Go Wild @Pasir Ris Park & Mangroves

13th Mar, 2011 ~ Most of the parks I visited recently(in my previous entries) are tame. Since changing from a tomboy to a girlie female, I'd turned soft. Afraid of creepy crawlies, insect bites, getting dirty & all those rough nature outdoor stuffs. Hate the oppressive heat & humidity, making me sticky after sweating like a horse! Will someone please invent a small & light portable personal air-con! And damnit, biting insects, go away! Not in the wilderness yet & I got bitten while the guys with me were untouched! My blood is sweeter or what?!? Grrrrr... *Hamster cursing & sweaing!
Sigh... to connect with Mother Nature, some sacrifices have to be made. I shall prevail! 1 small step at a time. So, small steps Hamster went to Pasir Ris Park & tested its small mangrove forest.
First, I went to the nearby fishing pond to prepared myself for the wilder side of life. Small steps, remember? =P

@Pasir Ris Fishing Pond

Big Rock & Giant Crab


While the pond is popular with fishing enthusiasts, the surrounding areas with its open space & cool shades from ornament trees is also a great place for picnic or just relax.

Rest & Relax


As I'm into avian photography, not much activities for me at the fishing ponds. Beside the usual noisy Mynas & Black-naped Orioles there are plenty of Sunbirds & the equally noisy White-collared Kingfishers. Saw a cluster of bats hanging high from a tree & the highlight was spotting a pair of Sunda Woodpeckers at their nest in 1 of the trees. This leads to a tragic tale which I will tell later.

Hanging Bats


With 71 hectares of land, the coastal Pasir Ris Park is among 1 of the largest in Singapore. The full length of the park is around 6.6 km. The most popular area of the park is at the beach with BBQ pits, playgrounds, jogging & cycling tracks.

Beachside


Within the park, at Sungei Tampines, a 6 hectare patch of mature mangrove forest was preserved. Wooden walkways allow visitors a close but comfortable look at the forest without getting muddy & educational signboards describe the biology of mangrove organisms. Birdwatchers will love the 3-storey high Bird Watching Tower. This mangrove forest is where my little steps took me.
Note: 'Sungei' means 'river' in the Malay language

@Sungei Tampines

Walkways & Bird Watching Tower

Educational Signboards


Compared to the tame park at the fishing ponds, this place is wild & so alive with nature! Yes, yes, I know its nothing compared to a 'real' jungle. Small steps into nature... =P

Beautiful Flowers

Weird Flora

The Art of Plants


Got some lovely shots of the numerous butterflies flapping about.

From left to right, top to bottom: Peacock Pansy, Three Spot Grass Yellow, Common Palmfly & Green Oakblue.

From left to right, top to bottom: Peacock Pansy, Blue Glassy Tiger, Lemon Emigrant & King Crow.

From left to right, top to bottom: Plain Tiger, Dark Glassy Tiger, Peacock Pansy & Spotted Black Crow.


And a dragonfly species new to me.

Dragonfly (Can someone ID this species, please?)


The hazards of a tropical jungle. Walking into webs is yuck!

Eeeeek! Spiders!
Golden Orb Spider(top image) & Cyrtophora cicatrosa(bottom image)
*Info provided by: "MooMooCow"


Home of the creepy crawlies...

From left to right, top to bottom: Ants nest, Wasps treehouse? Mud Lobster castle & Termites hill.


In the harsh & cruel jungle, its a fight for survival from the trees top to the mud & water below.

Common Gliding Lizard & a mangrove snake (species unknown to me).


The snake in the above pic was killed later, assumedly by a Water Monitor Lizard which was sunning nearby. I saw the snake slithering slowly towards the Water Monitor. When I returned to the same spot about an hour later, snake was dead & the lizard was gone.

Swimming Water Monitors

Water Monitor Lizard & Changeable Lizards


Witnessed a battle on the jungle floor. A Common Sun Skink had flushed out & captured a centipede.

Dinner Is Taken!


In the very slow or motionless fauna category...

Phylum Mollusk


Did anyone mentioned chilli crabs?

Crabby Family

And they love to climb trees!


Encountered quite a number of photographers there. Not surprising as the mangrove forest is a haven for birds & a heaven for bird watchers/photographers. At the river banks, many species of water birds hunt, feed, roost, mate & build nest there.

Waterfront properties & diners at the river.

Home Sweet Home


The bottom image in the above pic is a man-made Hornbill nest to encourage Hornbill to breed. Singapore is too urbanized with too few areas having big trees left, hence the artificial hornbill nests program. I didn't see any Hornbill around, but was told that there are always a few nearby. I might be going back for a pic of the Hornbill & tries to gets its autograph. LOL! =P

Beside the rarer Hornbill, there are an abundance of other birds in the mangrove forest. Many of them are so shy & unwilling to show themselves! I can hear them, caught glimpses of them flicking/hopping in the foliage, taunting me & refused to stay still for a decent portrait! Some are so timid that at 50m away, you took 2 steps towards them & they fly for dear life! It's so frustrating!
C'mon little birdies, I'm just a Harmless Hamster. Don't you wanna be immortalized in my blog & album? LOL! =P

Here are some good birdies who posed for me. xD

From left to right, top to bottom: Little Heron, juvenile Little Heron, a pair of Black-crowned Night Heron, adult & juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, Eastern Cattle Egret, Little Egret & Grey Heron.


1 of my personal favorite species of birds is the Kingfishers. Till date, I'd taken pics of 4 species, but they are very very difficult to approach for a nice pic. Snobbish little birds!
The most common Kingfisher in Singapore got to be the White-collared Kingfisher. They are omnipresent at all parks I'd been to so far.

White-collared Kingfishers


Saw 2 other species at Pasir Ris Park.

Stork-billed Kingfisher & White-throated Kingfisher


Was told there are also Black-capped Kingfishers at the mangrove forest. This is 1 species I'd not taken pics of & hoping for pics of them next time I visit.
Other species of birds I spotted at Pasir Ris Park were...

From left to right, top to bottom: Yellow-vented Bulbul, Pacific Swallows, Whimbrel & White-breasted Waterhen

From left to right, top to bottom: Blue-throated Bee-eater, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, male Asian Koel, Ashy Tailorbird, Asian Brown Flycatcher & a juvenile Black-naped Oriole.


Now, to the tragic tale of the Sunda Woodpeckers. I spotted a nesting pair at the park & my shooting partner took a few pics. By watching their behaviors, we believe they have nestling. They would take turns going for the grocery. When 1 returned, it would land a distance from the nest, checking for threats. We were standing directly below their nest about 2 meters away. Guess they don't perceived us as a threat. After satisfying there's no threat, it would land on top of their hole-in-the-tree home & signal its mate by knocking on the wood with its beak. Its mate will pop out real fast in a flash.

A pair of Sunda Woodpeckers at their nest. The blurred image of the flying 1 is due to the low light condition at that time.


The next day, my guy went back, hoping for better light condition to get a clearer pic of 1 in flight. Just when he reached the site, 1 of the woodpecker flew out from the nest. My guy turned to follow its flight & suddenly, from a nearby tree swooped a hawk. The woodpecker is fast, but the hawk is faster. It caught the woodpecker in flight, u-turned & headed back to the tree. My guy instantly gave chase. He knew the fate of the poor woodpecker was sealed, but his impulsive furious thoughts to the hawk were: "Damnit! You spoiled my chance for a nice pic! Either give me back my woodpecker or a clear shot of you, idiot hawk!" The panicky hawk clutching its prey flew from tree to tree trying to escape. He lost it after the 6th flight, but got a few pics. The hunter or huntress I should say, is a female Japanese Sparrowhawk.

The female Japanese Sparrowhawk clutching my poor little woodpecker. =(


After hearing about this distressing event, I need some cheering up. When I went to the park again, the return happiness came in the form of a baby Spotted Wood Owl. It's so cute, bobbing its head up, down & sideway looking at us with those huge eyes. Such a joy watching it, knowing that at least, here's a success story.

Baby Spotted Wood Owl


And beware. Mommy is watching nearby.

Mommy Spotted Wood Owl


Spotted Wood Owl is the largest owl in Singapore & is considered critically endangered here mainly due to habitat destruction. It's no surprise that many species are in danger in a small, but very urbanized island. With the recent population increase, more & more forested area will be cleared for housing. Too many city dwellers do not know how to appreciate or care about nature.

Please Keep Mother Nature Alive.

Her Demise Is Our Doom!

Love Her & Love Her Well!


Note to readers: There might be error in my identification of species or some species name were left out due to my limited knowledge. If so, please help to rectify or clarify. Thanks in advance!

DownTown

Saturday, 12th Mar, 2011 ~ A friend had 4 free cinema tixs & so we went to watch Rango @The Cathay. Upon arriving, saw an inter-school lion dance competition going on. Took the opportunity to snap a few pics with their displays.

The Lion & The Dragon


After collecting the tixs & since we had lots of time to kill, we headed to the nearby Fort Canning Park for some nature photography. Passed by YMCA & took a series of pics with their signage.

YMCA


The day was cloudy & it got dimmer when we arrived at the outskirts of the park. Not a good day for photography & my friends noticed dark clouds approaching. Checked with an iPad & confirmed that rain is indeed coming our way. Took a few hurried shots & got out of there as there are few shelters around.

@Fort Canning Park


Next to the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, near a busy traffic junction is a tiny patch of greenery planted with beds of pretty flowers. We might as well do some photography here while we wait for the sky to clear & if it rain, there are plenty of shelters nearby.

City Greenery Beauty


No lack of subjects in that little patch of greenery. You just have to be patient & observant. Mother Nature is everywhere.

Insects Abound

Beetle & Butterfly

Nature Macro Photography


Naturally, I am also a child of nature. =P

Obviously Natural


While my friends were indulging in some serious photography, I was playing with my new iPhone 4. When I was contemplating to buy the iPhone 4, people told me that its camera has no macro function. Glad that I didn't listen to them. It got a zoom function which I knew can be used for macro photography. That day was as good as any to give it a test run & the results turned out surprisingly well, considering it's just a cellphone camera. The iPhone 4 can capture decent video too. I know there are cellphones with better camera, but that's not the point. I didn't buy the phone for its camera. Just wanna push the boundary & see what I could do with an iPhone 4. The composited pic below is of me using a iPhone 4 to take pic of a Plain Tiger butterfly & the result is on the right. Pretty cool huh? =D

Macro Photography with iPhone 4


Below are a few more examples of macro photography taken by me with my iPhone 4. I love my iPhone! xD

Insects Photography with iPhone 4

Flora Photography with iPhone 4


We ended up spending a few hours enjoying nature photography at that tiny garden, amid busy city traffic & noise. Many people passing by were giving us weird or puzzled looks. I know many iPhone owners used its camera for either self-shot or snapshots of their friends, mostly boring stuffs. Hamster me will be chasing insects or doing nature photography with my iPhone. LOL! xD

Anyway, we watched Rango & the movie is quite hilarious. OMG, that Johnny Depp with his signature screams! LOL! =P

Rango & Hamster