Birdwatching « My Itchy Fingers

Night at the Cemetery

April 7, 2012 at 4:04 pm | Posted in itchy backside | Leave a comment
Tags: Animals, Birdwatching, Nature, Uniquely Singapore

The time was close to a quarter to nine at night. Although there were street lights nearby, they seemed to be too dim and weak to compete with the Darkness. The road was almost pitch dark to urban folks like Itchyfingers who are so used to having bright lights around. As we drove past the gate into the territory of the Dead, all we could hear were the sound of the insects and our car engine. Suddenly, we saw something reflective on the ground…

“Oh, a cat…” I said. My first thought was that it came from the reflective eye shine of a cat…

“No! It’s an owl!” Exclaimed Tisu Boy, who had acclimatised faster to the low light. “Buffy….!!!!!”

Oh my goodness!!! So, the moment Itchyfingers drove past the gate of the Bukit Brown Cemetery, we saw a Buffy Fish Owl sitting on the open patch of tarmac road! What great luck! It was not the first time we saw the Buffy Fish Owl in the wild but it is always exciting to see an owl…any owl!

But darn! It stayed only for two seconds before it flew and perched on a nearby tree!

We quickly jumped out of the car, trying not to make too much noise. Although we saw where it perched, but by the time Tisu Boy set up his camera, I was too blind to track his movement. We had lost him! Nevertheless, it was still great to see the owl again.

A Buffy Fish Owl that Itchyfingers saw some time ago in our nature reserve

Our friends arrived shortly and we started our night walk at the cemetery. Itchyfingers have visited Bukit Brown Cemetery numerous times for bird watching and also visited the many big tombs of various prominent figures of Singapore. But all those trips were made in bright day light. This was the first time we came for a night walk. Our friend had hoped to spot the highly elusive Sambar Deers that were sporadically sighted before in the area.

The most abundant sightings of the night must be the Large-tailed Nightjars. We saw so many of them that I had lost count. Must had been at least 10 or more…

Like owls, these nocturnal birds have large eyes and irises that reflect light
where ever the torch shone. Most of these nightjars were lying motionless
on the road. Maybe it was warmer? Some were spotted perching on tombs,
but we didn’t photograph them out of respect to the deceased. Of course
if you are the superstitious kind, you wouldn’t want to have something extra
(and whitish perhaps) appearing on your photo! Hahah….

We saw this big spider having his Forest Cockroach dinner…eeee….Not sure
which spider was this though

I think he got nervous with so many giant eyes spying at him that he
dropped his big fat dinner….Luckily he got hold of it with the trusty web

Another spider with an egg sac…We also saw the tarantula….

Look carefully and you can see baby scorpions on the mother’s back! It
was a bit too high to get a closer picture…

A Lesser Fruit Bat hanging around….literally….hahah

Our sharp-eyed friend kept spotting this small owl, probably because he had done many night walks before. Most of the time the owls were quite far and flew off very quickly before we could take a better look. This one stayed the longest for us….

The Collared Scops Owl was relatively common at cemetery, but being so
small, it was hard to spot! This one was the most obliging. Isn’t he cute?
It was the first time we saw this owl at night…

We didn’t manage to see or even hear the Sambar Deers, but it was still a good trip as we managed to see two species of owls. Bukit Brown Cemetery will be developed soon for road work by early next year. Eventually all the tombs would be exhumed for housing development in another few years’ time. Along with it, the many majestic trees would have to go too. Where would these wonderful creatures go then….?

Seeing Red in a Tent – Spidey Galore #3

November 23, 2011 at 11:54 am | Posted in itchy mouth | 1 Comment
Tags: Animals, Birdwatching, Nature, Photography

This day Itchyfingers were at the Botanic Gardens when we saw a Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) in the thick bush. No doubt it’s a very common bird in Singapore, but somehow Tisu Boy has no good picture of it. So when we saw it not moving, we thought it was a good chance to take some nice pictures.

Then suddenly the bird swooped down and started attacking at something. A look through the binos showed a big spider web, but we couldn’t see any spider except some dried leaves hanging on it. The oriole continued raiding the web but it must be quite a strong and sticky one cos the bird seemed to be having some difficulty getting passed to its prey.

The persistent Black-naped Oriole raiding at the web…

We couldn’t see any spider so Tisu Boy had a tough time taking all the actions
as we didn’t know where the Oriole was aiming for. But it seemed like he was
going for the dried leaves! A pity we couldn’t get the whole bird in the frame…
Everything happened so fast, like a flash!

We didn’t witness the oriole with any catch from the web. He must be exhausted and didn’t want to risk being stuck by the spider web as he eventually gave up after a few more failed attempts and flew off in search of easier prey

It was only then that we could go slightly nearer to take a closer look. The web was hidden among the thick bush and there was no way we could bash in to examine closer. Looking through the binos, we finally saw the spider!

So it was a Red-tent Spider (Cyrtophora unicolor)! Itchyfingers has
read about this spider but this was the first one I ever saw it in the wild!
Red-tent Spider is a kind of Orb-Web Spider that builds what appears
to be a three-dimensional irregular web

Then on another day, Itchyfingers were at Pasir Ris Park walking on the mangrove boardwalk when we chanced upon this one at eye-level…Finally we could take a better look at the Red-tent Spider!

Wow! It was huge! I think the body must be about 20 mm long. Females are
bigger at 17 – 20 mm. This site suggests that males are rarer to find possibly
because they are smaller and less conspicuous compared to the females.
The web of the Red-tent Spider usually has one or two curled up dried leaves
in the centre where the spider would be hiding inside

We were totally unprepared for this find as we only had our long lens for taking birds. Imagine Tisu Boy having to step as far as possible to the edge of the boardwalk in order to focus and photograph this spider! Hahah…

Although the Red-tent Spiders are supposed to be quite common, but I think you will still have to be quite observant and lucky to find one, especially when they are found in dense vegetation in mangrove swamps. So certainly Itchyfingers didn’t expect to be third time lucky! This time we saw one at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve…and boy, what a beauty!

Look at the red colour on her body! This time we had macro lens but the
three-dimensional web got into the way so that was the closest we could go.
The spider was having her packed lunch of what looked like a silk-bundled
beetle meal!

Also see related posts:
> Jaws – Spidey Galore #1
> Eating Its Own Kind? – Spidey Galore #2

Wake Up Call – Aoraki Mount Cook, New Zealand Trip #11

May 25, 2011 at 1:23 am | Posted in itchy backside | 1 Comment
Tags: Animals, Birdwatching, Nature, New Zealand, Travel

I was in nice warm Slumberland when a high-pitch screech woke me up…I opened my eyes and got a shock when I saw something outside the window…moving…Then it let out that squeal again…It was only then I realised what was that…

Oh my goodness! I couldn’t believe my eyes! A Kea standing at the balcony
of my room, waking me up at 4.30 am! The sky was still so dark!

Can you imagine how excited Itchyfingers was? To be woken up by a mountain parrot! !!! It was still so dark and yet this naughty parrot was already warming up his vocal! (Click here to listen to the kea’s call)

The naughty parrot kept walking to and fro…He had rings on his legs…
must be tagged by the national park people…

It was tough trying to take decent photos of the bird since it was still so dark…Itchyfingers were fully awaken by now…hahah…Not too long later, we realised we weren’t the only ones “terrorised” by the Kea…There seemed to be others jumping around on the rooftop and our neighbours’ balconies as well! Could hear the other people laughing in amusement as well as flashing of cameras. Hahahah…All woken up by these “natural alarm clocks”! Hahah….

An hour or so passed while the Kea continued clowning around, the morning
sun began to extend its golden rays on the mountain range. From our balcony
we could see Mount Cook on the right…

Colours reaching its full intensity!

The first Kea flew off, only to be replaced by another one very soon…These
mountain parrots were so cute, totally unafraid of people. We were the ones
who were more wary of their sharp beaks and claws…hahah

Being curious, these Kea can be destructive also!

Our neighbours gave this Kea a apple core…probably so that it would stay
longer at their balcony for them to take photos…but this guy preferred to
come over to our side….

The tentcard in the room with advices on not feeding the Kea, apparently
ignored by our neighbours…

Luckily some still preferred to snack on natural food sources…

Strangely, the naughty parrots seemed to have enough fun disturbing people’s sleep and fooling around on the balcony shortly after the sky turned bright, and one by one, they left. It was also time for us to wash up… :p What a great start for the day!

The previous day afternoon after we had checked into the hotel, we decided to explore around the area….

The Hermitage, a hotel with a long history dating back to 1884

From the hotel, there was this trail that led to the various walks…

We decided to go for the shorter Kea Point walk due to time constraint, as
day light could end quite early here…

Very easy walking

On the way, we saw raspberry tree! So tempted to pluck and eat!

And also these miniature apple-look-alike fruits…cute…

It was very peaceful as we only met a couple of other visitors on the way..
Maybe we walked too slow so din get to catch up with them…hahah

Most of the path were well-laid…

I think we much longer time to reach here…stopped too long for photos
along the way…hahha…

I forgot to take a photo of the Kea Point viewing platform, which by the time we reached there, was occupied by a couple of other visitors.

Could see Mount Cook so much nearer here! The highest mountain in New
Zealand, reaching at height of 3,754 metres! Er, did my eyes play tricks
on me? I thought I saw a face on the mountain!? Did you see it?

There! Can you see the face? Even the old English couple Itchyfingers were
talking to agreed that it looked like a face!

As the cloud kept moving in from the right to cover the mountain, we sat there patiently hoping to see the mountain cleared up….

And it did…

We sat on the platform chatting with the couple, admiring the beauty and peacefulness of the vast mountain landscape, until another Malaysian chinese girl who backpacked with two other friends joined us. She walked here alone as her friends were tired. Interesting to meet fellow asian in foreign country!

Walking back took slightly shorter time, but we were still being caught up by other visitors…hahah…

This ang moh guy was brisk walking behind us so we thought he was
rushing for time and made way for him to cross over first. But after he passed
me, he just decided to lie down amongst the grass to take a nap! Totally ignoring
other people! Hahahah…! Another asian couple in front of us was posing
for photo with Mount Cook as backdrop…