Crocodiles and Otters at Sungei Buloh

Made 3 trips to Sungei Buloh recently, and was really lucky to spot 2 crocodiles and several otters there!


Here's one of the Estuarine Crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) that I spotted on Saturday.


And here's a close-up of it taken just now when it was right under the main bridge.


Here's the other crocodile which I photograph on Saturday. I personally thought this one has more yellowish/brownish coloration, while the previous one is more greyish in colour. Not sure if it was due to the sunlight or what.


When I saw it again earlier today, it appeared to be stalking a Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)! So guess Peiting might be right afterall!

Somehow, both crocodiles appeared to be keeping a safety distance between each other - either one on each side of the river bank, or each side of the bridge.


And earlier, we were exceptionally lucky, as not only we saw 2 crocodiles, we saw a family of Smooth Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) too!


They eventually decided to ran over to river to catch some fish to eat. Wow! The students with me were all really excited.


Last Friday, before we went to Sungei Buloh, I managed to get Marcus to accompany me to go to Sungei Kadut to check out the Kalak Kambing (Finlaysonia obovata) there, and a number of them were flowering. While this climber is rather uncommon else where, there is a good population here, with more than 15 individuals. And that's before I eventually decided to stop counting.


On Saturday, I also managed to get Peiting (thanks a million for providing the transport) to accompany me to check out Kranji Nature Trail, which I had spotted a Kalak Kambing previously. And it was actually fruiting with huge fruits! Somehow, the fruits always remind me of the Pringles moustache... There were lots of Red Weaver Ants (oecophylla smaragdina) on the fruits. Unfortunately, all the Kalak Kambing that I had spotted previously at Sungei Buloh were neither flowering nor fruiting. Still, I had taken a number of photos of the ones at Sungei Kadut and Kranji Nature Trail, so guess will put up a separate entry (update: the entry is up!) when I have the time.


Not too far away from the Kalak Kambing, we saw a pair of Atlas moths (Attacus atlas) mating! These moths are considered the biggest moth in the world in terms of total wing surface area!


We saw this Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica) near the visitor counter at Sungei Buloh. In fact, this was like the third or fourth time that I had seen it here, foraging for fruits and seeds on the ground.


While checking out the crocodiles and otters at the main bridge, I managed to get a shot of this Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) too. This is the largest kingfisher in Singapore.


A smaller kingfisher we saw was this Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris), which can be commonly spotted in many parts of Singapore.


At Sungei Kadut, we saw a small flock of Scaly-breasted Munias (Lonchura punctulata) feeding on grass seeds.


Marcus was rather happy to find that the fruit bats were still at the same spot he showed me the last time.


And near the bats' roosting area was this wasp attending to its larvae.


At the entrance to Sungei Buloh, I found the Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris) fruiting! Even though this was planted, it was still quite exciting to see this rare mangrove plant fruiting.


Further away in the reserve, another mangrove plant which was rather rare in Singapore was flowering! It was the Tumu Putih (Bruguiera sexangula), and this plant was a naturally occurring one!

All three trips were certainly rather fun and fulfilling for me. And somehow, with the crocodiles appearing so often these days near the main bridge, I just can't wait to find time to go there again soon!