Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green: Sunsets

Showing posts with label Sunsets. Show all posts

Labrador Park - A Blue Sunset

8:30 PM Beaches, Labrador, South, Sunsets

South, Singapore

May 2015

Labrador Park is usually one of the best places in the South to see the sunset. However, on the cloudy day today, the thick clouds rendered the longer rays of the warm sunset blue.

The resulting effect was a greyish-blue sunset with fringes of yellow in the distance.

The Spiders Of Labour Day

9:18 AM Fascinating, North East, Oxyopidae, Reservoirs, Salticidae, Spiders, Sunsets, Tetragnatha

Punggol Waterway

North East, Singapore

01 May 2014

Labour Day was a day for spiders...

Oxyopidae (Lynx Spiders)

The family name, Oxyopidae, is derived from the Greek meaning sharp sighted with the colloquial name (lynx) refers to the catlike manner of prey capture. They are diurnal (active during the day) and arboreal (living on plants and trees) spiders usually found on shrubs, grasses and trees.

Oxyopids range from small to large spiders (5-25mm). Viewed head-on, the cephalic (head) area is high, with 6 of the 8 eyes arranged in a hexagonal formation with a large clypeus (area below eyes to the anterior edge of carapace). They use their excellent vision to pursue and pounce on prey.

The flexibility of the Oxyopes Birmanicus (Burmese Lynx) Spider's legs can be seen here

- waving a leg above its head, tilted upwards between two leaves, gripping a leaf upside down...

Phintella Vittata (Banded Phintella)

Males and females of the species Phintella Vittata are able to detect ultraviolet light from the so-called UVB band (315-280 nm) and have specialized surfaces on their bodies to reflect it. The reflection of UVB radiation by males during courtship has been shown to enhance their ability to attract females.

A very active and curious female jumping from leaf to leaf. See her luminous green palps?

Her shiny silver carapace reflects ultraviolet light...

Tetragnathidae (Big-Jawed Spider)

Tetragnathidae are long-legged, thin-bodied spiders. When at rest, they cling lengthwise along a twig or blade of grass, holding on with the short third pair of legs with the long pairs of legs are extended. These spiders typically live near water and around the banks of waterways (rivers, lakes, swamps), usually on low-hanging branches and reeds.

A dormant Tetragnathidae lies stationary against a twig in the late afternoon as it awaits nightfall...

From certain angles, the stance is similar to that of Thomsidae (crab spiders)

with the 2 elongated pairs of angled front legs...

Despite being orb weavers, Tetragnathidae are not usually found in their webs in the daytime. Nocturnal in lifestyle, they build or repair their webs only as night approaches...

More photos are available on:

Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa Web Albums

The Southern Sunset Wind

4:35 PM Clouds, Natural Phenomena, Sunsets, Weather

Singapore

January 2014

The slanted rays of the setting sun wash the laden sky with golden light...

At the mercy of a southern wind,

a few fleeting stratocumulus puffs break away from the heavy mass and scoot across the sky...

A stunning sunset panorama...

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa at :
Natural Phenomena - Clouds

Sunset At The Waterway

10:25 PM Fishes, Lizards, Lycosidae, North East, Punggol, Spiders, Sunsets

Punggol Waterway

North-East, Singapore

August 2013

It was a cool breezy evening at Lorong Halus.

The stones were a treasure trove of spiders with the Hippasa Holmerae (Lawn Wolf Spider) scuttling about everywhere...

In the water, hundreds of fishes and even more pondskaters were spotted...

In the distance, a head was seen bobbing in the water.
No, it wasn't an otter, but a Water Monitor Lizard (Varanus Salvator)...

The rays of the setting sun...

More photos are available on:

Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa Web Albums

Orange Fire In The Sky

4:14 PM Clouds, Natural Phenomena, Sunsets, Weather

Singapore

17 August 2013

This morning, the sunlight was golden. The walls of the buildings nearby were awash with slanted yellow rays. In the horizon loomed a strip of cumulonimbus clouds. True enough, by mid-afternoon, a fiery thunderstorm swept across Singapore.

In the evening, the sky was still awash with Stratus and Altocumulus clouds...

In places, thins wisps were being blown away by the strong wind...

At around 1900h, a golden spectrum started spreading across the western sky...

This was sunset yesterday...

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa at :
Natural Phenomena - Clouds

Sources

"Common Cloud Names, Shapes, and Altitudes" by Athanasios Nenes. Georgia Institute of Technology. Retrieved from http://nenes.eas.gatech.edu/Cloud/Clouds.pdf (17 August 2013).

Megabugs Return! - Facing The Super-Sized

10:14 PM "Megabugs Return!", Beetles, Butterflies, Caterpillars, Dragonflies, Events, Features, Flies, Grasshoppers, Insects, Invites, Science Centre, Spiders, Sunsets, West

Science Centre Singapore

Jurong East, Singapore

June 2013

The day that Merlion Wayfarer looked forward to has finally arrived. (See "Marvel At The Small Things In Life".) On a warm weekend afternoon, she stepped into the Science Centre and found her way to the Annexe.

Pausing at the entrance to MegaBugs Returns!, she took a deep breath. What will she expect to find?

In she goes into the Warp Tunnel...

And emerges the size of a 20-cent coin where the world of bugs is revealed to her...

Curious ants swarmed around her, feelers twitching - some were milling around bits of biscuits and donuts left behind by some careless humans, others were protecting their nests...

Mere steps away stood a gigantic Rhinoceros Beetle - its single horn glinting menacingly in the light. Although it usually uses this horn when fighting other males, Merlion Wayfarer is not taking her chances with this one!

What's that smell? It's actually coming from these beetles which have rolled some feces into a ball! These balls are used as a food source or breeding chambers...

Hey look! Why is that dragonfly moving in this weird way?

Merlion Wayfarer learnt that like all insects, dragonflies are technically ectotherms. That does not mean that they are at the mercy of Mother Nature to keep them warm or cool. Dragonflies that patrol (fly back and forth, versus those that tend to perch) will fire up their wings, using a rapid whirring movement to warm up their bodies. Perching dragonflies rely on solar energy for warmth, but position their bodies skillfully to maximize the surface area exposed to the sun's rays. Some even use their wings as reflectors, tilting them to direct the solar radiation toward their bodies. Conversely, during hot spells some dragonflies will position their bodies to minimize sun exposure, and use their wings to deflect the sun.

Look what's resting on some logs - A Monarch Butterfly on one side and a Common Rose a short distance away. Monarchs are famous for their migration patterns which last longer than the lifetime of a single generation...

A boy exclaims in surprise - Look at that human over there! She is even smaller than a housefly...

Watch out! There is a ferocious centipede on the loose! It looks headed for...

An angry scorpion! They must be headed for the housefly as dinner!

The snail watches the scene calmly, gliding by and leaving a trail of slime in its wake...

Nearby, on a blade of grass, a praying mantis is watching a grasshopper...

(To see the life cycle of a praying mantis, catch "Bugs! 3D – A RainForest Adventure",

a documentary of the fascinating universe of insects magnified up to 250,000 times their normal size where a single raindrop can be as big as whole pond.)