Biodiversity Singapore

Sea Fans! In Singapore?

2011-05-05T16:56:00.000+08:00

Sea Fans! They are made up of flexible substance called gorgonin, and the growth rate is depend on seasonal and climatic variation. So are they sea fans in Singapore? YES!

The photo above is taken on a floating platform at Marina @ Keppel Bay! Which is located at Singapore! The platform is build base on 'open concept' which allow marine life to grow in the bay. There are marine life in singapore, and it's very important for us to conserve them. One of the steps is to volunteer in one of our green groups :)
http://www.wildsingapore.com/vol/act.htm

Take a look at marina @ Keppel Bay website!
website: http://www.marinakeppelbay.com/CRL_a.asp

Coral Reefs of Singapore - Terumbu Raya

2011-03-27T12:39:00.000+08:00

Hunt for the Blue eared kingfisher !

2011-03-18T20:48:00.001+08:00

This kingfisher looks almost the same as the common kingfisher Alcedo atthis . The differences is the blue ear coverts, darker and more intense cobalt-blue upperparts with richer rufous under parts.

While waiting for the kingfisher to come out of it's nest, I took some photos of the Common Greenback. I'm glad to know that there are still such rare bird breeding in Singapore.

Any ID for this caterpillar like stuff...?

~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-eared_Kingfisher

Storky Day at Sungei Buloh

2011-01-04T14:18:00.000+08:00

The Milky storks found in Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserves are actually free ranging birds from both the Zoo and Bird Park. Why do they fly to Sungei Buloh? I guess its to feed, this shows that Sungei Buloh does have a rich mudflat full of organism in the mud.

They seems to get along well with the great egret (above) too. The Great Egret Egretta alba is a migrant with wing span of up to 215cm. This is also the largest egret found in Singapore.

It's been a while since I saw the purple heron Ardea purpurea.

And a flock of Whimbral flew past!

What a nice day at Sungei Buloh!

Bad experience when photographing the Hooded Pitta

2010-12-31T20:37:00.000+08:00

Let me start with the good news.... Two Hooded Pittas Pitta sordiad cucullata are spotted at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which is a great finding. Winter visitor. The Hooded pitta diet consist of mainly insects but may feed on other organism too. Poh Bee manage to take a photo of it feeding on land snail. Here's a link to a online article on Pittas of Singapore by A. F. S. L. Lok, K. T. N. Khor, K. C. Lim and R. Subaraj.

The Bad experience.... A bird photographer putting a log that is taken from another habitat and place it near the pitta which I think that it's not right. But what really concern me is one of the photographer actually tried to lure the pitta out but putting meal worms and feeding it. This is not the first time and i hope that they will stop....

Tanjung piai - Johor National Park

2010-12-27T22:04:00.000+08:00

My 2nd visit to Tanjung piai with RMBR. Tanjung piai is a Ramsar site, that means they have signed some sort of an agreement with the the Convention on Wetlands also known as the Ramsar convention. When appointed as a Ramsar site the place is not to be develope without approvale of the commitie. Wetlands are also important to migratory bird, wetlands are "stop-over" stations before proceding to the next country. Without wetlands, there might be shortage of our staple food with is rice because rice is a common wetland plant.

This is the bridge that leads us to the visitor centre, admission ticket its RM 5 for student and RM 10 for adults.

What a nice visitor centre they have!

Very infomative!

And BIG labels....

And the hide.

As usual, there are still alot of Mangrove Skink Emoia atrocostata . Hard to find them in Singapore even at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

We saw a female Common flameback Dinopium javanense. Here's a photo of a male common flameback which is taken at Sungei Buloh on my flickr.

A pair of helmet snail.

Gold-spotted mudskipper Periophthalmus chrysospilos

To reach the southern most tip of Mainland Asia, we had to cross a flooded pavement.

Lined nerite snail Nerita articulata

The best sighting, dusky leaf monkey, which i din get to see it during my last visit!

Hunt for the Grey Plover

2010-12-04T21:26:00.000+08:00

My first record shot of the Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola). It's just too far away for my 400mm lens to reach! Got to heavily crop it. Before i got the Grey plover there are some of the birds that i bump into:

The Common Flameback is one of our common resident woodpecker.

Arctic Warbler

Not to miss out the Red Tent Spider.

And a photo of Ouyang!

Landing at Terumbu Buran

2010-11-09T20:49:00.001+08:00

We departed from ONE°15 Marina Club which is located at sentosa cove. Look at the beautiful yacht!

It's interesting to look the navigation stuff on the boat

My 2nd amphibious landing! Terumbu Buran is surrounded by choppy waves and landing on it is fun and adventurous...

This small land/rocks (whatever you call it) or called Terumbu is located not far away from mainland Singapore. It is only 10mins boat ride from Sentosa. We took a longer time because this is to make sure that we find a right place which is safe the our boat to anchor and less choppy waves!

There are quite a few Oval sea grapes, they are actually a type of seaweed. Sea grapes are eaten in Philippines as salad or can be eaten later if preserved in salt.

And many nice looking red sea weed.

Of cause not to miss out the hard corals.

Many zoanthid too.

Orange fan worm! Too bad i only saw one. More photos on orange fan worm on Ria's site

I walked into a small area which is between two tall rocks hoping to find something interesting. As i was walking with caution because i do not want to step onto any stonefish. This Two-spot reef octopus caught my attention as it is changing its colour. I guess it feels threaten of my presence there.

Lets have a closer look at the 'suckers'.

Herrmann's sea cucumber? Or the Black sea cucumber? ID please.

Look at the Hairy crab! Its really covered with hair. This is one of the fascinating crab that i was when i started on marine stuff. I guess the first hairy crab that i saw was at P. Semakau with Raffles Museum as a 'part-time/unofficial' project semakau volunteer.

The pincer of the Red eyed stone crab (Eriphia ferox) !

And i'm still ALIVE after this adventurous trip! hahah! Photos taken during this trip are from Nikon 55mm f/3.5 Micro lens (Thanks weixiang for lending his lens, I had a hard time trying to focus haha) on a Canon 450D body.

More Photos on my Flickr

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

2010-10-20T18:31:00.001+08:00

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

Native to southeast asia and seen at kampong areas in singapore, the Jackfruit tree produces one of the largest tree-borne fruit in the world and can weight up to 36kg! The fruits are not only eaten raw but can be also eaten many forms: Canned in syrup, dried (jackfruit chips), fried, cooked in curry and many more.

The wood of the tree is used to make musical instruments in Indonesia.

Asian Dowitcher

2010-09-01T20:02:00.000+08:00

Rare bird spotting at sungei buloh on 1/9/2010 :D

Big Sister Island (Subar Laut)

2010-08-15T18:05:00.000+08:00

My 2nd trip to Big Sister Island! The aim of this trip is to look out for coral bleaching, what's coral bleaching? Corals will turn white because of the microorganism living on the coral, known as symbiotic relationship, has die off. The microorganism gives the coral it's colour.

Here's a closer look at the hard coral

And one that is slightly bleached.

Frilly anemone?

Let's have a look at the the Zoanthids or also known as the colonial anemones. Some Zoanthids contain toxins so DO NOT handle them with your bare hands. Toxins are to protect themselves from predators.

Can you spot the Spider Conch? Though they have spines, but they do not penetrate into your skin nor contains any venom.

Very beautiful underside, it is often collected and cause the decrease in population. They are listed as Vulnerable on the Red List of threatened animals of Singapore.

A closer look...

My 2nd encounter with an octopuses, ?the Two-spot reed octopuses?
It may look small and harmless but don't underestimate it! They have sharp beak, and can inject toxins... But they are one of the smartest creature living in this planet.

Looks yummy! But this Red Egg Crab is highly toxin when eaten even after cooking. Here's a photo index to ID the crabs found in Singapore.

Leathery coral

Frilly anemone...

And the best of this trip is the hawksbill turtle! My first encounter with a hawksbill turtle! And its very close!

And off to Sungei Buloh to train our new volunteers!

From Botanic Gardens to Sungei Buloh

2010-07-04T19:02:00.001+08:00

New volunteers from Sungei Buloh, P. Ubin & central nature reserve gather at Botanic Gardens for an orientation. The speaker is Mr Mendis Tan from Sungei Buloh. So why I'm I there? Not for the orientation but as a photographer!

Now Volunteers are known as ''conservation division volunteers'' which mean they all will fall under the conservation division. Volunteers can attend workshops not only at the reserve that they serve but can also attend workshops by other nature reserve. CooL! Allowance will be given to volunteers at Sungei Buloh ($10) and P. Ubin ($15). The $5 extra for ubin is to cover the bum boat trip. Then why CNR does not gives allowance? It's simply because it's located at the heart of Singapore and is very accessible unlike Buloh or Ubin. BUT, you should not look at the amount of allowance each place offer you and go there because this is not the right way!

After the orientation, Shila and myself rush down to Sungei Buloh to check on the Young Naturalist Passport Camp. This photo shows Shila in action! Showing the kids how to make a tailor bird nest. If you are keen to sign your kids up for the camp please visit Sungei Buloh's website.

After the camp ends, I meet up with Wei Xiang, Wei Quan and Jaime to hunt for the Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)! Yeh!!!! The above photo is taken from the main bridge. Estimated size of croc is about 1.8m long?

We proceed to the platform 2, WOW! Another croc waiting for us. This time round, it's smaller about 1.2m. Yeh more crocs at buloh! Note that the crocs at Buloh won't eat you up if you don't go near them because there are plenty of food down in the river.

A juvenile monitor lizard (Varanus salvator) on the tree!

Back to the main bridge, we saw the plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus). Very active in the day, its diet include fruits, seeds, leaves, bark and insects!

This pair of common greenback (Hylarana erythraea) is spotted at the fresh water pond.

Sungei Buloh - 24/06/2010

2010-06-26T21:59:00.002+08:00

Another day out in the field with Mr KS Wong, one of our senior guides at buloh. We took a slow walk around route one to help him to take some photos for the slides that will be using for volunteer training. But in the process, i did learn a lot from him.

What's the name of this spider? Ops.... I'm no spider Xpert. But it's a jumping spider, Have a close look at its eye. When it's black in colour it mean it's looking directly at you, when it turns green that means it's looking away.

Mr Wong found millipede among the leaf litter. They will give out a pungent smell to protect itself if being disturb Here's a blog post from The annotated budak that explains more about millipedes and centipedes.

Common Tit (Hypolycaena erylus teatus)

Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis vulgaris macrina)

He also pointed out the Belongkeng snail. That's my first photo record! Thanks Mr Wong! Unlike some other snails, they lack of a covering call operculum which seals the opening of the shell.

And a family of 4 Smooth Otters Lutrogale perspicillata are also seen at the river along the main bridge. Otters mainly eat fishes but they do feed on crustaceans too! More Photos of otters are at my flickr.

We end our day with a Lesser Dog-faced fruit bat . They usually roost together because it's safer in numbers. They can be found roosting under palms or trees. Do you know that the flowers of the Durian trees are pollinated my bats?!

Finding the Knot at Sungei Buloh

2010-06-12T19:00:00.000+08:00

Taking a short walk after guiding a group of visitors! Since it's high tide, it's a great time a have a look at the shore birds. Took a slow walk to route 2, while i was looking at the birds i saw a moving log like creature! Its a croc!

What a nice moment!

Vanda Miss Joaquim

2010-03-15T15:30:00.016+08:00

Our National flower! Vanda Miss Joaquim! More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanda_Miss_Joaquim

The Swans of Singapore Botanic Gardens

2010-03-15T10:15:00.002+08:00

I have always wanted to have a look at the Black swans at the Eco-Lake located at SBG because I was told that they were imported from Australia! WOW! But unfortunately they are non-native, that means they are introduce or release. Since they are here in Singapore, why not have a look at them.

White swan or mute swan (Cygnus olor) @ swan lake (Thanks Ivan for e ID)

This is the one that I am wishing to see it! The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) @ Eco-lake

Here is the Map of SBG: http://www.sbg.org.sg/visitorinfo/mapofground.asp

Bitten by a Bittern

2010-01-10T17:20:00.003+08:00

The Yellow Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis is both a resident and a short migrant in Singapore. When is the best time to spot bitterns? Like other birds, they feed during early morning and evening or when the weather is cool. This bird was spotted at the freshwater pond near the visitor center of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve feeding.

Yellow Bittern feeds mainly on insects, fish and amphibians. They nest in reed beds and usually lays around 4-6 eggs.

P. Ubin Bird ID workshop 19/12/2009 Part-2

2009-12-28T14:34:00.003+08:00

Chek Jawa exploratory walk, my first time walking on the shores of CJ. Usually i'll be on the boardwalk!

Hm... What's that? I called Marcus, he said that it's a flatworm! Wow first flatworm that i have seen on CJ bedford's flatworm Pseudobiceros bedfordi

Sea Star! A biscuit sea star

Hermit crab! Striped hermit Crab! Such a beautiful one. Like other hermit crabs, they need a home. SO where do they find their home or shell? They depend on empty shells that are leave beside by dead animals that ones live in.

My Lifer! A Thorny sea cucumber! I wonder if this is the smallest cucumber on our shores? I would say that it's quite common on CJ, a short 2hours walk i can spot about 5 of them.

Garlic bread sea cucumber. Looks like a Garlic bread! haha!

Peacock anemones, not sure of the IDs but their order is Ceriantharia. Look at the colorful anemones! Also quite common, like i said a 2 hours walk i can see more then 15 of them.

The First fish! Kite butterflyfish Parachaetodon ocellatus

After the intertidal walk, we went for a night walk. Saw the Common palm civets! Did not have a clear photo to show you guys as i do not want to FLASH the civets too much. :)

P. Ubin Bird ID workshop 19/12/2009 Part-1

2009-12-27T19:55:00.001+08:00

My earliest trip to Ubin! It's always nice to see the sun rise! The first ''event'' was Ron hitting a volunteer with his new toy- The Koker!

Hahaa! After putting our stuff in the volunteer hub we set out for a birding trip with our field omithologist!

The Oriental pied-hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris) is commonly seen in P. Ubin and chanji village. Do look out for the artificial nest around ubin! There might be a pair of hornbills inside.

A Grey Heron! There are also some of them with Red Legs, this means that they are breeding. Ubin is the few sites in Singapore that has breeding colony.

Someone spotted the common kingfisher, a common migrant that can be found near water. Also commonly seen at Chinese / Jap garden.

After birding, it's real work time! A 1hr class on birds!

Bukit Batok Nature Park

2009-12-22T06:59:00.001+08:00

A stressful trip! But lots of fun and excitement. When I first step in, the calls of the Straw-headed bulbul Pycnonotus zeylanicus fills the air. Then I manage to have a look at it but did not manage to get a good photographs! It’s ok, at least the first hour I got my lifer.

A Slender Squirrel Sundasciurus tenuis appeared! How cute! Thanks Marcus for the ID!

A huge bee hives! And when there’s bee?!!!

Bee-eater! Blue-tailed Bee-eater Merops philippinus

When we are going back, we had a camera WAR! Lol. What a waste of shutter counts! Haha!

Then a classical pose!

When I’m going to pack up! The Orange-bellied Flowerpecker Dicaeum trigonostigma appear! What a beautiful bird!

Tanjung Piai National Park

2009-12-21T22:58:00.001+08:00

Tanjung Piai National Park - My first trip to Tg. Piai was quite fun!

Before we continue our joney we had a lunch break at _unknown place_.

A pit stop at a petrol station we saw the hawk moth what a beautiful one!

The first animal was a ?blue spotted mud skipper?!

Look at their visitor centre! Hope This is what i can see after the Sungei Buloh Master Plan

Nice lush mangroves

And their boardwalk

I find that the hide is useless, suppost to be able to see waders but was heavy covered with trees. Or perharps camouflage?

What's this?

My fav was the mangrove skink! Look at the cute eyes. Looks like there's lots of them over there!

Then to the southern most point!

What's Ron doing? Lolz

Semakau - Hunter seeker!

2009-12-21T20:38:00.000+08:00

Semakau again! I always look forward to going to semakau because of the beautiful reefs! But this time round, not a guided walk but as a hunter seeker. Hunter seeker’s are important to guided walks, they are the ones who finds the animals then put a flag beside the animals. This ensure that the walk is smooth and not delayed by wasting time finding them.

I do get a bit stressful when I can’t find animals and the group is getting nearer and nearer!
Here are some animals that we found, I did not take much photos because of the time. :(

Giant clam! One of the worlds larges clam but sadly the are endangered due to over harvesting of them for food!

Hard Corals!

The stone fish sea cucumber Actinopyga lecanora?

Knobbly sea star Protoreaster nodosus! They come in difference colours, from the usual red to blue!

Purple-spotted yellow flatworm Pseudoceros laingensis

Noble volute Cymbiola nobilis Laying eggs!

Some animals aniamls that are not photographs are:

Blue-spotted fantail ray Taeniura lymma

Garlic bread sea cucumber Holothuria scabra

Common sea star Archaster typicus

and more!

The Truth...... or maybe not?

2009-12-20T20:58:00.000+08:00

img: http://www.talfryn.net

Sungei Buloh Trip with Leshon - Got a lifer for him and myself!

2009-12-08T21:40:00.000+08:00

Orh....Yeh! Saw a estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) early morning doing his usual basking.

Estuarine crocodile

After taking a few photographs of it, we decided to walk along route one to look for shore birds for Leshon birds collection. Before we reach Hide 1C, we saw about 10 Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala), they are free ranging birds from the Zoo and the Bird Park.

Painted Stork

Here's a comparative photo to show the size of the Painted stork and little egret

A quick walk to Hide IC and only a few birds. Not sure what happen but at least there are a few:

After a while both of us saw a bird that landed on the opposite tree! Oh! It's a Black Baza (Aviceda leuphotes) . But it's too us for us to take photos. Then it flew away, hm...where can it go? I told Leshon to try our luck at Platform 2! WoW! The bird is there and the lighting was much better but not as good for photography.

Another bird! Now a Juv. White-bellied Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) caught a fish and the crow is about to fight for it. In the end, the eagle flew away. Maybe the crow was too irriating.

And the last bird of the day: Our old Mr Stocky ( Stork-billed Kingfisher )

Coming Up Next!

2009-11-22T23:24:00.001+08:00

1) Sungei Buloh Trip with Leshon
2) Semakau - As a hunter seeker
3) Tg. Piai National Park

Pulau Semakau 7 to 8 Nov 2009

2009-11-22T23:22:00.001+08:00

Day 1

Yeh! My first overnight camp at semakau with Raffles Museum. But before we reach the Island we were greeted with a human PIG! Haha poor Jia Yi, there we at least 10 people taking photos of her using a camera from a phone to a DSLR. Then we (not me) took of her funny pig head and she's was still sleeping soundly. Lol.

When we arrive at Semakau, we immediately get out stuff ready and everyone are ready to set off. They were grouped into three teams : Bird (which i'm in), Insect and Forest (Check out Ron's blog for forest happenings). When we are setting up our mist nets, many of us witness the Black Shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris) which I don't have a photography record yet.

When we were waiting for birds to be fall into out ''traps'' we saw the Pacific Reef-egret (Egretta sacra) flying across the sunset.

A Zitting Cistocola fell into our trap! Haha!Ok, time to furl our nets.

We had BBQ for dinner, my fav is the German Garlic Bread that was specially prepared by Robert, an rmbr volunteer nature guide. We also celebrated Eddie's and Luan Keng's birthday! yeh!

They look so happy!

The best part was I slept outside and beside the jetty, perhaps on the jetty. Good Night!

Day 2

Woke up at around 5am to prepare for the bird ringing. We helped to unfurl the nets and waited again. But I went with Samson to look for the Malaysian Plover (Charadrius peronii). Yeh! Found it, at first i tot it was an sand plover! But later, after a closer look indeed it's not.

Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus)

When I was about to releases a bird, i met Ron and he told me (Or should I say i'm Kay-Po and ask what he's looking at) that there was a turtle! I was like ''CooL''!!! It's my first time seeing a wild turtle. After a long wait! I got a photo of it!

It's a Green Turtle! Got both the same ID for Marcus, the vertebrate Xpert! and Australian Natural History Museum. Ria Tan (WildSingapore) - ''It's usually the Hawksbill turtle'' she said.

That's all!

Croc

2009-10-14T21:01:00.001+08:00

Croc, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

My best photo of the croc. It may appear again. For those who want to see it. You may try the pond on the left after the main bridge (Sungei Buloh).

Bird 'bang' into my window

2009-10-05T14:52:00.005+08:00

I was doing my usual revision when i heard two consecutive bang on my window. I looked out my window and saw two birds on the ground then i knew that there's an accident.

Both of them lay flat on the ground and i tot they were dead. But a minute later, they were so call awake. Then both of them started to poo and to the extend blood came out. I called ACRES wildlife rescue and hopefully they would come in time. But before they come, i pop my head out of the window and both of them flew off. =_='' Maybe I was too ugly and they were shock, so manage to boost they blood pressure and make them fly...haha.....okay, jokes aside. ...

Back to my school work. :D

P.S:

Wildlife Rescue Hotline: 9783 7782 (Call for advice or rescue)

Mangrove Blue flycatcher

2009-10-04T17:36:00.001+08:00

Mangrove Blue flycatcher?, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

A rare bird seen in Matang Forest, Malaysia. Will write a blog post on my 3D2N trip there later. :)

Stay tune! :D

Sea hibiscus (hibiscus tiliaceus)

2009-10-03T08:14:00.002+08:00

Sea hibiscus, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

The sea hibiscus (hibiscus tiliaceus), also known as the one day flower. I manage to get this shot early morning at Sungei Buloh.

The flower of the hibiscus tiliaceus will bloom, bright yellow, about 10 am or when the sun is up. And the colour will start to change during late afternoon, and will turn maroon colour.

Some quick fact about this tree:

* the leaves are boil in water and serve as tea to relive cough and fever. And also shared my one of the guides , the leaves are pound into coconut oil and apply to the scalp to prevent hair loss. :)

Jupiter! Up in the sky from Singapore!

2009-09-10T18:09:00.001+08:00

Do you know that you are able to see Jupiter? Yes you can! It can even be seen with a naked eyes and with a binoculars you will be able to see the 4 moons.

I've just started astrophotography not long ago after meeting a ''prof'' in star-gazing. Here's a photo of it in B+W:

Settings: Canon 450D + EF 400mm f/5.6 ( 1/3s, f/5.6 )

Do you know that Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System?! It is compose by two main gasses: hydrogen and helium.

Copyright: NASA

Try to spot it tonight! It's the brightest object in the sky and it does not flicker with a star!

The stare by the Duck!

2009-08-25T22:22:00.001+08:00

Lesser Whistling Duck, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

The ducks(Lesser Whistling Duck) at Botanic Gardens always amuse me as i always get difference shots of them during difference visits. Some information on them: They are the only duck that breed in Singapore and they prefer to breed in freshwater with dense vegetation nearby where their chicks can immediately reach the water after hatching.

There are less then 200 of them in Singapore and is listed as endangered due to the natural habitat lost but fortunately
, they breed in man-made habitat such as the botanic gardens. Another place that spotting have been reported is at route 3, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, sadly I have not seen a single one at Sungei Buloh after walking a long distance!

Red Shanks are here!

2009-08-16T21:27:00.001+08:00

Red Shanks are here!, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

Migratory season is coming, the Red Shanks are here about 17 of them as on 8 Aug 09. And today, 2 new birds, Lesser Sand Plover, was also spotted. They are in their breeding plumage. Photo of it - http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandonchia/3825482415/

Best time to see them in Sungei Buloh is HIGH tide because during low tide, they will be around Singapore.

Have fun!
Cheers!

Ottters Family In Sungei Buloh!

2009-08-04T21:16:00.001+08:00

Ottters Family In Sungei Buloh!, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

I had a great time in Buloh again! Saw the otters family! They are cute!!!
I manage to took a few photos of them as they are quite ''cooperative''.
I'm quite happy with this shoT!

Saving the Grey Heron....

2009-08-02T16:41:00.001+08:00

I'm not sure did I save it or kill it. :(

When I was with Wei Xiang taking photo of Herons / Terns we saw an injure Grey Heron on the grassland beside the canal, we went to take a look and we can go as close as 1m from the Heron! At first the heron was scare of us when we approach it. It tried to fly away and it can't. It can only flap its wings and then drop on to the ground.

The sun was scorching hot and we knew that the bird was going to be dehydrated so we manage to carry it to a shade. Tried feeding it fishes that was brought from the market, but it failed. So we called ACRES they said that they can't take in birds. :( Called Nparks, Sungei Buloh, they said they can't take in any birds. The last resort was to send to a vet, when we reach there(ARVC) the staff were kind and helpful, they fed it with water and food. It then look better.

When we reach the zoo, I was pissed OFF with the Security Guards, I told them that we called up and say that we are bring a heron in and the staff on the phone say ok. The guard later said that they got to call and check. Then they say that they can't let the bird in! Then they made another call to the vet, they are doing all this at their own sweet time! The bird was classified as on emergency case by the vets at ARVC! They don't look like they are concern about the heron, and is this what they call conservation! I'm totally not happy when I send it to the Zoo. I will not send another animal to Zoo if there are more to come!

Estuarine/saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)

2009-07-18T20:54:00.003+08:00

It's a happy sighting of the croc at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve before I had my lunch at the cafe. The crocs at Buloh are known as Estuarine or saltwater crocodile, they can grow up to 6m long but in Singapore the longest is about 2.5m and I don't think they will grow longer because Singapore is just too small compared to Australia ones that can grow up to 6m.

The most common one is the 1.5m one that always hang around the river along the main bridge. Low tide is the best time to spot them.

Have fun spotting them!

Bruguiera sexangula! In Sungei Buloh

2009-07-18T20:11:00.004+08:00

Here's a quick wrap-up of Ria's post on WildSingapore.

This is a great finding for people who loves mangrove and it is listed as 'Critically Endangered' on the Red List. So far, there are 2 of them in Sungei Buloh and the other 2 are in P. Tekong. The tree is not very tall, about 1.3m.

Here's 2 photos of it:

6 July 2009

18 July 2009

I will post more to keep you guys update, if you are interested to have a real look at the tree feel free to e-mail me(email on the right side of page).

Updates on Sungei Buloh ( informal )

2009-07-07T17:32:00.005+08:00

Let me do some updates on my sighting at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Bird life at buloh sounds peaceful as most of the birds are nesting, or should i say that they are now feeding their Young. Right! Nesting, if you manage to pass-by any nest do keep a distance away of about 2m and just go off if you have taken your shots, this is to minimize stress to the bird. If the parents are too stress, they will abandon their nest and the chicks will die, so lets do our part to maintain the rich bird life in Singapore.

I have not seen the otters family for quite a long time, i hope they are doing fine :)
You can try to spot them at around 4-6pm along the main bridge.

Croc..s! The last time was on June along route 1 beside the river that the main bridge cross over. I was looking for the croc at that time and always look on the water for it's eye. But when i was walking back, i saw a log like thing on the water. I tot it was a log, but no... it was the tail of the croc! WOW! I was so delighted at that time!

But if you manage to see a croc along the way, please stay away!!
Here's a question ask my one of the visitor when I was doing guilding.

Q: Why sbwr dont remove the crocs here?
A: It's simple, they are part of ecology, without them monitor lizards will be over populated. When there are too many lizards, the lizards will eat up the fishes.

That's all, if you need to ask any question, feel free to e-mail me(add on the right side) or post it on the chat box!

Have fun! Don't let H1N1 stop you from going to buloH! ;p

Draco (genus)

2009-06-29T14:36:00.001+08:00

Draco (genus), originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

The Flying Dragons are native to the southwest tropical forests of Asia and India, including Borneo and the Philippine Islands. In the wild, the Flying Dragon will generally claim a territory. Usually, males will mark two or three trees as their own, and one to three female Flying Dragons will live in each tree. When the male Flying Dragon meets another animal, he may extend his dewlap partially or fully, extend his wings partially or fully, perform a combination of dewlap or wing extension, or bob his body up and down. If he meets a female, he may circle her. Extending the wings and dewlap makes the Flying Dragon appear larger, and he will usually exhibit such behavior if he feels threatened. Flying Dragons eat insects. They catch such prey by sitting under a tree until an insect passes by, and then they eat it. Flying Dragons are diurnal and hide in the late morning and early afternoon to avoid the most intense sunlight of the day.

House Fly

2009-06-13T22:23:00.001+08:00

House Fly, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

This was taken at the Mangrove Boardwalk @ Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. One of my best Macro shots!

Little Tern

2009-06-09T19:00:00.001+08:00

Little Tern, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

Saw this at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, this is my first time seeing and shooting a tern.

Unfotunetly, the was only one and i only had a min to shoot it. This guy was just too fast!

Mud Lobster

2009-06-04T20:17:00.002+08:00

Mud Lobster, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

I saw this uncommon lobster at KNT which is listed as a threatened animal in Singapore, it was on a sandbank on the other side of KNT. I then took a few shots of this and then both the staff and myself moved it to the otherside where mud is available.

If you have been to any mangrove habitat and you saw volcano like stuff on the mud, yes! It's made my a mud lobster! More infomation about this facinating creature is available at http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/m321.htm

Have fun!

Female spider with egg sac

2009-05-30T21:53:00.001+08:00

Female spider with egg sac
Originally uploaded by brandon Chia

I didn't know that a spider egg sac can be so BIG, i was told by the spider ID Xpert that there are more then 100 eggs inside. WOW that's cool!

- Took at Sungei Buloh, 8pm.
( 50mm f/1.8 + 25mm extention tube + 450D body + speedlite EX480.... )

Firefly & Mangrove- Are they related? (Part 1)

2009-04-27T20:40:00.011+08:00

Fireflies are been seen in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. As SBWR is a mangrove habitat so i'm thinking if does mangrove & fireflies have any relationship? YES! Looks like the mangrove tree is the Sonneratia caseolaris.

Sonneratia caseolaris is a rare mangrove tree in Singapore, not sure about other country, how many are there in Singapore? This tree had been found in Woodlands Town Garden and it's about 10-15m tall! (link). We should try our best to save our mangroves and not let them to be gone from Singapore! Do you know that there are only 5% of mangroves left in Singapore!

Why are Sonneratia caseolaris rare in SG? Are the fruits hard to grow/survive?...............

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To learn more about mangrove, you may visit one of our few nature reserve in Singapore which preserve mangroves- SBWR

Free guided walk can be request on every Saturday at 9.30am. Please inform the staff that you are interested in the walk, only 20 visitors are allow per walk. Next is on 3.30pm.

Bats at SBWR

2009-04-26T21:55:00.003+08:00

Bats at SBWR
Originally uploaded by brandon Chia

I was told by a friend that there are bats over at Sungei Buloh. There are 12 bats in total!

Their eyes are wide open! Shouldn't they be sleeping? I've also notice that there are juv. spiders on it!

Cool!

Fighting or mating?

2009-04-20T18:49:00.008+08:00

I saw this liz when i'm at Sungei Buloh. Are they mating or fighting? I heard some photographers saying that they are mating. Looks like is fighting to me.

WildLife of the week!

2009-03-21T10:00:00.002+08:00

It's a Primate!

TAXONOMY
Common name: Long-Tailed Macaque
Family: Cercopithecidae
Genus: Macaca
Species: fascicularis

The long-tailed Macaque may sound wild to you, or should i say it's a 'monkey'. Everyone knows this guy if you have been to Central Nature Reserve( which bounded mainly 4 reservoirs - namely MacRitchie Reservoir, Lower Peirce Reservoir, Upper Peirce Reservoir, Upper Seletar Reservoir & a nature reserve( Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).

Remember, if you get a chance to see it, do not feed it, it's because feeding it may sound doing a good thing but if you look at the other side, it may cause more harms rather then saving them. These guys will not starve if you do not feed them as there are plenty of food in the reserve(forest).

They will get use to feeding someday and stop looking for food themselves and only depend on us(humans)! If we keep feeding them, in 20 years time when you visit the reserve, you might find there are lots of fruits/figs on the tree! & the macaques are approaching humans for food!

So, lets do a little part by saving them.- stop feeding them!

WildLife & Flora Survey

2009-03-05T20:30:00.000+08:00

I'm embarking on a 'journey' to Woodlands Town Gardens to have a survey. Today, i've seen quite lot of birds from kites to heron....

I believe that there are always wild stuff every where. Be it a park or a nature reserve. The aim of this is to let the public know better of the ecosystem we have in Singapore & the biodiversity in our parks.
And i would like to invite you to join in.

Date: 8 March 2009
Time: 8.30am - (You decide)
Venue: Woodlands town garden (beside Marsiling MRT station) 11ha.
Meeting area: TBC
Kindly fill in the form below:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cFAyVVJzOXpRVWxHRlV1Y25QVjRBZkE6MA

Wildlife Of the Week: The Crimson SunBird

2009-03-04T15:01:00.000+08:00

Cool! This is the first post of 'Wildlife of the week'. I had to do this in order to keep me updating this blog.

Let me intro to you the Crimson SunBird....
Basically sunbirds and spider hunter are in the same family called: Nectariniidae. You would be able to find them at Sungei Buloh(I've seen it at mangrove board walk) & Botanic Gardens (heliconia walk).

Male

Female C.S: Copyright Mendis Tan:- He is a good nature photographer :)

Alright, here it is... The WIldlife of the week :)

Jelly Fish!!!

2009-02-14T21:24:00.000+08:00

Jelly Fish1, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

Jelly Fish seen @ Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve today....Should be a Acromitus sp
SEE: http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/cnidaria/others/jellyfish/fatarm.htm

My First Common KingFisher!

2009-02-02T21:29:00.000+08:00

I manage to shoot some photos of the common KingFisher! From the name it seems to be common but it's not. A migrant from the Northern Hemisphere. Found this Bird at the SBG, Singapore Botanic Gardens. Thanks to the meeting which SINGAPORE ENVIRONMENT COUNCIL with made me to have an excuse to go to botanic gardens :p
More of my photos are at my Flickr.

New Birds seen @ Marsling Sec !

2009-01-23T20:54:00.000+08:00

Will be adding to my list in a few weeks time. The birds are:

1.Brahminy Kite (Eagle)
2. Crimson Sunbird

This two birds are my gift from god for CNY! Looking for more birds!

Spider survey photo shoot!

2009-01-23T20:42:00.000+08:00

Spider7, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is embarking on a research study on spiders in the reserve. I'm one of the team members, but sad to say i do not know any thing about spiders in the reserve but i hope to pick up some info from the spider expert!

For more of my spidie photos, visit my flickr!

Birds of Marsiling Secondary Schools!

2009-01-08T15:37:00.000+08:00

Birds of Marsiling Secondary School!

WOW! The first version of Birds of Marsiling Secondary School is out!

This is the list of common birds and be found in Marsiling Secondary School, Singapore.

Wrap my year-end nov/dec school vacation 2008!

2009-01-03T20:14:00.001+08:00

Some of my friend would have work during the vacation, guess what! I'm also working, but this time round i'm the boss. I've set up a business called NatGreen Photography, it's really not easy to set up one. But i manage to do it!

At first, I thought of calling it Nature Green Photography, but if i put into the URL it's a bit too long so extract the first 3 alphabets of 'Nature'. Do visit my new site!.....http://www.natgreenphotography.com
Birds

Last year was a great year for me as i manage to shoot some rare birds. As you can see the birds below, spot the largest bird which has the longest bill. Got it? It's the Eurasian Curlew! Quite a rare winter visitor.... Talking about winter visitors, these bird came from a migratory route called: East Asian - Australasian Flyway. There are difference flyways around earth, but Singapore is one of the stops for the East Asian - Australasian Flyway.

But for this post, i'll show you guys only two Shore Birds. The other one which is the latest rare bird spotted in Sungei Buloh. But this is is common is the northern part of the earth. It's a Northern Shoveler! Spot the duck below!

....

Ok, birds...birds...bird.... Tired of it? Now Mammals!

Otters are not so common in Buloh. Can't find the photos of it now because i'll need to dig them out from my hard disk!

Cold Blooded!

Below is a photo of the Mangrove Pit Viper! Also know as the Shore Pit Viper. It's the most venomous snake in Sungei Buloh.

The venom which this snake gives out its haemotoxic,l which will affect the cells in the body then when the cells dies off then our body organs will starts to fail..... If i'm not wrong, anti-venom must be given by 30mins if not............you know....
...

Ok, will end the post with this snake. Be careful when you are in the reserve, do not provoke any snakes ok...

Eurasian Curlew

2008-11-10T22:03:00.000+08:00

Eurasian Curlew, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

Can you see the big bird. Yup, that's the Eurasian Curlew! Its Rare....

Common Sandpiper

2008-11-10T22:01:00.000+08:00

Common Sandpiper, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.

Large-tailed Nightjar

2008-11-10T22:00:00.000+08:00

Large-tailed Nightjar, originally uploaded by brandon Chia.