 04Aug2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read more about this Singapore-resident cobra :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_spitting_cobra
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/equatorial_spitting_cobra.htm
http://otterman.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/equatorial-spitting-cobra-at-sungei-mandai-besar-mangrove-2005/
http://singaporesnakes.blogspot.sg/2007/09/cobra-in-mangroves.html
https://vimeo.com/1643688 - at the Pandan mangroves
https://vimeo.com/1643582 - at the Pandan mangroves
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/Boy%252C%2B14%252C%2Bbitten%2Bby%2B%2527cobra%2527%2Bat%2Bschool%2Bcamp.html - schoolboy gets bitten

scarlet-backed flowerpecker @ sg buloh - 29Jul2012

This little bird with a bright red stripe over the top of its head caught my attention as it tried to deal with a rather large Indian Cherry tree berry at the entrance of the SBWetland Reserve. It looked like it was trying to squeeze the berry in its beak no doubt to extract the pulp. It occasionally tilted its head back to help the extracted pulp flow down its throat.

It was unperturbed by the much larger oriental-pied hornbills a few feet away in the same tree.

scarlet-backed flowerpecker @ sg buloh - 29Jul2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read more about this colourful little bird :

http://www.besgroup.org/2009/10/04/scarlet-backed-flowerpecker-eating-indian-cherry/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet-backed_Flowerpecker

http://www.besgroup.org/2012/07/20/scarlet-backed-flowerpecker-feeding-on-myrmecodia-fruits/

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/12/07/scarlet-backed-flowerpecker-feeding-on-fruits-of-scurrula/

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/12/10/scarlet-backed-flowerpecker-taking-viscum-ovalifolium-fruits/