red squid stranded @ t.bemban besar 22May2011

This little squid was stranded in a small puddle on a sandbank just metres away from the vast sea.

It must have been caught off guard as the tide was running out and had to stay put in the puddle to await the return of the rising tide. In the meantime, it faced certain risks such as being discovered by shorebirds such as herons and egrets and also risked being turned into squid soup due to it being a clear blue sky morning with the sun shining with all it's glory.

The birds were probably kept at bay because there were some other nosy bipedal morps walking that section of the exposed submerged reef that morning.

daylight hunting octopus @ t.bemban besar 22May2011

It was surprising to see not one but two small octopus out hunting in broad daylight. Normally, octopus are seen on an exposed submerged reef at night or in the early hours of the morning.

These actively went about using their tentacles to probe around and under rocks, coral and sponges looking for food such as crabs and small fish.

abandoned fish nets @ semakau 21May2011

res ipsa loquitor

Where could this bundle of heavy duty fish nets have come from?
The pile, made up of two or three large heavy duty nets, was freshly washed up ... probably within the day as it was relatively easy to extricate parts of it from the tree they were wrapped around. Given that the bundle had stayed together in a small tight bundle, it is probable that the bundle had not travelled far at all before coming to rest around the mangrove tree on the Semakau foreshore.

there was at least one crab stuck in the netting. 

leaves and branches of the tree caught in one of the nets

Close-up showing the heavy-duty nets. The red 'thread' joins two parts together.

apathetic fishermen III @ SBWR 15May2011

Here we go again...

The first half shows a young man well prepared for his poaching expedition on his kayak armed with a fishing rod, water, sunshades and visor (inter alia). He even had an air-filled plastic bag presumably containing some fish. He had found his way around Pulau Buloh within a stone's throw from Platform 2 and just outside of a sluice gate probably hoping to land a good catch. Instead he was caught by two park visitors who made prompt telephone calls to the park rangers which caused him to pack up and flee towards Platform 1. On seeing the ranger beckoning for him to come 'ashore', he quickly turned his kayak and paddled out towards Kranji.

The second half of the clip shows a yellow-shirted man ("YSM") with a cast net walking across the mouth of Sungei Buloh Besar. The tide was low enough for the walk but the YSM failed to net anything significant except some very small fish. (The bigger fish had probably already been prevented from coming in due to the long gill/drift nets placed a little further out by the other fishermen.) This YSM disappeared into the mangrove at the east bank. He would probably walk out towards the Kranji Nature Trail.

Let's have a look at relevant legislation :-

Parks and Trees Act

Restricted activities in respect of animals, etc., in national parks and nature reserves

9. —(1) No person shall, except with the approval of the Commissioner granted under section 12 and in accordance with the terms and conditions of such approval, carry out any of the following activities within any national park or nature reserve:

(a) capture, displace or feed any animal;

(b) disturb or take the nest of any animal;

(c) collect, remove or wilfully displace any other organism;

(d) use any animal, firearm, explosive, net, trap, hunting device or instrument or means whatever for the purpose of capturing any animal; or

(e) carry or have in the person’s possession any explosive, net, trap or hunting device.

(2) No person shall carry out any activity within any national park or nature reserve which he knows or ought reasonably to know causes or may cause injury to, or the death of, any animal or any other organism within the national park or nature reserve.

(3) No person shall, except with the approval of the Commissioner granted under section 12 and in accordance with the terms and conditions of such approval —

(a) bring or release or cause any animal to be brought or released into a nature reserve; or

(b) permit any domestic animal to stray into a nature reserve.

(4) Any person who contravenes subsection (1), (2) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine of $500 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.

scarlet-backed flowerpecker@ SBWR - May2011

This lovely little bird was busy choosing cherries on an Indian Cherry (Muntingia calabura) tree. This tree is located near the path from the visitor centre leading to the main bridge. It was full of green berry-like fruit.

In spite of the ungainly bipedal lifeform observing it almost within arms reach, it merrily went about choosing fruit. Settling on one and despite dangling vertically, it first poked into it a few times with its sharp beak. Then it grabbed it within its beak and flew off to an adjacent branch for a more horizontal position whereupon it proceeded to squeeze out the juice into its beak. It also rolled the fruit around in its beak probably to get the best leverage for each remaining part of the berry. It took just over a minute and a half to juice a berry whereupon it promptly discarded it and wiped its beak against the branch it was on.


Find out more about the bird here :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet-backed_Flowerpecker
http://birdsoftheworldonline.com/scarlet-backed-flowerpecker-dicaeum-cruentatum
http://www.besgroup.org/2011/01/09/scarlet-backed-flowerpecker-eating-fruit-of-indian-cherry/

otter makantime II @ SBWR May2011

The resident wild otters at SBWR were out for some breakfast and made their way over to Sungei Billabong Buloh (dunno how Singapore got a 'billabong') which separates Pulau Buloh from the rest of SBWR. 

Platforms 1 and 2 are good vantage points to see the otters in action.

It was a low tide morning and all the fish were concentrated in a much shallower column of water. Schooling fish are already naturally jumpy and are more so when being chased by predatory mouths. 

The otters dived repeatedly looking for their prized fish species.... catfish. They did not seem very interested in the other fish schooling in the upper part of the water column but they seemed to dive to the bottom most of the time with their long tails occasionally showing above the water.

Soon enough, a catfish was found and the otter went about holding it with its hands whilst munching into the tail. Perhaps the otters bite into the tail first to disable the fish in case the fish does try to get away. However, it seems that the otters prefer mainly the tail region and any innards which can be pulled out from the rear of fish. This has been observed on other occasions. 

Strangely, despite there being a good meaty portion of freshly caught catfish left, the otters frequently abandon the fish and move on to look for other fish. They seem to do this over and over and can catch and 'tail' up to 2 or 3 catfish in an equivalent number of hours leaving easy leftovers for anything else that may come by (like the numerous monitor lizards which also inhabit the reserve).