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.

Labrador Park

This was an unplanned visited facilitated by good weather. It was my first time visiting this part of the park. It's nice but if you don't like insects, don't look too hard. You might not like what you find. You have to expect it, the park is a mangrove minus the mosquitoes. (well they didn't bite me at least) The park leads to the sea between Singapore and Sentosa Island so you will see some marine life too. You just need to LOOK.

 I tried to find what this is but there are so many species of beetle. I have no idea what this is.But that brown looking thing also on the leaf is actually a spider. I didn't know until after I took the photo.

Update 6/2/16
My friend just informed me that these are called Cotton Stainer Bugs. Thanks!

 Same insect(s). They were bunching up today, no idea why. My sister suggests that the rain was the cause.

Same insect. I saw this before I saw the above photo. Something similar was happening on other leaves. I will admit, I was more than a little freaked.

 A mud skipper!!!

 A white throated kingfisher according to my guidebook.

 A crab but way too small to be eaten. Found this by the shoreline from the pier. Took it from way above and had to zoom in a lot.

I would call this a Little Heron but the colour is wrong. A Little Heron is dark gray. This is blue...

I might be coming back

May K.

Time for some updates

Woah, an entire year passed without a post? Two semesters and a summer holiday as well as almost two winter holidays? Tut tut, it is time for some updates. I will put up some photos I took recently. But don't ask me to identify everything. Sometimes I have no clue and when it comes to the insects, no idea where to find them. Trust me, I have looked. Really.

May K.

P.S: I have backdated a lot of the posts. Just for reference