An Orange And A Chocolate At The Waterway

Punggol Waterway North-East, Singapore March 2013 Even in the heat of the day at close to 33-34 degrees Celsius, there are animals out there at mid-day... Thinking it is just its Yellow Vented cousin, Merlion Wayfarer realized this was the songbird version of the Pycnonotus Jocosus Fuscicaudatus (Red-Whiskered Bulbul) when she walked nearer. Although it did not start singing, the orange tone near its tail was very striking in the bright sunlight... The...

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By The Forest Waters

Upper Seletar North, Singapore March 2013 It was a short visit to Upper Seletar one damp morning for Merlion Wayfarer. Amidst the buzzing mosquitoes and sandflies, there were some good finds... A delicate Prodasineura Notostigma (Crescent Threadtail) does a push-up on a leaf while another perches on a twig in a cluster of fallen branches... This Argiope (St Andrews Cross Spider) with a durian-shaped lace web is still a juvenile... An...

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Eastern Twilight Surprises

Tampines East, Singapore February 2013 The visit at twilight was full of little surprises... A Tetragnathidae (Big-Jawed Spider) silhouetted against the rays of the setting sun... A blob of unknown origin... A bright-hued grasshopper... A freckled one... And a moulted one... A bright Ampittia Dioscorides Camertes (Bush Hopper)... Ant burrows in little hills that go deep underground... A plant that appeared...

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The Dusk Web Builder

Tampines East, Singapore February 2013 When the sun descends below the horizon, the world slowly turns from twilight to dusk. At a park Tampines, a place with no electrical lighting, it is when the grass and marsh darkens. The world there then comes alive with lots of "Eastern Twilight Surprises"... Twilight is also the time when nocturnal spiders awake from their daytime positions inside leaves, inside burrows, on webs, and come alive to...

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