The Flying Saucer At Sunset

Lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) are stationary lens-shaped clouds with a smooth layered appearance that form in the troposphere, usually above mountain ranges. One was spotted in Singapore recently...

Eyes Of 30,000 Honeycombs

With 30,000 individual facets, dragonflies have the most number of facets among insects. Each facet, or ommatidia, creates its own image, and the dragonfly brain has eight pairs of descending visual neurons to compile those thousands of images into one picture...

A Kaleidoscope Of Colours, Shapes And Patterns

Spectacular and innovative in design, the Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy. Home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world, it showcases the adaptations of plants to arid environments...

Lightning Strikes, Not Once, But Many Times

Unlike light, lightning does not travel in a straight line. Instead, it has many branches. These other branches flashed at the same time as the main strike. The branches are actually the step leaders that were connected to the leader that made it to its target...

Are You My Dinner Tonight?

A T-Rex has 24-26 teeth on its upper jaw and 24 more on its lower jaw. Juveniles have small, sharp blade-shaped teeth to cut flesh, whereas adults have huge, blunt, rounded teeth for crushing bones. Is the T-Rex a bone-crushing scavenger?

Half The Bloodsucker That It Was

7:32 AM  , ,  

Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West
North, Singapore
August 2012
Cloudy

Calotes Versicolor (Changeable Lizard / Bloodsucker Lizard / Crested Tree Lizard / Garden Fence Lizard / Oriental Garden Lizard) are usually a dull brown, grey or olive with speckles or bands, but can can be seen in other colours such as bright green. These colour changes may reflect their moods.

Merlion Wayfarer spotted this one along the staircase near Mayflower Primary School. It was basking in the sun in mid-morning. A male, it was in the midst of a colour change in preparation for the breeding season. A fascinating example. It can be seen that colour change happens not sporadically, but from head onwards to the tail. Its throat is also turning black...

During the breeding season, the male's head and shoulders turns bright orange to crimson and his throat black. Males also turn red-headed after a successful battle with rivals. Thus their other gruesome name of "Bloodsucker Lizard". But they don't actually suck anybody's blood! Both males and females have a crest from the head to nearly the tail, hence their other common name "Crested Tree Lizard".

 
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Thump! Splat! Smack!

4:56 PM  ,  

Somewhere Out There
Singapore
October 2012

This morning Merlion Wayfarer was shocked out of her sleep by a loud THUMP! on her glass door. Thinking that it might be a broom or dustpan blown by the strong wind remaining from the rain last night, she ignored it. But curiousity got the better of her, especially since she opened the door and found no one there and all the items in place.

A closer look revealed this interesting sight - SPLAT! right on the ground...

Then it hardly moved at all. It was in such an awkward position that Merlion Wayfarer wasn't even sure it was alive! She decided to check out if it was ok. It wasn't zombied enough to stay still though, and it got up quickly. Merlion Wayfarer had to move real fast to prevent being pecked by that bright orange beak!


It recovered enough to start flying and SMACK! it hit another wall and landed on the ground again.
Ok, more recovery time needed...

You can see its pupils getting dilated with the dazed effect...

Getting better, starting to getting awake...

Hopping around to test its orientation and then... BYE!

Afternote
As this was not like any kingfisher that she had seen before, Merlion Wayfarer sent out a call to her fellow nature kakis to ID it. LC (Thanks!) reverted that this is a rare Halcyon Coromanda (Ruddy Kingfisher), an uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor to Singapore. Usually found in a forest setting, this little kingfisher appeared disorientated in the urban setting. 

Referring to the first photo, Merlion Wayfarer had noticed a blue patch on its back. She thought it was due to the glass as it appeared less obvious after the door was opened. After doing some research, she realized that it was the blue sheen can only be seen in flight and when reflected against some light.

The "dazed look" was also explained as a nictitating membrane - The eye is covered with a translucent layer, as a protective function before the bird swoops down to attack prey, but in this case, it probably surfaces as as result of the knock on the head twice against the glass, then the wall. Interesting occurrence!
Sources

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The Toad

5:14 PM  , , ,  

A Neighbourhood Park
North-East, Singapore
October 2012

This was the night that Merlion Wayfarer went out on her first solo night macro photography outing - to a neighbourhood park. Initially skeptical of what she would find, she was pleasantly surprised to find many interesting finds!
Face the wall and repent (面壁思过)...
Starring Mr Toady...

And Mr Toady...

And Mr Toady!

He climbs trees too!

 Some other interesting sights...


Wanna kiss me?
Who knows... I might turn into a Prince too!

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Those Captivating Round Eyes

4:46 PM  , , , , ,  

Lower Peirce Reservoir
North, Singapore
September 2012
Cloudy

Merlion Wayfarer always loved shooting Jumpers - Because they make photogenic subjects with their reflective round eyes. With the Raynox recommended by a fellow nature shooter, those captivating eyes are made even more enticing.
Here are the ones spotted at Lower Peirce last Sunday:
  • Telamonia Dimidiata (Two-Striped Telamonia) Male
  
This was a shy male. It kept hiding on the side of the boardwalk away from the traffic. After some time, it jumped onto a nearby plant and hid under a leaf for some time. Quite a bit of patience required for it to turn into a nice photo subject...
Look how beautifully it arches its legs as if walking on tiptoe...
A curious look into the lens...

Finally relaxing a bit...
  • Epeus Flavobilineatus (Yellow-Lined Epeus) Male

 This curious little one played kept looking at the lens...

It got a bit distracted here with its eyes looking in different directions...

This was the last shot before it got too curious and jumped towards Merlion Wayfarer! Fast move siah....

Merlion Wayfarer also spotted an orb-weaver with a cotton wool nest. The brown parts appear to be its eggs...

And then there was the Nephilengys Malabarensis (Malabar Spider) well-hidden in the shadows savouring a traped Katydid...

See how it is munching at its breakfast!

|   Bizarre Encounters At Lower Peirce   |

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Bizarre Encounters At Lower Peirce

9:43 AM  , , , , , ,  

Lower Peirce Reservoir
North, Singapore
September 2012
Cloudy

Today seemed to be a bad day for a nature walk. There were several zones along the track with sheets of stationary bees. The honey bees and carpenter bees also seemed more active than usual. Definitely not a time to be putting on your favourite perfume today!

After the recent newspaper reports about aggressive wild boars in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, Merlion Wayfarer was quite wary of them. The visible tracks at the edge of the water certainly didn't help to relieve her unease... 

Merlion Wayfarer had often spotted millipedes in the Central Catchment Area. Spotting this little one was no surprised. Unlike the brown ones that are often found in leaf litter, the ones here are more brightly-coloured.  

She was also surprised by the size of its droppings and little red bits which appeared to be legs which had dropped off!

(Merlion Wayfarer had another simliar encounter in March 2012 here.)

A few steps away, she was surprised to find a moss-covered mass. It looked like a pile of strands encrusted in some brown and green stuff. Almost seemed not alive. Just that it was moving And moving fast. And try as she might, she could not locate its head...
(Merlion Wayfarer had another simliar encounter in March 2012 here.)

Have you ever seen a woodcutter? A woodcutter is one who chops wood in the forest, piles it in a stack, and carries it back to his shack on his back. And... Have you ever seen a woodcutter bug - Errrm, doesn't this look just like a woodcutter? 

On a closer look, Merlion Wayfarer realized that it looked more like a caterpillar!

Next, a wriggley made its appearance. Its cartoon-like movements made it quite endearing to watch. Here's a video...

As she left the boardwalk, she had a strange feeling that she was being watched. A look across the calm waters with her binoculars, and there it was - A White-Bellied Sea Eagle in a barren tree. Phew, what a day!

Read Also : Merlion Wayfarer's "Those Captivating Round Eyes"...


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