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?

The Day After The Full Moon

3:52 PM  , , ,  

Singapore
15 February 2014
 
14 February 2014 was the night of the full moon. It was also the night of the Chinese Valentine's Day, falling on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year.
 
The day after the full moon was one full of clouds. For an usually cloudy and windy February, wisps of dark clouds covered a still very bright moon, dulling its pale lemon glow...

  
More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa at :
Natural Phenomena - The Moon
  

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Lower Peirce Reservoir - The Playful Pitta

11:24 PM  , , ,  

Lower Peirce Reservoir
North, Singapore
March 2014

Lower Peirce Reservoir welcomed an uncommon visitor last weekend. It was a visitor that drew droves of bird photographers tracking its every move after a posting on a bird sighting forum.

There were two of them - One near the reservoir and the other near a stream. Each photographer was patiently still, moving only to click the shutter for yet another perfect shot.

And being the performer that it was, this Pitta moluccensis (Blue-Winged Pitta) played around with everyone, first hopping about in enjoyment, looking at everything around it, then pecking playfully at a log.


The photos are taken off a scope with a mobile phone camera, 
generously lent by a friendly birdwatcher...
(Thank you, my friend!)



More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa at : 
Aves - Passeriformes - Pittidae (Pittas)
 

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Bristleworms

9:15 PM  , ,  

Seashores
Singapore

Bristleworms are segmented worms belonging to Phylum Annelida like the more familiar Clitellata (earthworms and leeches). There are about 10,000 species of polychaete worms, making them the largest class of the segmented worms.

North-East Coast, Singapore, January 2013...
 
(Read about "Bristles That Sting")


They are abundant on our shores, but are rarely seen as they burrow in the ground or remain in other hiding places. In coral rubble, giant reef worms that grow to 1m long hide inside crevices. Others about 10cm long crawl about in sandy and muddy areas. Some beautiful ones swim about in the water. Others live in tubes. Countless microscopic ones too small to see live among the sand grains.

North-East Coast, Singapore, January 2014...

"Polychaeta" means "many bristles". These worms have bodies that are divided into segments (metameres). Except for the head and last segment, all the segments are generally similar. 

Each segment has a pair of flattened extensions called parapodia. These appendages are usually branched at the ends and covered with bristles, called setae. Parapodia show a vast diversity of form and function, serving purposes such as locomotion (moving like a centipede), burrowing, gas exchange, protection, attachment, controlling water flow within a tube, or can be reduced or lost altogether. 

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa at :

Sources


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Rock Stars By The Sea

9:26 PM  , , , ,  

Punggol Beach
North East, Singapore
January 2014

In this little patch of seashore, a single Aquilonastra Coronata (Crown Sea Star, Rock Star) was found. Actually, two, to be exact. But one was floating away and appeared dead. It could have been the victim of inconsiderate beachgoers who were digging out all the living creatures in the sand. (See "Park Visitors At Bukit Timah Hill & Punggol Beach")



More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa at :

Sources

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The Moon Will Not Set On 05 February 2014

8:47 AM  , , ,  

Singapore
05 February 2014

This a photo of the 0.22 fraction crescent moon at 2230 hours (1030 pm) before it sets.


Huh... a moon sets at night? Doesn't it follow the cycle of the sun?
 
Apparently not.
 
According to the moonrise and moonset chart by the National Environment Agency (NEA), the moon rises and sets everyday.
 
(Source : NEA)

Well, almost.
 
If you notice, that something interesting is going to occur on 05 February 2014 - There is a "NIL" for moonset time. The moon will not set on that day.
 
Why?
 
This is because the moon rises on 1142 hours on 05 February 2014. With a set time of 12 hours and 25 minutes away, it is expected to set at 0008 hours, which falls on the next day, 06 February 2014.
 
So, the truth holds that...
The Moon Will Not Set On 05 February 2014
 
More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa at :
Natural Phenomena - The Moon
  

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