Floral Sunrise

My work brings me all around the country but one thing never changes, it's always in an inhabited, usually office area. There aren't that many trees around and consequently, I don't get to see much of nature other than the usual Mynas, Sparrows, ants etc. that seem to coexist extremely well with humanity.

However, that's not to say that there isn't beauty and nature regardless. Sometimes, all you need to do is know where to look.

Look at this. It's the early morning sun over a field of flowers. Now that's beauty in nature. In a garden city, it's everywhere.

You only need to know where to look.

May

Fishes in the Canal

I started work about two months ago and one of my workplaces is right beside a park connector network (PCN). It's a lovely place to walk during lunch, especially when the office is effectively a fridge and you desperately need to warm up.

The nice thing about PCNs is that they tend to be right beside a canal. And when the canal is as full as this one, that means only one thing: Fishes! Haha. I doubt I can eat any of them but it's nice to see signs of life and nature during your lunch break. Man, those fish sure are lively. They dart around, in and out of the brown swirling dust. It's very nice.

May

Blue Glassy Tiger

Another catch up post just to record what I saw during another visit to the botanic gardens in 2017. Off hand from memory, I identify this butterfly as a Blue Glassy Tiger. It's pretty isn't it?

Eyes wide open,
May

Crow-billed Drongo

Yup, another catch up post. It seems to me that there are very many different species of bird nestled in the botanic gardens. I find all sorts of birds that I've never seen before there. This is yet another one, the Crow-bill Drongo. I don't think I've ever seen it again. Hmm. I haven't been to the botanic gardens in a while. Maybe I should go again. Who knows what I will find.

May

New Year at botanic gardens

Hey. This is a catch up post so I honestly cannot remember what happened that day. However, judging from the pictures, I must have had a blast! There are so many wonderful things I saw on new years day 2017.

 Dragonfly!

 Darn. The squirrel is so super cute. Look at its round head and chubby cheeks!

 Damselfly. They are related to dragonflies but are somewhat different. I'm not sure exactly how but I think it's the wing colour.

 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. You can tell from the two long tails ending in larger roundish fins hanging from the bird's tail.

 I have no idea what this butterfly is.

 More Damselflies.

 A banded woodpecker. They are supposed to be fairly common in the forests but I think this is the only time to date that I've ever seen one. We spotted it in the National Orchid Garden

The closest I can find to this in my guidebook is a Striated Heron. It matches the best but it doesn't seem right either. This one is more bluish and white instead of grey and yellow round the beak. I think it's a different bird but I have no idea what. 

White Breasted Waterhen chicks!

For some reason, it always seems easier to find the adult version of an animal than the kids. Maybe it's because they tend to be adults for most of their lives and are hidden away and protected as kids. Well, whatever the reason, I was extremely fortunate today to come across White Breasted Waterhen Chicks. That's right. I saw the babies. Too a video too since the chicks are all blurry on camera.

Got a picture of the parent and one of the chicks here. There are several.

And here's the video. I got interrupted by some people at the end. To be fair, I was blocking the path. Oops.

May

Gardens By the Bay with friends

Now I go to Gardens by the Bay very often but seldom do I venture beyond the two domes. This time, however, was different. My friend had a project she needed to do and we visited the gardens looking for ideas. Of course, for an ecology project, these ideas came from animals. so we tried our very best to look for them. Boy did we find them! I have never regretted leaving my camera behind so much. Now I will have to content with those taken by my camera. But just to give you an idea of what we saw:

- several plain tigers (butterflies)
- yellow vented bulbul
- white breasted water hen
- little heron
- grey heron
- various fish
- pond skater/ water strider
- Water monitor lizard
- Olive backed Sunbird (female usually)
- Golden Pheasant
- apple snail eggs
- spotted doves
- various lizards
- the usual mynahs, swallows and sparrows
- painted Jezebels (butterfly)
- Apple snail eggs
- Several dragonflies
- Damsel flies
- Several butterflies which we could not identify
- Homosapien (Us)

Wow, now that I put it together, that is quite a list. I didn't manage to get a picture of everything of course. But I am glad I saw them. It was a most productive trip. Enough talk now, photos! As poorly taken as they are...

I don't know if you can see it but there is supposed to be a orange gold dragonfly in the center of the photo

 Spotted Dove. This one was slightly injured but we couldn't do anything.

The Golden Pheasant is found in the aviary. A truly magnificent bird. I am not too sure about its camouflage ability though.

 A sunbathing lizard

 Behind the frog statue, on the rocks, is a little heron.

 Water monitor lizard swimming in Kingfisher lake.

 A grey heron standing over a meter tall. We saw it fly out of the undergrowth and it took us completely by surprise. A very pleasant surprise too. But it was so far away. If only I had my camera!

 I think these are morning glories. Whatever they are, they look beautiful in the shifting sunlight.

Homosapien, the most populous creature in GBB. There are too many of them!





It was a really fun day and the amount of wildlife we saw was phenomenal. It was great!

I have to do this again,
May K.