Had wanted to go Sungei Buloh initially, but changed my mind and went to Pulau Ubin instead. My main objective for the day was to get some photos of the Berus Mata Buaya (Bruguiera hainesii). Now that I had a camera with better zoom, I was hoping to get some better photos for use in future.
Along the way, I found several of the Mangrove Tit-berry (Allophylus cobbe) fruiting. The leaves of many of them were in rather bad shape though - many them were eaten up by some herbivores.
On some of them, I found lots of these little bug nymphs that I couldn't identify. Are these the ones feeding on the leaves? Hmm...
I also spotted a wild Rapanea porteriana. This was my first time seeing a wild specimen on Ubin! Understand there were a few huge trees on this island, but until this trip, I have only seen the ones planted by Nparks. Unfortunately, it wasn't flowering or fruiting though.
I also found many cicada moults. While I could hear them singing among the trees, I did not spot any adult cicadas during this trip though.
And finally, I reach Noordin Beach, and found the Berus Mata Buaya (Bruguiera hainesii). There were lots of flowers on the tree!
I managed to get a few close-ups of the flowers growing on lower branches. Unfortunately, none was as low as the one I saw at Pasir Ris last time.
A few had developed the seedlings already too! The calyx (cap-like structure on top) was pinkish in colour, with the sepals bending downwards like claws. However, I noticed that this bright colour was only present on seedlings exposed to sunlight.
This seedling under the shade had calyx that was greenish-yellow instead of pink.
After taking a few shots, I decided to head towards Kekek Quarry to take a look at the mangroves along the way.
Along the way, there was this Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) that was rather cooperative, and I managed to get quite a few shots of it.
I had a pleasant surprise when I saw this young plant at the edge of the mangrove. It looked very much like a Sonneratia caseolaris from the leaves, especially with the reddish leaf stalk. However, the branching was more typical of Sonneratia ovata, and I have seen young S. ovata with slightly pointed leaves before. Guess I would have to wait till it's more mature to really confirm the ID.
Another nice surprise was this Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina). This mildly venomous snake can be regularly spotted on Pulau Ubin.
Saw a number of the usual mangrove plants before I reached Kekek. And as I was walking back, the ever-so-kind van driver, Mr Chu, saw me and gave me a ride back to Ubin town! Thank you so much, Mr Chu :)
Back at Changi Village, I stopped by the Creeping Fig (Ficus pumila) near the hawker centre to check out the figs. Wonder if they will change colour as they ripen?
As it was still early, I decided to go to Pasir Ris to check out the Berus Mata Buaya there. But before I reached, it started pouring! I had to seek shelter at the park to wait for the rain to stop.
Not far from the shelter were several Podocarpus trees. This tree is a conifer, and thus does not flower. Instead, the reproductive structures developed on cones, and there are male and female trees. This was a female, as I could see the ovules (the fruit-like structures).
On one of the trees, the ovules were already fertilised! The receptacle turned yellow and eventually, red, and the ovule became the seed.
I finally reached the Berus Mata Buaya at Pasir Ris. It had many seedlings too!
I remembered Nparks planted a few Rapanea porteriana and decided to go to the site to take a look. Unlike the one I found at Ubin early this morning, a few of them were fruiting! But due to the rain, I did not managed to get better shots.
Guess I probably have to come back again another day to get some better photos :)
Sunday, October 04, 2009
From Ubin to Pasir Ris on 3 Oct 2009
Friday, October 02, 2009
Matang with Nparks Volunteers - Day 3
Day 3 was the last day of our Matang trip, but we were not heading straight back to Singapore. Instead, Gary had arranged for a visit to Zoo Taiping & Night Safari. The zoo director, Dr Kevin Lazarus, kindly followed us during the entire trip.
I did not really take many photos since they were mostly captive animals, so here's a selection of the ones that attracted me.
The White-handed Gibbon (Hylobates lar) enclosure was the first attraction we visited. The gibbon can be differentiated from monkeys by lacking a tail. This is a diurnal animals, so don't expect to see it if you visit the zoo at night, when it became a night safari.
The Siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) was another gibbon found here. It's larger than the White-handed Gibbon, but like the latter, it is mostly frugivorous, though it feeds on leaves and flowers too.
There were a few Malayan Porcupine (Hystrix brachyura) in one of the enclosures, and I really hope to see them in the wild one of these days.
The Wild Boars (Sus scrofa) reminded me of Jonathan. Not that he looks like a wild boar, but he's managing the wild boar survey at Pulau Ubin :P
The zoo was right next to a primary forest, and so it's no surprise that many wild animals found there way here too. You might have noticed that the macaques above had rather short tails - they were Pigtail Macaques (Macaca nemestrina).
It appeared to be feeding time, and this Smooth Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) were rather lucky to have caught one of the live fishes thrown into the enclosure by a worker.
The Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) is the smallest member of the bear family (Ursidae). It is still a very fierce animals though.
There's a colony of Black-crowned Night Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) in one of the enclosures. The white bird on top-left is a Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) though.
These African Spoonbills (Platalea alba) were not native to Malaysia actually, but I decided to take a photo since they looked rather comical.
As we walked on, we had more wild surprises! This is a White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis), and we also saw several other wild birds like barbets and starlings. Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to get a good shot of them.
Another wild animal we saw was this Dusky Leaf Monkey (Trachypithecus obscurus). I must add that this zoo really did a good job planting more trees to allow it to blend into the surrounding forest, and thus allowing it to attract all kinds of wild animals!
In a nearby enclosure, we saw the Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus) - the only species of tapir native to Asia. This animal also reminded me of a conversation I had with a taxi driver, who told me that he had seen one near Changi area, probably swam over from Malaysia!
One of our last stations was the Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) enclosure. It was feeding time too, and thus we got to see them opening their gigantic mouths as the worker threw in bananas.
After the walk around the zoo, Dr Kevin kindly arranged for a splendid lunch while we had a question-and-answer session at the same time. I was really impressed with caterer - not just because the food was really good, but they were not using disposable utensils, like what the caterers usually do back in Singapore.
We eventually left the zoo and finally reached Singapore around 9 plus in the evening.
It had certainly been a very fun and enriching trip. Here's a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who attended this trip for making it such a wonderful one! :)
See also: