Semakau Exploration with Bedok View Sec

I was at Semakau again 3 days after the last trip. I was the guide for students from Bedok View Sec, a group of young, enthusiastic and fun people. We are glad the weather was good and the hunter seeker did a very good job. We saw a lot of very interesting animals that can only be seen by divers! However, due to the spring low tide, we manage to see them during the short period of time when the tide are low.

Group photo on the shore of Semakau!

Seize that moment! Capture this special moment with camera, the sun will drop below the horizon in no time!

More group photo!

One of the many interesting animal that we saw - Head Shield bug (Chelidonura pallida)

Thanks to Ms Goh & her students, I have a great trip too! :)

Semakau Inter-tidal Walk 26 Oct 11

Is have been almost a year since I last exploring Semakau during the evening low tide. When we arrived at Semakau, the storm is brewing & looks like a heavy downpour coming very soon. Luckily, the wind is strong and blow all the rain clouds away. We have a real good weather exploring the Semakau rich inter-tidal area!

One of the many beautiful creatures that we saw include this beautiful nudibranch!

This is my group, from Singapore Poly taking group photo at the area usually submerge underwater! This area will only expose during low tide.

We also managed to reach the most southern part of Singapore! Cool weather, colourful creatures, what a good way to celebrate!

Raptormania at SBG

I was at Singapore Botanic Garden (SBG) this morning for my usual birding trip. Since is now the peak of the raptors migratory season, I saw 3 raptors within 5 minutes!!
I first saw this Grey Headed Fish eagle Follow by a juvenile Brahminy kite
and follow by Chinese Sparrowhawk! Really a raptormania morning. More & more winter visitors are arriving such as this Asian Brown flycatcher

and also the Drongo cuckoo.
A very beautiful native bird - Oriental Magpie Robin that join the list & sing out loud just to make sure she will not be forgotten..

SBG is one of the few good birding spot in Singapore that always have something to discover... :)

Can't Decide What Camera to Buy?

Ever got confused with all the different types of digital camera on the shelf and every manufacturer claim that theirs the best?

Got this illustration from ST Digital Life on today's paper. Hopefully it give you some idea on which type of camera you think is best suit you.

Other than the 4 major types of sensors available, there is actually another type - Full Frame camera. The sensor size is based on 35mm film roll. This type of sensor are used on Pro/Semi-Pro camera. The camera I'm using for most of the shots on this blog belong to this category.

If you just want a not so heavy, yet powerful enough to let you manually set some or all setting while shooting, my opinion is go for Micro four third camera. This type of camera have wide range of lenses that you can use & smaller than APS-C or DX cameras.

Happy shooting!

Birds Watching at SBWR

With more & more arrival of the migratory birds, is time to head to Sungei Buloh (SBWR) to watch this once a year affair!

While I was washing my hand in the toilet, I heard someone knocking on the roof right on top of me. I was more than happy to see a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbill! Perhaps, they are knocking on their own image from the glass reflection.

There are quite a number of egret perch on top of tree just opposite the Main Bridge.

I saw this spider before entering the Main Hide. There are lots of birds feeding in front of the main hide.

This egret trying to scare the prey from their hiding so that she can hunt them.

Whimbrel is one of the bigger shore bird among those feeding on the mud flat.

Marsh sandpiper

This Lesser Sand Plover been to Singapore before! The ring (green & white) means it was tagged/ringed in Singapore before.

One of the best thing to do is just sit there watching the arrival/taking off of these birds.

Other than birds, the mud skipper can be found near the water edge. Good weather, good sighting & hope tomorrow the weather is as good! :)

Feeding Asian Paradise Flycatcher

Last quarter is always the best time to go birding in Singapore. On top of native birds, there are lots of migratory birds that will arrived from the north to avoid the cold winter. Asian Paradise flycatcher is one of them.

Asian Paradise Flycatcher is one of the many birds that I like to see it in the wild. This year must be my lucky year, I have seen quite a number of them and even have the opportunity to learn more about their feeding behavior. I'm so happy that I saw this flycatcher just caught a cicada! The flycatcher is trying to align the cicada so that it can swallow it.

Perhaps the cicada is consider too big? The flycatcher transfer the cicada to the claw.
The flycatcher then start by biting off the head of the cicada.
Instead of taking the whole prey at one go, the flycatcher taking this cicada bit by bit.
The flycatcher now hold the half eaten cicada with its beak.
With one gulp, the half eaten cicada go down the flycatcher throat.
Is quite unusual for flycatcher to have this feeding behavior. They do not have strong & big talon to hold their prey & they also do not have curved or hook-like bill to tear their prey. Nevertheless, is an fantastic experience to be able to know more about this beautiful bird. This flycatcher continue to perch there for me to take more shots before flew off. What a satisfying birding trip for me! :)

Spotted House Gecko

It has been raining the whole night and the weather starts to clear a bit in the late morning. I went over to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for my birding trip while it was still drizzling. There are lots of Long-tailed macaque at the car park, some of them sitting on top of the parked vehicles! They should look for food in the forest and not at the carpark. .As I make my way to the Hindhede Trail, I saw a lizard of about 20cm crawling not too far in front of me. Upon closer look, it was a Spotted House Gecko (Gekko monarchus)! This gecko suppose to be a nocturnal animal. Perhaps it was forced to look for food after the overnight rain? The close-up photo of the gecko's leg looks like a dragon's palm! :)


It was a rather shy animal and run to hide and take cover upon seeing me in this tiny gap.



I manage to take a full body shot before it go hiding.