A long travel from Botanic Gardens to Sungei Buloh introduced me to one side of Singapore that I had never seen before. It almost felt like I have reached another country. Indeed, at one point on our walk around the wetland reserve we could see Malaysia’s Johor Bahru and I clicked a selfie with Malaysia.

This walk was power packed with witnessing mangroves, crocodiles, snakes, birds and discussing about something I had never thought about- Bird Flyways. They are flight paths used by birds when migrating from one point to another. Our guide took us through this new world of routes followed by birds during migration at a shelter which was designated to provide closer views of birds around a quarry and posters of information about bird species which had been spotted there. The guide shared about the East Asian Australasian flyway which stretches from the Arctic in the north to Australia and New Zealand in the south. As development of areas is increasing, the transit sand stops for the migratory birds are also reducing in number. I was curious to know that as these birds are migratory, which country takes responsibility for catering to their needs when one might arise. I was happy to learn that they belong to all the countries in their route and everyone shares the responsibility together making me wonder as to why many countries fail to cooperate on other fronts. The guide also shared about a practice called as bird ringing or bird banding wherein a green flag is tied to the leg of the bird for identification and tracing along the flyway that it may follow. He also shared the story of a Eurasian Whimbrel who was captured twice in the Sungei Buloh area around two decades apart in 1995 and 2014, suggesting that this is a story of how birds can persist and survive even when ecosystems are getting affected.

Here we saw sunbirds, common redshank, mullets jumping out of the pond for air, egrets and common sandpiper. Hovering over the air were few white bellied sea eagles. On one narrow route we could spot the green tree snake and a pair of water monitors who were trying to mate. At another turn, I saw the biggest water monitor that I have seen in Singapore. We saw at least 5 crocodiles and the most interesting one I saw was tailless!!

We also got to witness how coastal erosion has affected the mangrove ecosystem. The coast has depleted and the black/green marking visible in the roots are signs of earlier coastal levels (as visible in the attached image). We could also see a lot of plastic bottles washing up to the coast and residing among the roots of the mangroves. The guide shared that large scale plastic removal is one of the priorities of the Singapore government with respect to mangrove preservation. We also learnt that mangroves are an important carbon sink called as blue carbon. Now there are manifold reasons for mangrove preservation. They protect against floods, store carbon and provide ecosystem for wildlife. Human life is dependent on these preservation efforts.

This experience has been one in which I have been introduced to very local effects of ecosystem changes due to climate change, interconnected nature of various plant and animal species and how Singapore is committed to deliberately balancing human development with ecosystem conservation. I thank everyone at the Biodiversity Friends Forum and the allied minds behind it for this opportunity.

The morning started with a beautiful ferry ride from the Changi ferry terminal to Ubin. The wind was amazing and we got to the see the sunrise. This was the first time I went to Ubin and travelled on a ferry to an island from Singapore. Right at the terminal as we stepped on the boardwalk there was a bunch of Asian glossy starlings waiting to greet us on a day which would greet us with many other bird species.

As we started walking, we all happened to glance over a huge tree and saw two hornbills starting off with their morning routine. The ardent bird watchers from the group had brought along their cameras and binoculars so that we could get a good zoomed in magnified look at the birds. Then we reached a small pond where we saw many grey heron. On the sky above us, we saw white bellied sea eagles flying gracefully. One of the students shared that they are the largest avian predator in Singapore. In the same area, there was a fence on which there were many grey heron. When I looked from the binoculars, I saw a black bird sitting gracefully spreading its wings. The others confirmed that it was an oriental darter.

Walking further on our journey, the life sciences students shared that environmental conservation efforts and planting new species of trees and shrubs have actually borne fruit and the number of species of wildlife and the population sizes of the existing species have started to go up. They also shared how plants are intelligent and have a way of communicating with each other. This then introduced me to the broader concept of ecosystem health. This reflects the condition of an ecosystem and can be judged by the species it can harbor. Sinking into the biodiversity of the Ubin island made me realize that ecosystem health can be restored and continuous collaborative efforts are needed to maintain the rich nature that we are embedded in.

Further along the journey we reached the campsite where we saw a plethora of different birds like the bee eater, scarlet back flowerpecker, olive green bulbul, pink neck green pigeon, white rumped sandpiper and the emerald dove. It was a magical experience looking at so many colorful birds all at once in a short span of 3 hours.

There were also some monkeys in one area playing around and jumping from one tree to the next. I clicked good photographs to become a part of nature and feel lucky to have been a part of the group that was blessed to see so many birds of Ubin.

On our walk, we saw various plant and tree species such as the cinnamon tree, golden leaves of the durian tree where we shared a laugh on how Singapore’s uncles and aunties can quarrel over the durian falling down from the tree, rubber tree, nutmeg, the fishtail palm, etc. I was lucky to see a Colugo glide from one tree to another. We heard the sounds of the owl and heard stories about civet cats. Uncle also showed us the mickey mouse ear leaves of the mango tree, a beloved fruit in India.

Uncle Tony and I also discussed shared interest in astronomy using telescopes wherein mine was focused on appreciating the beauty of celestial objects whereas his was more towards religious aspects of astronomy and culture. We both agreed that in today’s day and age where our minds are constantly in receipt of information, we tend to forget to look around and above at the sky to become cognizant of our existence.

When asked about his experience towards doing work around biodiversity, Uncle Tony shared that policy makers get on board with environmental conservation in urban planning when you pitch incremental changes rather than big bold one shot ones. He said that change is a slow process and educating the young generation about it is pivotal to carry on the good and important work.

We then wrapped up the walk with a selfie in masks and I headed home feeling that my horizons of looking at the world had just broadened in a 3 hour group activity in nature.