sgbeachbum

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.