Pulau Ubin (27 Sep 09)

Pulau Ubin just few minutes boat ride from Changi Point Ferry Terminal is one of the nature spot I like to visit.
What a fantastic way to start a day greeting by Straw Headed Bulbul! Not just one but two! These birds are considered globally vulnerable to extinction! Is often heard than seen and shy by nature. Is not easy to have a clear shot of these birds.Scaly breasted munia was busy feeding and usually come in a flock.A young water monitor lizard was resting on a branch near the water.
I was at Kinabatangan river last week and this scene is quite common there. We have it too in Singapore! Flocks of water birds will fly pass our head every few minutes at Ubin.This King Fisher is waiting for his prey before making a dive from this vantage point.

A rather small in size this wood pecker was checking this tree for food.A pair of Yellow vented bulbul was captured beautifully when they are about to fly off.
A nice coloration from this lizard just opposite where I took the yellow vented bulbul.

Is an good trip to Pulau Ubin this Sunday morning. However, lots of vegetation are cleared especially along the beaches and saw groups of worker was surveying the area. I hope whatever is going to be constructed will have minimum impact on this peaceful and beautiful island!

Saturday Morning at Sungai Buluh

I went over to SBWR this morning and the first bird that excite me was this Milky Stork (Mycteria cinerea). It is such a beautiful bird feeding alone and doesn't mind I take photo in a very short distance.

There are lots of waders feeding near the water edge quite far from the hide. Perhaps when high tide the water will force them to move nearer to the hide or observation screen so that can get a clearer picture of them.

Have not been seeing Little Heron for a while and I saw several of them this morning.

Last week when I was at Borneo Kinabatangan area, I saw the very cute and small Plain Pygmy squirrel that weight not more than 20g!! This is the local squirrel equally cute too! This is a young Plantain Squirrel.

I saw this Yellow Vented Bulbul while on my way to the car park.

I'm so surprise to meet Peiting there too!

Yellow Vented Bulbul

Being one of the most common birds in Singapore, it can be seen almost at any parks or garden in Singapore. Their diet ranging from berries, small fruits to insects.

This video was taken at Singapore Botanic Garden last week end. This bulbul is more than happy with the abundance of figs on this tree.

Many Faces of Olive-Backed Sunbird

This series of Olive-back sunbird was taken earlier this month and would like to share with you the many faces of this cute little bird.This was a female sunbird standing near a hibiscus flower that almost the same size. Sunbirds with small, long and decurved bills perfect for feeding on nectar and insects!Since they have a rather small body, they are very active and agile! They can easily meneuver around the dense growth.

The sunbirds have no problem dashing around from branch to branch.
The sunbirds can have access to the nectar easily with their long tongue.

The do stretching too.

Sunbirds sometimes do behave like a robber. According to Luan Keng, the bird pierce through outside of the flower to collect the nectar. By doing this, the sunbirds does not pollinate the flowers at all. The nectar probably too deep for the sunbird to get so they start to rob the nectar instead by piercing from the outside. A very smart move.

Monitor Lizard

I always told myself not to leave home without a camera... now I must update my statement again. Not to leave home without a camera that can shoot in reasonably good video!

As I was heading for dinner last Saturday, I came across this pair of water monitor lizard 'fighting' in a monsoon canal. It was about 7+pm and is quite dark when I saw something moving in the canal. I quickly move closer and use my mobile phone to take the video of it. How nice if I have the other camera with me? Is too late to go back and take the camera...

The quality of the video is not so good but still able to see what is happening. I didn't know are they really fighting for territory or part of the courtship ritual since I don't know much about them. But they really looks like they are hugging each other...

Congratulations to CS Ling

This article was published on today's TODAY Paper. Congratulations to CS Ling, she is the 1st photographer that Nikon Singapore associated with and she is the 1st in the series of 6 ads that Nikon is publishing.

I'm honoured to be invited by Ling to be the photographer for her profile shot. Well done Ling, keep up the good work!

Source : TODAYonline
Click here for the pdf version of this article online.

Rhythm Of The Rain

It was a wet Sunday and the rain with thunder storm cover many parts of Singapore. I was at Pulau Ubin (the island spared from urban development with rich wildlife & biodiversity & probably the last place in Singapore where time freeze at 70's where house with zinc roof still can be found)

It was a very long time ago the last time I sit under a zinc roof building listen to the rhythm when the rain drop on it. Is so soothing and really bring back lots of my childhood memories. Houses which built with zinc or 'atap' (leaves of nypah palm) is consider history in this highly urbanised country.

The storm came in shortly after we have some nice shot of termite mushroom & some birds. I'm not upset we have to cut short our exploration but instead I embraces it! This give me another opportunity to sit down and do what I do back at the old days. It also gave me lots of opportunity to use my new Olympus ePen to shoot in HD video. I really miss those days when I can sleep with the nice rhythm of the rain hitting on the roof especially at night!.... the price to pay for urbanisation. Perhaps?