sgbeachbum: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

plantain squirrel breakfast @ SBWR

Plantain Squirrels can be commonly found all over the SBWR (and indeed in most of Singapore's forested as well as in urban areas with lots of tree cover). They are surprisingly very much at home amongst the mangrove trees. This particular squirrel was foraging for food on the mangrove mud amongst the stilt roots of the mangrove trees. It managed to find what seems to be a morsel of discarded pineapple or some other similar fruit which it then made a quick breakfast of.

croc undercover @ SBWR

How difficult is it to spot a predator which is truly in its element under water?

Would you be able to spot a croc if you were not expecting it to be there?

undercover croc @ SBWR from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

This one had just finished its solar soak and moved to the shade of some overhanging trees to better moderate its temperature. Near Hide 1B at SBWR.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

solar croc @ SBWR

This croc was on the sandbank at the SBWR Hide 1B in the late morning soaking up the sun's warmth for more than an hour. It provided the many morning visitors a great spectacle as they gawked at its full body prescence out of water.

Crocodiles are cold-blooded and therefore need to warm up quite a bit before they get active. This croc was moderating the heat by switching positions and panting with its mouth open.

Monday, November 28, 2011

many-lined sun skink @ SBWR

Sun skinks are very common in garden and forested areas all around Singapore. This one was at the SBWR garden in the midst of the visitor centre. It was searching amongst the leaf litter probably looking for food such as insects, spiders and worms.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

flied giant mudskipper @ SBWR

Flies are generally irritating. A single fly is bad enough. We've all been buzzed by that single bee which took a fancy to us despite our best efforts to get away from it. What more a cloud of flies? And flies which bite are much worse. It's not only humans who are disturbed by them but also the other fauna that inhabit whichever particular ecosystems the flies present themselves at. Mangroves are no exception to many types of flies ... especially biting ones.

The clip shows a giant mudskipper being swamped by what seems to be a horde of tiny mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are frequently seen settling on mudskippers but rarely in such a horde.

The mudskipper tries to get rid of them by swatting at them using its pectoral fins or quickly rolling over in a shallow muddle. Occasionally, it would wallow in the mud coating it's outer skin with mud. The mud coat seems to give it a temporary reprieve from the attacking horde. A combination of all these actions seems to work to some degree ensuring that no mozzie settles for more than a few seconds at a time. However, there are times when the mudskipper rests on the mud for quite some time without bothering much about the mozzies continuing with its daily burrow maintenance by spitting out mouthfuls of mud occasionally blinking away some of the annoying mozzies.

Read more about giant mudskippers here : http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/fish/gobiidae/schlosseri.htm
More video clips about mozzies and giant mudskippers : http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/fish/gobiidae/schlosseri1v.htm

Location Info : viewed from the main hide at SBWR(www.sbwr.org.sg)

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

a mudskipper's short story

Stars Mr E Skipper and friends.
shot on location at the fabulous Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve -Singapore. (sbwr.org.sg)

Sfx rain provided by the seasonal monsoon.

No dolphins were harmed in the production of this short.
www.saddestdolphins.com

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

oriental pied-hornbills @ SBWR

It was about 5pm when an oriental pied-hornbill flew to a tree near the SBWR main bridge with something in its mouth. The snack looked like a small tree climbing crab. The bird flew across to a perch on a dead tree at the far side of the main bridge where it seemed to be looking into a hollow in the tree as if it wanted to store the crab in the hollow. The hornbill was soon joined by another smaller hornbill. This one had a reddish spot on both sides of the lower corner of its bill closer to its mouth and the front of its horn was noticeably darker than that of the larger bird. The smaller bird immediately took the crab from the bill of the larger bird and eyed it for a microsecond before giving it back to the larger bird which re-positioned the crab in its bill before passing it back to the smaller bird. However, the smaller bird did not want it and returned it to the larger bird which seemed to finally swallow the crab.

The two birds then hacked way at the wood on the dead tree chipping up bits off and swallowing some of it. The birds flew off after a while but came back to different but adjacent trees. The smaller bird continued to chip way at the dead tree eating bits of the decaying wood. Perhaps the wood helps digestion by absorbing harmful substances in their guts to be passed out later.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

shorebirds @ sungei buloh

A short clip of shorebirds at sungei buloh.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

grey-headed lapwing @ sg buloh - Nov2011

5th Nov saw a buzz amongst birders when sharp eyes spotted a rare avian visitor the Grey-Headed Lapwing (Vanellus cinereus), to Singapore at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Word soon got around and quite a number of birding enthusiasts soon made their way down to Hide 1C. Apparently, it had been some years before this species of lapwing had been seen in Singapore.

Identifying the bird was difficult for a novice with little clue what to look for as all the birds looked...brown. The others birders already there quickly pointed out what to look for and where to look for it.

The bird was resting in an area surrounded by many other shorebirds, plovers, etc. although it was a little edgy occasionally looking up at the sky, probably to keep an eye out for raptors. It made its way towards a log a little way from the shore before taking a bath and then getting back on another nearby log to dry off.

Friday, November 4, 2011

the pulai tree @ chek jawa - Oct2011

This is reputed to be the tallest tree on Ubin and it is a Heritage Tree.

It was about 35m tall and had a girth of 6.4m in 2010.

(pictures taken in Oct 2011 from a vantage point at Pulau Sekudu)

(click on images for bigger picture)

The calls of the white-bellied sea eagles can often be heard coming from high up this tree. There is probably a nest somewhere on the tree but the tree is so tall that the nest, if any, is difficult to spot through all the foliage from the base of the tree.

This is what the NParks Guide to the Pulau Ubin Tree Trail has to say about this tree :

Common Pulai (Alstonia angustiloba)

The Common Pulai is a very tall tree (up to 40m tall)

found in this region. It is easily recognisable from

its pagoda-shaped branching pattern and simple

leaves that are arranged in whorls. This tree belongs

to the family of Apocynaceae, which are identified

by the presence of white latex in the stems.

This Heritage Tree (35m height, 6.4m girth) is hard

to miss as you walk along the trail. It stands out

among the canopy and can be seen from

a distance

There is a mention of this tree at this WildSingapore page on Pulau Ubin:

http://www.wildsingapore.com/ubin/places/north.htm

And also at Joe Lai's eart-h website :

http://www.eart-h.com/text/alstan1.htm

Read more about this tree and also about Ubin's other majestic trees here :

http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2010/04/trees-of-pulau-ubin-talk-by-ali-ibrahim.html

Thursday, November 3, 2011

haddon's carpet anemone @ sekudu - Oct2011

This Haddon's carpet anemone seems to react to the UV black light in that the tentacles became more active when under the black light. Or perhaps it was reacting to some other stimulus? The colour difference of the tentacles when lit with white light contrasted to when they are lit with black light is amazing.

Read more about the Haddon's Carpet Anemone here :
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/cnidaria/actiniaria/haddoni.htm

zoanthids @ sekudu - Oct2011

Yet another in the series on fluorescing animals ...

At first glance, the casual shore walker does not really notice tiny zoanthids which are rather prevalent on most of Singapore's shores. They are oftentimes too small to pay attention to although if one did stop to have a closer look at them, a whole new world of designs and colours beckons. The luminousity of black light highlights (pun intended) zoanthids in another dimension. The central mouth area of these zoanthids look ... almost radioactive. Indeed, some zoanthids contain palytoxin which is the most toxic marine toxin on the planet.

Read about :
zoanthids - http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/cnidaria/others/zoanthid/zoanthid.htm

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

beachflea amphipods @ sekudu - Oct2011

There was a superbloom of amphipods on the sea lettuce algae which was itself blooming all over the island's shore. Looks like the season for amphipods. They were a little fluorescent when illuminated with blacklight. Perhaps their partially transclucent exoskeletons was able to diffract or reflect some part of the blacklight.

Read about :
amphipods - http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/crustacea/othercrust/amphipoda/amphipoda.htm
ribbon sea lettuce - http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/plants/seaweed/chlorophyta/reticulata.htm

Read about fluorescence here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescence
and also about bioluminescence here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence

Read also about Sekudu's other treasures :
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2011/10/sekudu-with-harlequin-and-other.html
http://sgn090608.blogspot.com/2011/11/111030-sekudu.html
http://wondercreation.blogspot.com/2011/10/slugs-galore-at-pulau-sekudu.html

orange fan worm @ sekudu - Oct2011

Here is a clip of an orange fan worm. The orange fanworm does not exhibit fluorescence like the white spiral fan worm in the preceding post.

The clip goes mostly dark when the black light is switched on showing that the orange fan worm's arms do not exhibit fluorescence.