sgbeachbum: labrador

Showing posts with label labrador. Show all posts

Sunday, February 24, 2013

rufous woodpecker @ berlayar creek - Jan2013

It was surprising to see a small reddish blur fly past me at the Berlayar mangrove boardwalk. I expected it to disappear into the mangrove trees but it landed on a sea hibiscus tree branch just above the boardwalk. It perched on an elbow and started hammering into the branch with its beak. This was a rare sight.. A Rufous Woodpecker! Although common on the Indian subcontinent, it is rarely seen in Singapore...probably mainly due to the fact that its preferred habitat, mangrove forests or forests close to mangroves, are in short supply in Singapore. Other places where I've seen this rarely seen species are the Chek Jawa mangrove forest and the Ubin Jelutong mangroves. (Both the aforementioned areas are under threat of future development.)

I could not see what it was eating but I assume there were tiny termites or other insects which were below the bark. What was even more interesting was that the woodpecker was using its tongue to extricate what was inside the branch...much like what an anteater does to a termite mound.

The woodpecker was also using its tail to good use stabilising itself against the branch even whilst upside down. The terminal end of its tail feathers are pointed the tail feathers seem to have a 'v'-shaped cross section. The separate feathers together seem to provide an ideal 'grip' to assist in stabilising the bird in the various positions we see in the clip.

The bird kept up its feeding frenzy for about 10 minutes before it flew off further into the mangrove. I tried to see if there was another bird accompanying the one videoed but did not detect another rufous woodpecker in the vicinity. Rufous woodpeckers like Sunda Pygmy woodpeckers are commonly seen in pairs or small groups.

Read more about this rarely seen woodpecker :

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2013/02/rufous-woodpeckers-chek-jawa-mangroves.html

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2012/09/rufous-woodpecker-ubin-sept2012.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous_Woodpecker

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=691

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/woodpeckers.htm

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/02/15/rufous-woodpecker-and-the-air-conditioning-unit/#more

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Micropternus-brachyurus

Monday, January 21, 2013

hawk-cuckoo @ labrador park - Jan 2013

Spotted this hawk-cuckoo at about 7pm on the tree just before the Labrador Park beach gate. It kept flying to and fro between that branch pictured and somewhere behind one of the sea almond trees behind the beach walkway. It seemed to prefer to sit with its neck withdrawn as if to lower its profile. However, just before flying off, it extended its neck as if to get a better look at something before it flew off.

hawk-cuckoo@labrador park - Jan2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

It's either a Malaysian Hawk-Cuckoo or a Hudgson's Hawk-Cuckoo (?). This paper by Yong Ding Li highlights the difficulty in identifying between the two.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

ashy tailorbird moment @ labrador park - Jan2013

It's not often that the little birds keep still long enough for one to get a good look and observe them. Ashy Tailorbirds can sometimes be quite tolerant of human prescence closeby. This little bird was only about 2 metres away on a small branch close to the end of the Berlayar Creek mangrove boardwalk. There was another ashy tailorbird in an adjacent sea hibiscus but it was a bit more shy preferring to hide in the shade below the sea hibiscus foliage.

The pictured bird chose a nice sunlit spot to catch some sun and air its feathers.

ashy tailorbird moment @ labrador park - Jan2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.
Time : about 5.00pm

Find out more about this delightful mangrove bird :

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Orthotomus_ruficeps.htm

http://nusavifauna.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/ashy-tailorbird/

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=7652

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/ashy-tailorbird-orthotomus-ruficeps/ashy-tailorbird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashy_Tailorbird

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Orthotomus-ruficeps

http://www.oiseaux.net/birds/photos/ashy.tailorbird.html

http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdimages.php?action=birdspecies&Bird_ID=1770

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2012/08/ashy-tailorbird-mirrored-woodlands.html

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/03/31/call-of-the-ashy-tailorbird/

Thursday, November 15, 2012

rain, seagrass, a driftnet, 101 BBQ mesh squares and seacils @ labrador- 14Nov2012

Was out at Labrador Nature Reserve's intertidal zone for a bit of seagrassing with Team Seagrass on Nov 14 taking advantage of the low afternoon tide. The storm front quickly blew in from the West shutting out the warmth of the sun. Having started the random sampling, the lightning followed too soon after by rumbling thunder put a quick end to the ambitious start.

Taking refuge from the deluge below the overhead shelter, what became obvious was the flotsam which had accumulated below the walkway. There was quite an amount of styrofoam and plastic bottles. Strangely, there was an accumulation of BBQ wire mesh in a few neat stacks close to the start of the overhead walkway. Someone had stacked up about 20 wire mesh squares in two main piles below the walkway. These were well browned from the rust but there were some silvered ones as well.

When the rain subsided, I found a few more mesh squares on the beach as I walked down to the seagrass patches.

There were quite a few squares on the rocky shore as well...

Some of the squares were partially buried under the sand.

I eventually came to find higher concentrations of mesh squares scattered near the base of the seawall fronting the promenade facing the jetty.

Eventually, a total of 101 BBQ mesh squares of various sizes were removed from the shore.

It looks like someone has thrown over the mesh squares either at one go or over a few successive days. ..or perhaps over an extended period of time. There were a few squares partially buried through which Ovalis seagrass had grown. These would have been there at least a couple of weeks. Most were well rusted but some where shiny and had not been used before. The shiny ones were perhaps recently discarded... perhaps the day before or that very morning itself. There had been a public holiday the day before on Nov 13.

Perhaps there was a troll lolling around at Labrador which specializes in throwing BBQ mesh squares from the promenade?

... and then I spotted something else in the water... A triangular pipe section which was connected by a rope to another triangular pipe section. This was presumably part of the seacil project from some 5 years ago. Looks like parts are still being regurgitated from the deeper part of the reef just off the shore where the seacils were laid down.

As if the wire mesh and the seacils were not enough,... on the other side of the jetty, there was a driftnet which was about 50m long which had been laid across about 25m from the shore.

This was already badly entangled around coral fragments and sargassum and there were a total of 6 spider conch snails and 1 red egg crab caught up in the net.

Luckily, these were still alive but it took some careful cutting (against a darkening evening sky and a rising tide) with a pair of scissors before they could be released.

We really need to take better care of our nature reserves :(
There should be a better enforcement practice to better protect our gazetted nature reserves. We have so few of these areas. We simply cannot afford to let apathy run riot in the reserves.

Read more about the day's toil :
http://teamseagrass.blogspot.sg/2012/11/labrador-14-nov-2012.html
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2012/11/surprises-on-labrador.html
http://projectdriftnet.blogspot.sg/2012/11/50m-net-abandoned-on-labrador-14-nov.html
http://peiyansama.blogspot.sg/2012/11/great-surprises-on-my-first-seagrass.html

Saturday, February 18, 2012

female jambu fruit dove @ berlayar creek

Was out walking about at Berlayar Creek wondering why I had not been able to see much in the mangroves when i spotted something move in the green of the trees about 5 metres away. Because of the thick foliage in that particular area, I easily lost track of the movement. After looking around more, i managed to locate the very green bird mostly because of its bright yellow beak. This was a female jambu fruit dove. It was just sitting quietly on a branch occasionally grooming itself. I observed it for about 5 minutes in total and during that time, i lost track of it three times when i decided to move to another vantage point. It's camouflage was really that good.

This was a Singapore stamp issued in 2007

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

fireworm fished @ labrador 17Jan2012

This bristleworm was 'fished' out by a night fisherman. He had skewered a live bait fish and plonked it down into the water for about 15 minutes afterwhich he decided to check on his lure. What he pulled up did not resemble the bait fish. On closer look, there was a strange worm-like creature enveloping the entire bait fish. The bait fish was about 8 or 9 cm long and the worm was just a little longer than it.

The worm had many many tufts of gold and yellow coloured bristles.
Slowly, the bristleworm or rather 'fireworm' regurgitated the fish which had long stopped moving.

It was later realised that the worm had, during the regurgitation, hooked itself on the hook that was originally on the fish.

Over about 10 minutes, it managed to wriggle the tip of the hook towards its mouth but still had a very obvious problem with the business end of the hook.

Before long, the line was cut and the fireworm was thrown back where it came from. The idea of hook removal was abandoned as the worm would have been impossible to handle and more harm may actually be inflicted on it if a plier was used to remove the hook.

I hope it manages to extricate the hook out under water. ... if not then the hunter becomes the hunted and something else will probably devour it.

Read more about this amazing worm here :

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/worm/polychaeta/chloeia.htm

Monday, January 16, 2012

Labrador No-Fishing Fishing Check - Jan2012

Are the no fishing signs at Labrador Park and Nature Reserve being followed?

uh, it's a family affair ... mum & 2 sons right beside the formerly 'no' fishing sign ...

(mum was grumbly after she was politely reminded that it was a 'no-fishing' zone. They were slow to pack up but did so after they were politely reminded of the two signs.

There are two prohibitory signs at the lookout point.

One on the railing and the other high up the lampost above the circular float.

The more accessible one on the guardrail had some modification done to it by an anonymous hand ... wonder if the prohibition is obvious to all who may be capable of making the right sense

of it through all the fishing lines. Some reading between the lines required (pun intended).

No matter ...

... if you can't fish on one side, you can always try the other side...

it all depends on how far you can throw your line.

but why bother with moving away when you can stay put

assured that no one will ever give you a ticket

This guy was at the main promenade (no apparent fishing prohibition) and had what seemed to be the longest and biggest rod and he had an unusual technique which required a lot of space ...wonder if he hit any ships? He did not seem to catch anything though.

The vid clip shows another fisherman in the background with a green sun hat who narrowly misses another park visitor when he carelessly swings his fishing rod's line in the direction of the passing visitor. Good thing the visitor was keeping a proper lookout and avoided the recoiling line, hook and weight in the nick of time.