Kaeng Krachan National Park with mobile phone

Today is Day 2 of my Thailand trip. Different from all my other trip to Thailand, this trip is the results of cross border collaboration!

I'm more than happy to share the beautiful flora & fauna of Thailand with 蔚藍手札 all the way from Taiwan. After we enter the national park, the dark clouds gather and it started to rain and at times very heavy. Since my DSLR is not water proof, I use my mobile photo to take pictures most of the times.

One unique experience of Kaeng Krachan (KKC) is crossing several river along the trail.

With water cutting across the trail, is unfortunate that some animals became the victim of road kill. Such as this frog, still in the jumping position when we saw it along the trail.

Hard shell of this fresh water crab has no match with the wheel of the vehicle that pass through the trail. At least, nothing is goes to waste in nature.  The crab become part of the food chain and the nutrient got pass on to other animals.

With the water flowing through rocks, it carry with them minerals too. Another unique experience of KKC is butterfly puddle.

Butterfly puddling in KKC is one phenomenon that one should not miss. The butterflies will gather the minerals from the mud that brought by the flowing water.

This cute butterfly go one step further getting mineral from my finger.

Another butterfly that I am not familiar.

As we go higher up the mountain, the mist & rain also getting heaver.

Is getting difficult for bird watching with the low visibility. I go for macro instead.

Was attracted to this purple fruits that about 4mm and I have no idea what plant is this.

Didn't realise that there is a spider just next to it.

This is the best I can shoot with my mobile. Without the use of DSLR, there are plenty of nice thing to see & shoot in KKC other than birds!

Exploring Sea Shore of Singapore - Part 2

Watching animals of inter-tidal area is so different from other area such as forest or garden, we can't just go anytime that we like. The inter-tidal area are usually cover by sea and only open to visitors during spring low tide but for a very short time. 

This Thorny Sea Cucumber is still feeding with the tentacles out while the sea water is going down.

 Without sea water, this sea cucumber will have to wait out for about 1.5 hours before the tide return.

 Very similar to the thorny sea cucumber, this Warty Sea Cucumber come with yellow patches.

 This Sea Apple stop feeding and is waiting for the tide to return before start feeding again.

 One of the edible sea cucumber - Sandfish Sea Cucumber. We saw quite a number of them today.

 This one looks like a Fuscocinera sea cucumber.

 We also saw quite a number of Black Sea Cucumber in the sea grass area.

I will be very scare if I'm a small fish and bump into this sea anemone. Looks like an alien from outer space.

Different from the usual tube anemone, this swimming sea anemone can 'swim' from one place to another.

 Another interesting sea anemone that we saw.

Carpet anemone without the long tentacles. Without the sea water, the commensal shrimps hide under the anemone instead of on top.

 A baby anemone. So cute!

 Good to see a Sea Pen so close to the shore without the need of any dive gears!

Is amazing that we see such a rich biodiversity sea shore even is just beside one of the busiest shipping lane in the world!

Exploring Sea Shore of Singapore - Part 1

Got to take a break from my Thailand trip as I have not process or go through the photos yet. Is been a while since I last explored rich biodiversity of Singapore sea shore.

 The sun is already up when I arrive at the shore.

This is huge compare to other animals that we saw at the shore. The  Geographic Sea Hare (Syphonota geographica) are in season. Saw quite a number of them.

 Hermit crab taking over an empty shell as new home.

 Is always good to be able to find a sea star especially a Biscuit sea star (Goniodiscaster scaber)

 More lucky satrs... small, medium & large

 Found another one just right before it burrow in to the sands - Sand Stars (Astropecten spp.)

 Usually see them when go diving, but we saw one at the shore, a Feather star.

 Saw this Black Sea Urchin covered with sea grass on its spines.

 Another about the same size but much colourful - White Sea Urchin (Salmacis sp.)

 Other than sea urchin, saw this Mantis shrimp.

 A very tiny Leaf-porter crab (Neodorippe callida) swim under the leaf of a floating sea grass.

 This is the moult (empty shell)of a Flower Crab (Portunus pelagicus)

 Another moult but this belongs to Spiny Hands (Charybdis hellerii)

Not an empty shell but a Cuttlefish bone. Since it is rich of calcium, they are used as calcium-rich dietary supplements for many small animals such as cage birds. They are also a good polishing material too... (to be continued in Part 2).

Journey to Kaeng Krachan Bird Watching - Day 1

After almost a year of waiting, we finally landed here in Bangkok for this short & exciting trip. Thanks to internet that brought nature lovers from two different part of the world together exploring this beautiful Land of Smile!

The first item on our list to start this trip is to go for lunch while on the way to Kaeng Krachan (KKC). The traffic is heavier than usual as it is the long week end for Thailand. After travel about an hour, we simply stop at the roadside for a quick meal. Fried egg, vegetable & some meat to go with rice.

Saw this very bright colour Singapore registered car on our way to KKC. What a good idea to self-drive and explore this beautiful country. No fixed timing, no fixed itinerary just stop whenever and wherever you like. Thousand miles away from home on wheels, the experience must be very exciting!

We stop at a paddy field to start our bird watching. First bird that we saw is no other than this Cattle Egret with the breeding plumage.

This Plain Prinia is actively hunting for as many food before the sun set.

A huge nest build by Pied Starling using material that can be found in the urban area.

Very similar to Javan Myna but this White Vented Myna have a much prominence crest on their head.

Our next stop is this cattle farm. We are here for the Blue-tailed Bee-eater. The white sand puddle are the nest of the bee-eaters.

Once our eyes adjusted to the lighting, there are lots of activities going on in this area that appear to be empty.

They are everywhere! Some on the tree and some just wait for their partner outside their nest.

Is was getting dark and I try my luck for this flight shot.

Hiding behind the lamp pole is Indian roller.

Managed to spot another bird before we go for our dinner. Is a nocturnal bird - Large Tail Nightjar. This end our 1st day of short but fruitful birding session. What will we see tomorrow?