Birdwatch

24th Jun 2022 ~ nerads ~ Leave a comment

I am very new to birding. Before learning more about them, I had always been curious about this yellow bird flying around my neighborhood, roosting right in front of this big tree right outside my window. I had always thought this particular yellow bird was a rare sight and was always delighted to spot it flying around before vanishing out of my sight. This yellow bird, is my origin story.
When I saw the intro to birdwatching at AMK-Bishan Park on the 22nd of May 2022, I knew I had to hop on and learn more about our many species of birds in Singapore!

Birbs

Unfortunately, the trip started on a bad note as I assumed the trip started at 8.30am. I ended up reaching 30mins late and had to trouble one of the guides, Zachary, to come pick us up. While waiting, we manage to spot what I believe to be a Female Brown-Throated Sunbird hovering around the small tree next to us. It was a simply a joy as we rarely get to be so close to sunbirds as they are always so swift and often vanish out of sight the moment you take your eyes off them. We also spotted a Rose-ringed Parakeet roosting high up on a tree. Before catching up with the team, we also spotted a male Asian Koel (aka your uwu bird) just resting in a short tree not far from the walkway. I was actually quite surprised at its size as I have only ever spotted the female ones, and the pictures of the male I have seen makes it look small. Despite all these finds, the rest of the park was bustling with other humans, each doing their own activity – Badminton, Jogging/Brisk walking, Yoga etc. I believe that it was a pleasant sight to see as it shows humans and nature sharing a space and that we are able to co-exist alongside each other.

More birbs

We then finally caught up with the rest of the BFF-ers and we were greeted by Sandra and Movin. A keen-eyed participant also spotted a Oriental Magpie-Robin hidden within the trees! I was so amazed by this feat as it was well camouflaged beneath the shade created by the thick leaves and branches. We then also spotted a lone Purple Heron by the waterway which we assumed was hunting. I was told by a passerby previously when I first spotted them that they were migratory birds and they are regulars here in AMK-Bishan park. They even have a delegated tree where they rest and sleep! The guides then mentioned that their diet do not contain only just fishes, but also small animals and that it swallows it whole, literal gulps!

Even more birbs

As we wandered deeper into the park, the guides identified the calls of the Brown-Throated Sunbirds and the Ashy Tailorbird. Unfortunately, they were too swift and were darting around in the trees and I was unable to get a close look at it. However, we were then greeted by the Blue-Throated Bee-Eaters where they were seen hunting in mid-air! They did this fancy maneuver of flying upright vertically before nosediving and back onto the tree they were perched on. It was simply a magnificent sighting to behold as this was my first sighting. I simply love the color blue in nature as it seems to stand out so much more significantly in green/brown. We also spot some Pacific Swallows zooming past the fields, staying roughly 10cm above the grass patches, hunting and swooping in on unfortunate insects.

Increasingly more birbs

As we started heading back, I spotted a Collared Kingfisher just perching by the tree. This is actually one of my favorite birds as I simply like the coloration and simplicity of this bird. Kingfishers in general just look very cute to me. And as if a climax to the walk, we spotted a battle of a pair of Malaysian Pied Fantail and a female Asian Koel. The outcome of the battle seemed obvious due to the size of both birds, but the Asian Koel ended up retreating due to the relentless attacks from the Malaysian Pied Fantails. These small birds are in fact very territorial and hence flung into an agitated state upon seeing a trespasser.

Summary

Overall I had an extremely enjoyable time, albeit short but only thanks to yours truly, I had collected more data for my own Pokedex and learnt a lot more about birds! I am still majorly impressed by the keen eyesight and hearing of the guides, for being able to spot the slight movement amongst the trees and isolating the bird cries despite the numerous distracting noises around the park. I can’t wait to go around various places in Singapore to spot and identify more birds and their respective calls! Super thankful to the guides – Sandra, Movin and Zachary for leading the walk and thank you for sharing more about the Singapore Birds Project! No pictures here but I have linked all the birds we spotted that day to their respective database on Singapore Birds Project so do checkout their amazing resource filled website! #notsponsored

By the way, the yellow bird I mentioned at the start is none other than the Black-naped Oriole! Congratulations if you correctly guessed it! Cheers and happy birding everyone 🙂

A bug’s life

24th Jun 2022 ~ nerads ~ Leave a comment

I have always taken a keen liking to creepy crawlies since young, be it the moths that fly into your house (according to my grandma, these are my ancestors’ reincarnates) or the brown beetle that does the same (iykyk) to the ants that I help established their “trading routes” at the nearby neighborhood park. My favorite Marvel Superhero also happens to be Spiderman. Hence, signing up for this trip is basically a given and I have been looking forward to it ever since!

Fast forward to the actual day and I was not disappointed. We started off the day at the shelter at Windsor Nature Park, where we were provided breakfast by our guides!

“Wah so good meh guides blanja y’all breakfast?”

Eh hold up. This isn’t your conventional kaya toast or currypok. They were actually insects of different species and flavors. Despite my keen liking in them, I would like them not to be part of my diet. But I did gave 1 of them a try, which was a barbecue flavored cricket. There were grasshoppers, mealworms and some others rotating around but they looked too intimidating for me and I am not ready for that.

So the verdict for the BBQ cricket?

Frankly, not too bad. Well there must be a demand for there to be a market right? As long as you manage to overcome the thought that you are putting a cricket into your mouth, it really does not taste as bad, but it’s definitely not something I would seek out actively.. but thank you to our guides for providing us with this unique experience!

We then set off after a brief introduction of everyone, and immediately we spotted what looked like a bee but was actually a Hoverfly! Interestingly, they perform tasks similarly to bees in the form of pollination. On the topic of bees, we actually have only 4 species of honey bees in Singapore despite having roughly 120 species!

We then arrived at a fig tree where we were told that a specific fig wasp pollinates a specific fig tree, and should the fig wasp go extinct, so will the fig tree! This is important as many animals rely on figs as a food source as they sprout all year round. When the flowers inside the fig are ready for pollination, it will emit an aroma that attracts fig wasps and the female wasps will try to fit inside the fruit, where it will lay its eggs and accomplishing her life’s mission. Once the eggs hatch, the newly hatched female fig wasps will leave the fruit, bringing the pollen with them as the cycle repeats.

Inside of a fig fruit! (Picture stolen from another BFF-er)

Mimicry

Now I have heard of defensive mimicry, e.g. leaf insect, stick insect and Atlas moth. They use this to protect themselves from predators either to camouflage or to scare predators off. But this is a first where I have heard of aggressive mimicry, where the predator avoids being identified by their prey as a threat. The ant-mimicking spider is one such example. It bears the same traits as its prey, with the golden lining at its abdomen area, allowing it to sneak up to them without startling its prey. Basically Among Us in real life.

Termites

Termites actually play a very important role in the ecosystem. They are detritivores, which means they feast on dead wood and plants. They help with decomposition and return the nutrients back to the ground. The workers are mostly blind but yet are able to fulfill their task as required.

All in all, definitely an interesting guided walk, a very informative and heavy loaded in fact! I especially liked the linkage some of the guides used with Pokémon, which makes it easier to understand and relate. From this I learnt to appreciate entomology much more and often stop to appreciate them every now and then. Looking forward to the next walk!

Journey to the West

27th Apr 2022 ~ nerads ~ Leave a comment

Armed with a torchlight in my hands, I made my way towards to the west @ Bukit Batok Nature Park (BBNP) for a night walk on 22 April 2022. I reached and found myself with some of the other nature go-ers there. We chatted a bit before Uncle Tony arrived, where he began a small introduction on how to properly use the torchlight to identify “eyeshine”, which is reflection of light from the pupils, to then help pinpoint the location of the animals around us. The proper terminology for this is actually Tapetum Lucidum, which refers to a layer of tissue in the eyes of many vertebrates. This also contributes to the superior night vision of some vertebrates!

To put it simply, when you shine the torchlight and an animal happens to be looking back at the light, there would be a pair of small flashes of light shining back at you! Apologies for the long intro, now onto the more exciting segment of the trip – the walk itself!

Into The Thick Of It

After waiting for everyone to assemble, we then made our way into BBNP. We first stopped by a giant rain tree, where Uncle Tony commented that bats tend to sleep under the massive ferns growing on the rain tree and that this single tree itself is home to many floras and faunas as well.

^{Uncle Tony pointing to where can you potentially find bats sleeping in the day.}

We then proceeded to the main road in the park where our team then tackled both sides of the road with our torchlights (as there were both surrounded by vegetation) trying to spot “eyeshines”, to see if we can find any interesting animals. I encountered my first “eyeshine” here, which was actually green in color. I called out to Uncle Tony and he mentioned that those are probably spiders as they commonly reflect a green “eyeshine”. What Uncle Tony was most interested in, is actually a red “eyeshine”, which a Colugo is known to have. Moments after that, we soon found ourselves *SPOILER ALERT* the first Colugo spotting of the night!!

^{Not my photo but a close up of the Sunda Colugo from incidentalnaturalist.com.}

Unfortunately, I did not manage to snap a photo of the Colugo, but it was Grey in color and was rather active as it leapt up the tree after being spotted by Uncle Tony. As it seems disturbed by the constant lights shining at it, we decided to keep our torchlights away and proceeded deeper into BBNP.

After stopping for a small pitstop to refill our water bottles, we carried on with our walk. Uncle Tony then provided us with informative lectures on the various plants in the area. Particularly, he introduced us to the Banyan Fig, which is a tree that actually spreads not only vertically but also horizontally!

^{I don’t know why but this is actually the only photo I took that night – Banyan Fig tree’s aerial roots forming into trunks upon reaching the soil to support its wide spread branches.}

Midpoint – the Quarry

We then reached to the quarry area of BBNP. It was a very peaceful and serene place to be. Aside from a man yelling periodically while doing his exercises, you can hear the dripping sound of water into the quarry and the sounds of cicadas all around us. PERSONALLY, I felt that the sounds are more intensified due to the shape of the quarry, which generates an echo, which in turn magnifies these sounds (or it’s just me). I also spotted countless lynx spiders (Google said so) in the shrubs surrounding the quarry. It is my first time seeing these spiders and they are one of the species of spiders that has spiny legs.

^{Again, not my photo but a close up of a Lynx Spider with its spiny legs from https://www.flickr.com/photos/strinidadjr/}

Uncle Tony also shared with us his stories before Singapore learnt of the importance of protecting our biodiversity. Singapore has come a long way as compared to say 20 years ago. Many of our nature parks today may not exist if not for people from Uncle Tony’s generation challenging the government and their respective agencies and contractors. Through their perseverance, they have maintained and protected many of our now beloved nature parks and the biodiversity within them.

Moving on, we proceeded up to a higher locale within BBNP where Uncle Tony shared with us about the Sea Apple plant.

“huh Sea… Apple..?”

You might think what’s a Sea Apple plant doing in the middle of the park?
So apparently in the early 1900s, the Sea Apple plant are used as a firebreak, to prevent fires from breaking out in our highly flammable lalang wastelands. These trees grow tall and also provide shade to the lalangs, which adds on another preventive measure to help protect against fires.

The team then carried on forward while I strolled behind them. I then spotted something brown.. hanging on the trunk of the tree. No prizes for correct guesses to what I spotted. T’was a brown-colored Colugo!! I then called for the group to come over and observe this particular Colugo. Uncle Tony then immediately explained that we actually have 2 colors of the colugos here in Singapore – grey and brown. One might think that the colors assists in a form of identification but Uncle Tony clarified that himself is unsure as well as he has seen both colored colugos carrying a baby.

^{STILL not my photo but an onsite photo of the brown-colored colugo.}

Seemingly disturbed by the light shining on it, the colugo then leapt upwards and looks in a direction where a tree trunk is in sight.

“Watch, it’s preparing to glide.” Uncle Tony pointed.

And as if it heard its cue, the colugo hopped off the trunk and glided to another trunk on the other side of the pavement. It was simply a spectacular sight to behold as it was in the air above us, gliding across in all its elegance and beauty. Despite the colugo gliding onto a tree that was lower and still next to the pavement, we decided against intruding its space any longer and proceeded to finish our walk at BBNP. Before reaching the end point, a teammate also spotted a praying mantis! I don’t have a picture of it to share but it was both of our first time seeing a praying mantis in the wild so it truly was a good night for spotting wildlife!

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was an enriching journey with Uncle Tony and the rest. I truly enjoy the act of trying to spot animals in the wild, not knowing what we would find and getting the sense of achievement when you spot something. I also learnt more about the flora and fauna in our nature parks, and these parks can be just minutes away from residentials (the nearest residence was just a traffic light crossing away).

Sometimes, we overlook these conveniences we have and get so engrossed in our daily lives, be it schooling or working (or both), and we take them for granted. Perhaps it’s good to take time to stop and smell the roses, to hear the cicadas and busk in the serenity nature provides.

Thanks for reading till the end, stay safe and take care!