Otter at Sungei Buloh

Today, SY and I went to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and Kranji Nature Trail for a recce. Have to say that we were really lucky, because the moment we stepped onto the main bridge, we saw a smooth otter (Lutrogale perspicillata)!


It was swimming around, hunting for fish.


After a while, it got one!


The otter then swam over to a pillar of the main bridge to feast on its catch.


But probably got tired of swimming and eating at the same time...


So it swam over to shallow water under some mangrove trees instead.


Got startled by a plantain squirrel jumping on the mangrove tree near it.


The last few mouthful... Yum yum!

Really glad that I decided to take a cab in instead of waiting for the bus. I could have missed all these by the time I walk all the way from the bus stop to the reserve!!!

And now, finally, I have a few decent shots of a smooth otter :)

Anyway, here are some of the other interesting things we saw at Sungei Buloh and Kranji Nature Trail.


Managed to find a little mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) at the usual area below the mangrove boardwalk. Had to look really hard though, since it was really small and it's definitely not easy trying to find something so small looking down from the boardwalk.


Several violet tree-climbing crabs (Episesarma versicolor) were resting in a hole on a tree.


Beneath one of the shelters, there were lots of mangrove anemones.


And of course, Malayan water monitors (Varanus salvator) were a common sight.


We also saw this stork-billed kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) looking at its own reflection in the window pane.


While we were taking photos, it jumped around and faced us a few times before jumping back to face the window pance again.


We also saw a few Pacific swallow (Hirundo tahitica) at Kranji Nature Trail.


And a spider with eggs!


Several huge golden orb web spiders (Nephila spp.) were spotted too.


We also saw a few small red coloured spiders on the web of the golden orb web spider, which were probably parasites feeding off the latter's catch. One of the little spiders could be the male golden orb web spider though :P