East Coast Park

The Sea and the beach, you don't even need animals to make this great.

 Look at that horizon

 So peaceful

 I didn't run away fast enough after taking this photo. My shoes and socks got wet.

 A peaceful bay

Human! Run!












May K.

Spring leaf park, a new years visit

We spent part of New Year's day visiting the Mandai Crematorium. It is a sad place but it's a good place to start the New Year, starting with those who have left us.

After the visit, we dropped by Springleaf park. This was my first time here and we didn't stay long. It is a fairly new park and is connected to the Park Connector network (no pun intended). It's a nice place, very quiet and serene. They have bird watching sites too so I suppose many birds must stop over. I didn't see very many though.

 They have lovely orchids there.

 And this is how you tell if a park is new. There are plenty of these centipedes running around because the soil was disturbed. I haven't seen them for too long. I really didn't like them and I hate stepping on them.

Did I mention that Springleaf park has a....'river'?

 Pretty, do tell me the name if you know what this is.

 I zoomed in quite a bit for this one. I am not sure what it is since my picture isn't very clear but I think it is a Blue tailed Bee Eater. The photo in my guide book looks remarkably like it.

One of the lizards you seem to find in every garden.






Happy New Year!
May K.

UNESCO gardens

I adore the botanic gardens although I visit Gardens By the Bay (GBB) more frequently. The place holds a lot of memories for my family and I and the nation as a whole. I am thrilled that it has been made a UNESCO world heritage site. Who knew it had so much history hidden in plain sight? I had no clue and I visited the place since before I can remember.

The Singapore Botanic Gardens became a UNESCO world Heritage site on the 4th of July 2015 by a unanimous vote.

This is just to remember. 

Congrats Singapore!

May K.

Fort canning

I dropped by Fort Canning after visiting the national museum. This is one of the best parks to find squirrels. You can literally hear them around you. You might mistake their sounds for birds but after a while you catch one. This is one of my favourite parks. The forbidden hill it used to be called, home to the Kings of Singapore in the 14th century. The place is filled with history and wildlife. Can you possible combine two things that fascinate me any better? I should visit more often.

 See, I told you there were squirrels. I am not sure what this one is eating though

 I am waiting for the otters to come eat these too.

 Another squirrel!

The only creature which is not a welcome sight in the park, the parking Uncle.

By the way, that's not my car or I won't be taking the photo







Garden City :)
May K.

Botanic ala Chicken!

Just a short post. On the 14th of June, my family visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens and guess what we found? As you can guess from the title, we found a chicken. Actually I think the correct term is a jungle fowl but it bears an amazing resemblance to its domestic cousin. Or is it the other way round since the wild species came about first? Well, you get the idea.

Wahla! A Jungle Fowl. Please do not turn this fine specimen into KFC or chicken rice, thank you. 

Just kidding

May K. 

P.S: Actually, I wonder what happened to it. 

Nus National history musuem

Being a student of NUS has its perks. I get to visit the new natural history museum for free. This visit occurred during the Year 1 summer holiday according to my notes. I went with my sister but I won't be showing you what she looks like in these photos. It's a pity because I used her as a size reference. Still, privacy. I think that one word says it all don't you?

But enough chatter. Photos!

This is one of the dino skeletons in the museum. Big isn't it? Imagine turning around and seeing that looking at you when you least expect it. Good thing it wasn't alive. I got nasty enough a shock as it is.

 A close up shot of it's head. Small head, big body... not a great combo but it seemed to work well enough.

A shot of the dinos from the second story. Man, they are tall.

 An orangutan, stuffed. I have seen the live one and I prefer the live ones. This looks exactly like its current state, dead. By the way, the reflection is due to the glass case the animal is in.

 I prefer butterflies alive too but the dead ones are much easier to photograph. But, taking photos of dead ones kinda kills the meaning. They have whole cases of pinned insects.

 This... is just creepy looking. A Malayan sunbear cub I believe.

This is huge! At least as big as my sis and she is 1.5 meters tall. I think it's a leather back turtle but my memory is rusty.










And that was the Lee Kong Chian Natural history museum. Quite a fun visit. I especially like the part about it being FREE. Hey, what can I say? I like to save money and nature gives more than it ever asks of you.

Ciao,
May K.

Uni wonders

Hey all. I am attending University now. The National University of Singapore to be precise and as expected of me, I have been looking for wildlife. I didn't get much luck at the beginning but today I am extremely pleased to say that I have found the wild life I have been be looking for. Four bird species in one day. No big right? Well if they were Javan Mynahs, Eurasian Tree Sparrows, rock pigeons and crows I would agree with you. But how about a (likely) Sulphur- crested cockatoo, an Oriental white eye, Pied Imperial Pigeon and a Common Iora? All four appear to be new species to me and all with exception of the last do not appear in my bird guide book. I am very pleased indeed. Four new species in one day, what a joy. :) And right beside the canteen too. Haha, guess it pays to keep your eyes open; even if your friends prefer you don't. Sorry, but these treasures are worth my friend's displeasure. They make me happier than a good book and that's saying something.

Anyways, without further ado, here are the pics!

 This lovely and surprisingly big bird is a Pied Imperial Pigeon. I must confess that I have never seen one before. I got me fairly excited.





And this is an Oriental White-Eye. Again I have never seen this before. Lovely isn't it? It's fairly small and quick. I was lucky to get a picture of it at all. At first I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It looked like a fake bird. But I saw it fly so I knew it had to be real.

This is the only bird out of the four that I am somewhat familiar with. It is a common Iora and as it is missing a black colouration on the top of its head, I suspect that it's a female. This particularly bird seemed to like teasing me. It kept flying away as soon as I was able to take a good shot of it. Ha, it under estimated my camera. Zoom cameras are essential in this hobby.


I am not putting up the picture of the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo because the picture was taken from about 50-70 metres away at about 7.50 in the morning. Even my camera has limits given that it is just an ordinary camera with exceptional zoom. The picture looks more like a silhouette than anything else. Thank goodness Cockatoos have a very distinctive look.

So that's all for now. May Out!

Ciao
May K.