Flying Dragons at NUS

When Marcus saw me with my camera hooked to my belt as we were going for lunch yesterday, he asked me why I brought it along and jokingly commented that it was so "tong tong hi" (too hard to translate, but those who understand teochew will know what it means...).

And I told him that you won't know what interesting organisms you might see on the way to lunch.

And little did I know that it turned out to be true, and we spotted this female Common Flying Dragon (Draco sumatranus, formerly confused with Draco volans)!


It was just there, flattened itself against the tree trunk. Flying dragons, also known as gliding lizards, have a flap of skin extending from each side of their bodies, supported by their long ribs. They are able to glide from place to place by spreading out its ribs (somewhat like opening a folding fan) to form a gliding surface.

Then all of a suddenly, it ran higher. I initially thought that it was because of me, until I saw another one!


There was a male flying dragon just higher up the tree trunk!


On seeing the female, the male, which has a bluish head, suddenly turned and face upwards.


It then started extending its large yellow throat flap - a courtship behaviour!


Here's a closer look at the flying dragon's head upper body with the throat flap extended.

From, now on, I think I'm going to bring my camera along whenever I go out for lunch... :P

Big Fat Puff Balls

Last Friday on my way to work, I saw a number of brown balls by the side of a grassy slope.


Taking a closer look, I noticed that these brown balls had a stalk! They are fungi!


Checked with LK and also the fungi guide book later, and realised that this is actually a puff ball, probably a Calvatia sp. This puff ball is supposed to be rather common, and can usually found on lawns, golf greens and open fields. And this was really huge for a fungi. Just compare it with the grass blades by the side - its almost 15cm wide!


Here're 2 of them. There were like 5 or 6 of them on the grass patch. They apparently got their common name from their round basidiocarps and the way the spores of many species with soft basidiocarps are being "puffed out" by rain drops.

While I have seen puff balls before, I have never seen such big ones. Guess there're still a lot of nature stuff in Singapore waiting to be seen, but sometimes, you just need to be at the right place at the right time :P

Dragonflies at Ang Mo Kio Lotus Pond

It's been a while since I last visited the lotus pond at Ang Mo Kio. When I went there in February this year, XF grumbled that I didn't meet up with him even though it's just opposite his house, so this time round I decided to drag him along as I explored the area.


Somehow the lotuses did not seem to be doing very well though, and most of them seemed to be dying. Not sure if it's a seasonal thing.

But as usual, there were lots of dragonflies!


Here's a male Acisoma panorpoides, which is quite common in Singapore. I especially like the colour of its compound eyes - don't the eyes look like 2 little pieces of turquoise?


I often had problem identifying this blue dragonfly, which could be a Aethriamanta gracilis or Brachydiplax chalybea. I assume its the former in this case though, since the dragonfly is not very big, and the latter is supposed to be bigger.


I was pleasantly surprised to see this big blue dragonfly, probably a Orthetrum glaucum.


Other than the blue dragonflies, we saw several red ones too. Had thought the above is a Crocothemis servilia, but on checking again, thought the red is not as bright as the usual C. servilia that I've seen, and it doesn't have a black line on its abdomen, so it's probably a Rhodothemis rufa instead.


Here's another red dragonfly. Looks rather similar to the previous one, but I think it is probably a Orthetrum testaceum as the colour of the eyes looks different. Note sure if I'm right though.


This one looks like a Orthetrum chrysis to me.


And of course, we also spotted this very common dragonfly, Neurothemis fluctuans.


Apart from the dragonflies, there were several damselflies too. The above is one of them, but I won't attempt to try to identify its species, since frankly speaking, many of them just look too similar to me.


With so many dragonflies and damselflies, there are some of their predators around too, such as the batik golden web spider (Nephila antipodiana).


There were also several lizards around, including this green-crested lizard (Bronchocela cristatella). It is now rather uncommon to see these lizards, as they were out-competed by the introduced changeable lizard.

It was rather amazing when you think about it, that there were still so many little pockets of nature among the concrete jungles of Singapore. Just a short walk around a little pond in the middle of the neighbourhood, and I was rewarded with so many interesting wildlife!

My Epiphyllum Finally Blooms

My epiphyllum finally blooms!

Got this epiphyllum with ST and LK quite some time ago, and I have also given one leaf cutting to CH. So far, however, it has never flower, and my previous postings on this magnificent flower were based on my brother's epiphyllum.


This is how the flower looked like around 10pm - about half opened.


By 11.30pm, it was already in full bloom! Noticed that the flower looked quite different from my brother's epiphyllum though. The petals were much thinner, and the style was pink in colour, tipped with a yellow stigma. Not sure if this variety was also called Queen of the Night, though I doubt. My brother's epiphyllum also has more layers of petals, and personally, I think it's a little prettier compared to mine too. Hmm...


Checked the Net and realised that while my brother's plant is Epiphyllum oxypetalum, mine is probably Epiphyllum strictum. Anyway, it's still a very magnificent flower, with a lovely fragrance.


I wonder if the other bud will bloom tomorrow?

:)

Update:


Indeed, the other bud bloomed!


It somehow attracted more tiny little insects though.


And here's a look at both tonite's flower, and last night's flower, which has withered.

Actually, in this very same pot, I actually have a few Epiphyllum oxypetalum too, though they had hardly bloomed so far. Hopefully there will be a time when both species of epiphyllums in this pot bloom together. That will truly be spectacular!

Blooming of the Queen of the Night

Finally, my brother's Queen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) bloomed again!


The Queen of the Night, also called epiphyllum, is a very pretty flower that blooms at night. Being a cactus that originated from the deserts in Central and South America, it is believed that the epiphyllum blooms at night as it is cooler and thus reduces water loss.

Some species of epiphyllums do bloom in the day, especially the hybrids which produce brightly coloured flowers.


Here's how the plant looks like. The word "epiphyllum" in Latin means "upon the leaf", and it's not hard to see how it gets this name from the photo above.

Dragonflies & Other Critters at AMK Lotus Pond

Decided to go back to the lotus pond at Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West to take a look, and well, must say that again, it didn't disappoint me! :)

The lotuses were blooming as beautifully as before!



But well, today my purpose here was not just to look at the beautiful lotuses, but to look for the many dragonflies and other little animals.



The first type of dragonfly I spotted at the pond was this blue one, probably a Aethriamanta gracilis. Would say it's quite common since I've seen it at many places, though it looks almost identical to a bigger species, Brachydiplax chalybea, so I may be mixed up between the two.



If I remember correctly, this should be a Sabine’s Skimmer (Orthetrum sabina).



A red one here. Was it laying eggs? Hmm... thought usually the males are the ones with the brighter colours. Not sure of the species for this though.



When I was young, we used to call this "Red Auntie". It's a Neurothemis fluctuans.



Had a hard time trying to grab a shot of this female Macrodiplax cora, as it was resting in the middle of a bush taller than me.



Found several smaller dragonflies (Acisoma panorpoides) among the shorter bushes too. The above is probably a female one.



This is the male one... Saw it trying to mate with the female one in the previous photo.



Have no idea whether this is male or female though. It's green, in the middle of yellow (the female) and blue (the male)... Could it be... Hmm.... Haha... Guess it could be an immature male?



Hmm... not sure when the adult dragonfly will emerge from this...



There were lots of damselflies too, and they are actually close relatives of the dragonflies. The above is a male Agriocnemis femina.



This immature male Agriocnemis femina has caught a smaller insect in its jaws.



A very pretty red female Agriocnemis femina. Had a hard time getting a shot of it as well, as it kept flying around...



Another red female Agriocnemis femina, but the colour is not as brilliant.

There were also many butterflies, but as per always, it's really hard to take photos of them, and so I only managed to get a few shots.



Here's a really tiny one... Looks like the Lesser Grass Blue (Zizina otis lampa).



This is probably a Chocolate Pansy (Junonia hedonia). Poor thing, part of its wings were missing...



Wonder if a butterfly or a moth will emerge from this?



Also saw this pretty fly above on a lotus leaf.

Enough of the insects, how about some insect-feeders now?



The spider against the pond skater... I didn't stay lay enough to see what's the outcome though. Did the skater managed to escape, or perhaps the spider had no intention of catching it for dinner?



Saw quite a few of these stick-like spiders on the stems of the lotus leaves.



And not to forget the huge golden orb web spider (Nephila sp.). It may not be the biggest spider, but it makes one of the biggest and strongest web...



This toad suddenly jumped out of the grass below my hand when I was trying to take a shot of a dragonfly. Gave me quite a shock when it did that :P

Frankly speaking, didn't quite expect to see so many things around this little pond, as I didn't really explore much the last time I was here.

Had a hard time taking good photos though because my camera only comes with a 3x zoom, and many of the animals are on the lotus leaves in the middle of the pond. But still, it was a good trip! Definitely must find time to revisit it again :)