Seen from the main hide at SBWR, this large Malayan Water Monitor (Varanus salvator) was busy flicking its blue-ish toungue and 'smell-tasting' the mud around it. It had no problems with its toungue touching the mud and then retrieving it into its mouth. Why does it do this? That's where the vomeronasal organ which enables it to 'smell' what it's toungue 'tastes' is found. Have a look here :vomeronasal organ.
Why is the toungue forked? See this link for an explanation.
Read more about this lizard here :
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/reptilia/salvator.htm
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/verts/monitor_lizard.htm
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards/malayan_water_monitor.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/factsheet/malymonitor.htm
http://iyb2010singapore.blogspot.com/2010/12/magnificent-monitors.html
http://iyb2010singapore.blogspot.com/2010/12/busting-myths-about-monitors.html
http://iyb2010singapore.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-on-monitors.html
and about Singapore's rarest monitor lizard...
http://iyb2010singapore.blogspot.com/2011/01/monitors-of-singapore-whos-rarest-of.html
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2008/2008nis21-22.pdf
How many monitor lizards are there at SBWR?
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-many-monitor-lizards-are-at-sungei.html
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2011/03/counting-monitor-lizards-at-sungei.html
How do you distinguish between a water monitor and a crocodile?
http://www.sbwr.org.sg/wetlands/text/06-133-1.htm
Are there other blue-toungued lizards?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-tongued_skink
http://www.zoo-zoom.com/Blue%20Tongue%20Lizard.htm
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
little heron fishing @ SBWR June 2011
This Little Heron (Butorides striatus) was observed walking on the mudflat just in front of the main hide at SBWR. The clip was shot at about 9.45am and the bird had just caught a small fish in a shallow pool. Clearing its throat, it began to shift its neck from side to side a little as if to re-align it. Then it began stalking another small fish. The bird's approach is an ultimate lesson in stalking anything. Its poise and control over its movement to the point of carefully placing its feet on the soft mud and targetting its prey is amazing.
I had previously observed, a few years ago and at the then unused lagoon at the East Coast Parkway, another little heron using small pieces of bread (thrown by park visitors to feed the fish) to bait the fish. It would break off a small piece of bread and place it within reach in the water nearby. Once a suitably sized fish approached the crumb, the bird would target it and with great accuracy catch the fish. It kept doing this for a while to great success.
Read more about this fascinating bird here :
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Butorides_striatus.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striated_Heron
I had previously observed, a few years ago and at the then unused lagoon at the East Coast Parkway, another little heron using small pieces of bread (thrown by park visitors to feed the fish) to bait the fish. It would break off a small piece of bread and place it within reach in the water nearby. Once a suitably sized fish approached the crumb, the bird would target it and with great accuracy catch the fish. It kept doing this for a while to great success.
Read more about this fascinating bird here :
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Butorides_striatus.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striated_Heron
Sunday, June 5, 2011
yellow-vented bulbul @ SBWR June 2011
A short clip of this supposedly very common bird chirping away. Although I've heard the birdsong through the trees and bush in various places (such as Pulau Ubin and at Sungei Buloh), I had not had the good oppurtunity to actually meet it's maker up close until the footage was shot.
Read more about this wonderful bird here :
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Pycnonotus_goiavier.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-vented_Bulbul
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2009/2009nis347-352.pdf
Saturday, June 4, 2011
waterhens @ SBWR May2011
The clip is of 2 different white-breasted waterhens at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
The first part shows a waterhen sitting over 5 light-brown speckled eggs in a nest which was in a bush about 50cm off the ground just in front of the viewing area at the main hide. It was surprising to see the nest midway in the bush as I had always seen this bird foraging around on the ground and it had not occurred to me that a nest would be off the ground. It does make good sense to make the nest above ground in a thick bush as this would hide it from the numerous water monitors in the reserve.
The eggs were laid about 3 weeks ago and there was, most of the time, one adult waterhen in the nest tending to the eggs. After about 3 weeks, there was no sign of the chicks in the nest or anywhere around the nest area. Hopefully, all the eggs had survived and hatched successfully. I am not aware as to how long it would take the chicks to fledge. Or perhaps the chicks were so still that it appeared that the nest was empty. Lighting in the nest itself was subdued as the cover of leaves was thick. The clip shows an adult waterhen, about two weeks into the nesting, caring for eggs by shielding them from the elements and moving them closer to it's body. Another observer had seen the adult leave the nest to forage close by and so the eggs are occasionally left alone.
It was amazing to see the nest so close to the main hide. Further, the adult waterhens did not seem to mind the noise from the bipedaled lifeforms frequenting the hide on the weekends. A check with the park rangers revealed that the area in front of the main hide was a popular waterhen nesting site for quite a few years.
The second part shows another waterhen taking a morning bath at the side of the 'tidal' pond near Platform 1. Incidentally, there was a 2m crocodile frequently seen at the other end of the pond and it was surprising to see this waterhen so boldly dunking itself in the water. Perhaps it did not know of the crocodile's existence.
Read more about waterhens :-
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Amaurornis_phoenicurus.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-breasted_Waterhen
Sunday, May 29, 2011
black tip reef shark @ Semakau 28May2011
As were were dragging the huge net across the shallow mudflat, I noticed a small white triangular object in the water about 50metres away. I did ask out aloud.. "Hey, what's that over there?" but the rest of the group were too pre-occupied with dragging the heavy carelessly abandoned net in shallow water across the semi-soft mudflat. We had enough to be busy with trying not to trip over the huge net.
After reaching a clear spot on the mudflat where we decided to work on separating the nets, someone exclaimed that the white 'thing' was the fin of a shark on its side. Instantly, the whole group of eight forgot about the nets and headed towards the white fin.
It was a male black-tip reef shark and quite clearly either really comatose or really dead although it looked perfectly fine and healthy. No signs of trauma on its body at all. Still just to be sure, we made sure to keep our hands away from its mouth in case it came to.
There was only a tiny (about 5mm x 0.5mm long) marine leech wriggling on one side of the shark's body. At 1.2m long, the shark was heavy too. I estimated its weight at between 10 to 15 kilos.
James did his best as a shark whisperer to try to see if it would regain its glory and come to life. He even tried 'swimming' the shark in the shallows by giving it a boost pushing its tail hoping that some speed through the water would do it some good but it was already past its time. (We did suggest to him to try CPR but he respectfully declined.)
None of us could figure out why the healthy looking specimen was dead on its side. It did not look like it had gotten caught in some fisherman's net or line. Perhaps it was just its time. At 1.2m, this may be a normal adult size for this particular species of black tip reef shark.
We left it in the shallows where we had found it.
After reaching a clear spot on the mudflat where we decided to work on separating the nets, someone exclaimed that the white 'thing' was the fin of a shark on its side. Instantly, the whole group of eight forgot about the nets and headed towards the white fin.
It was a male black-tip reef shark and quite clearly either really comatose or really dead although it looked perfectly fine and healthy. No signs of trauma on its body at all. Still just to be sure, we made sure to keep our hands away from its mouth in case it came to.
There was only a tiny (about 5mm x 0.5mm long) marine leech wriggling on one side of the shark's body. At 1.2m long, the shark was heavy too. I estimated its weight at between 10 to 15 kilos.
James did his best as a shark whisperer to try to see if it would regain its glory and come to life. He even tried 'swimming' the shark in the shallows by giving it a boost pushing its tail hoping that some speed through the water would do it some good but it was already past its time. (We did suggest to him to try CPR but he respectfully declined.)
None of us could figure out why the healthy looking specimen was dead on its side. It did not look like it had gotten caught in some fisherman's net or line. Perhaps it was just its time. At 1.2m, this may be a normal adult size for this particular species of black tip reef shark.
We left it in the shallows where we had found it.
trying to swim the shark through the water...a futile little attempt.
checking the body for signs of trauma....none found!
See also Ria's WildShores blogpost about the shark and net clearing : http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2011/05/shark-on-semakau.html
Saturday, May 28, 2011
fish net cleanup @ semakau 28May2011
A sprightly group of 8 volunteers made their way to Pulau Semakau's intertidal mudflats with a mission to rid one of the mangrove trees on the intertidal of some carelessly discarded fish nets which had become wrapped around it and which was threatening its survival.
See http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2011/05/abandoned-fish-nets-semakau-21may2011.html for an earlier post when the nets were first discovered.
Leaving such nets without removing them can result in quite a few undesirable consequences. Due to the influence of the tides and incessant wave action, the nets may damage the tree by breaking its branches, 'suffocating' the trees by 'strangling' the trunk, branches and roots preventing the tree from growing normally. Further, such nets can cover prime mudflats available for seedlings to lodge and sprout. Singapore's already limited mangrove habitats are thereby even more limited by such 'litter'. The nets may also continue to trap intertidal animals, such as shore crabs, horseshoe crabs, fish, shore birds, monitor lizards etc.
It took quite a bit of work to remove the net from entanglement with the tree. Then we had to pile it up into a manageable bundle to move it to the extraction point some 200m away. At that point we thought that the entire bundle was made up of a few nets entangled together as there were three distinct hole sizes. We decided to move the bundle as it was to a more open part of the mudflats and the best way to do that was to float the bundle across the shallows. This involved a 150m trek on the mudflats through the shallows tugging the nets. All throughout the watery trek, we were mindful of having personal encounters with Mr Stone Fish. Semakau's shores are known to have stonefish. Indeed, one of the volunteers did have such an encounter on a submerged reef across from Semakau during an intertidal reefwalk about 1.5 years ago. He was evacuated, had a week's stay in the hospital and took some time after that to fully recover from the 'sting'. Luckily, we did not encounter any stonefish ... but we did encounter a black-tip reef shark. (See this link for more info).
On stretching the nets out, we realised that there were 3 nets all joined together to form one huge mega-net. It is very likely that the mega-net was used in a fish-farm type setting. Incidentally, there is a large floating commercial fish farm located a little further south along the Semakau coast.
We cut up the nets into smaller sections for easier portage. Later we had to carry these another about 500m through the Semakau forest trail to the access road for disposal.
It took quite a bit of work to remove the net from entanglement with the tree. Then we had to pile it up into a manageable bundle to move it to the extraction point some 200m away. At that point we thought that the entire bundle was made up of a few nets entangled together as there were three distinct hole sizes. We decided to move the bundle as it was to a more open part of the mudflats and the best way to do that was to float the bundle across the shallows. This involved a 150m trek on the mudflats through the shallows tugging the nets. All throughout the watery trek, we were mindful of having personal encounters with Mr Stone Fish. Semakau's shores are known to have stonefish. Indeed, one of the volunteers did have such an encounter on a submerged reef across from Semakau during an intertidal reefwalk about 1.5 years ago. He was evacuated, had a week's stay in the hospital and took some time after that to fully recover from the 'sting'. Luckily, we did not encounter any stonefish ... but we did encounter a black-tip reef shark. (See this link for more info).
On stretching the nets out, we realised that there were 3 nets all joined together to form one huge mega-net. It is very likely that the mega-net was used in a fish-farm type setting. Incidentally, there is a large floating commercial fish farm located a little further south along the Semakau coast.
We cut up the nets into smaller sections for easier portage. Later we had to carry these another about 500m through the Semakau forest trail to the access road for disposal.
 |
| The huge nets covering the still live tree. |
 |
| Checking out the size of the nets. |
 |
 |
| The different coloured threading shows where nets have been joined to form a much larger net. |
 |
| The blue threading here joins nets with larger holes. |
 |
| Stretching out one part of the mega-net on the mudflat |
 |
| This is a huge net! Not the kind fishermen would use but the heavy duty kind used on fishfarms for their pens. |
 |
| The 8 bags of nets all wrapped up ready for disposal. It took 8 volunteers about 2 hours to clear the nets from Semakau's foreshore. [Many thanks to NEA for facilitating the volunteer effort and for arranging the removal of the cleared nets!] |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)