Frogs IDed
Thanks to the experts Nick Baker (of
EcologyAsia) and Leong Tzi Ming (
the Frogman of Singapore) for confirming the identification of some of the frogs I saw in Rompin.
Those mating frogs - they're Harlequin Tree Frogs, also known as the Red Flying Frog, Gliding Frog or Parachute Frog (
Rhacophorus pardalis). Cool!
In addition, I've also sighted:
[2] Painted Chorus Frog
[3] Common Tree Frog, aka [4] Four-lined Tree Frog
[5] Orange-eyed Litter Frog
[6] Dark-sided Chorus Frog
[7] Common Greenback
[8] Field Frog
And the tadpoles and emergents of a few of those.
Usually I'd get all excited and would actually feel really honoured to be involved in such things, but not today. Not these days... it's hard to keep up a high spirit. I went to Buloh this morn for an interview and photography session (argh, they took so many many photos... and since when was I
ever comfortable being on the wrong side of a camera?). It's for some poster for the upcoming Singapore Green Plan exhibition. From Buloh, Uncle Pui San and Uncle Allan will be featured too, both veterans of the field. Well I call them uncles not 'cos of their age but 'cos I respect them. The photographer got me to pose with my scope on the mudflats, or with my camera, or simply "looking up and ahead into the future" (eeks). But the future right now looks rather grim... I see dark coulds. And not helping the mood were the decomposing corpse of a Black Spitting Cobra, retrieved from the prawn ponds, and the thundery sky...
Endau Rompin (Peta) National Park
It was only a short trip, but it felt long... for there was no end to a day, even as the night fell. I was reprimanded by my mom upon my return, for there was no reception there and I was virtually uncontactable (or is it incontactable?).
It was this year's Sungei Buloh/NParks Conservation Division's training-outing (we went to
Pulau Kukup last year); Su Hooi was kind enough to schedule it so that I would be able to go as well.
Seven hours on the road... coach up to Kahang and then 4WD or van through the plantations, and the rickety ride through the thick forest, its rivers, and the kampongs of the native Orang Asli. My bum was bumped sore.
Endau Rompin, on the Johor-Pahang border, is a 49 000 ha piece of untouched lowland rainforest, home to more than 230 species of birds, 180 species of butterflies and all the big mammals - tigers, elephants, rhinos, tapirs, and monkeys. We didn't venture deep and long enough to see any of these, but we did saw, along the way, deposits of elephant dung. In the first afternoon we provided with local guides who pointed out all the interesting plants and features of the environment. They spoke in Malay, and from among our volunteers we supplied our own interpreters. Still, there were some who were not so much botanists as they were (faunal) naturalists, and strayed away from the core group to explore on their own. I was with the latter, and by doing so we found many more interesting animals.
I enjoyed the night walk. Total darkness... the sounds of the forest - the chirps of the cicadas... crickets, the croaks of frogs, the water flowing through the streams. With our torches we scrutinised the bark of every tree for forest geckos and invertebrates. Some others made frequent stops to check their feet and legs for the bloodthirsty leeches. Before we went for the walk the one of the locals advised us, "If you see red eyes, don't panic. If you see green lights, it's ok." He was referring to the tigers... but we were told that nothing unpleasant has ever happened before so we were boldened.
We didn't see much on that first walk, probably 'cos we were focusing more on keeping our footing rather than what could be found around us. We did see fireflies - how mystical they are! Floating dots of light, disappearing and appearing among the foliage - and many harvestmen. And a dead snake.
Some others went for a second round, but Thiha and I decided to go frog-hunting. It was easier (perhaps not so the terrain but the chances of success of finding something interesting). We were joined by Robert later, and together we found more than seven species of frogs. There was a special treat too! A pair of treefrogs were mating... in the thick of action... and an hour later they were producing lots of foam and the female laid her eggs.
Haunted by the gigantic whizzing mozzies at night, we went to sleep.
We trekked... and trekked... early the next morn, though our journey was made faster (and easier) with the help of a van which shuttled us a bit of the way. Fabulous location and time for birding. Added a few more lifers to my list (I'm missing lots of forest birds) - Scarlet Minivet, Black-naped Monarch, Red-billed Malkoha, a Woodswallow, a Nuthatch, Grey-breated Spiderhunter, Blue-winged Leafbird, and a flycatcher-shrike... among others. Saw lots of butterflies - again, many species new to me.
We arrived at the Kuala Jasin Waterfall, where three different major rivers met. Beautiful scenery... dominated by rock formations which date back some 248 million years. Hordes of butterflies on a coast along the other side made for an excellent photo opportunity. I only wished we could stay there longer.
Pics to come.
Short recap of last week - met up for lunch with Lionel, who returned to London on Friday... went camera-shopping with Thiha, and had dinner and watched a movie with ZF (
The Brothers Grimm only my 2
nd movie this month after
The March of the Penguins [well it's more of a film-documentary... not really a movie :P] )
Then I packed my bags and slipped away from civilisation...
Meme of sevens
Overdue quest obtained from reading
mr budak's blog (the list of items from 1 to 7 appear in no particular order):
7 things that scare me:
1. Mathematics, numbers, and the likes (eg. this meme - why seven?)
2. Particular microscopic stuff that you're forced to learn about
3. How mind-bloggley-big this whole world actually is
4. Ignorance
5. Things I don't understand
6. Eventually getting bitten by something that means a lot more harm
7. Myself
7 things that I like most:
1. Home - my family and friends
2. My pets
3. Nature, birds, insects, spiders, mammals, anything, everything
4. Randomly taking photos of anything of interest
5. Spending time on my laptop
6. Bludging around
7. Sleeping
8. The spontaneity of life
9. Scratching my itches
10. Gaming
7 important things in my (living) room:
1. Banjo the parrot
2. That great antique horse statue
3. The sofas
4. The telly and related black boxes all stacked up underneath
5. The tissue box
6. Lamps and lights
7. Family photos
7 random facts about me:
1. I make weird animal noises
2. I was born in Hong Kong
3. I tend to leave the best for last (applicable mainly to my eating habits)
4. I get panda-eyes easily
5. At times I want to be away from people, in my own world, and at other times I hunger for companionship
6. I hate to be called "
girl" (in a Singlish accent)
7. Two in three people say I look like a secondary school student
7 things I plan to do before I die:
Many, many things... too many to list
7 things I can do:
1. Whack people with a fencing weapon
2. ... and be poked in return
3. Catch a lizard and play with it
4. Be dead serious
5. Procrastinate
6. Be good at a computer
7. Lock out noises I don't want to hear
7 things I can't do:
1. Anything to do with numbers
2. Be the girly girl that my mom wants me to be
3. Wriggle my ears
4. Tell good jokes
5. Write with both my left and right hands
6. Watch Chinese films without subtitles
7. Look straight down from a high place... eeks heights!
7 things I say the most:
1. "Yeah" (in years past it used to be accompanied by a "mate")
2. "Err..."
3. "Orh"
4. "Hai!"
5. "Banjo... head rub?"
6. "Where're you now?"
7. "What time?"
7 Celebrity Crushes:
... no crushes... hehee...
7 people who could do this:
Take your pick from the names on the left
More lightning
Eeeks well, too bad, I've no chance of getting a slot for a driving test this hols. I've completed the course, and just passed Final Theory this morn... but... I'll have to wait till Dec to take the practical test.
Went for the STB tourist guide induction ceremony in the end; at first I thought I wouldn't be able to rush back for it. At least there was still some food from the excellent Thai buffet left lol.
Joe was there... he's the only other nature guide! The rest were general tourist guides... or other specialists... or taxi guides. The tourist guide guild was there... they tried
kachauing me to join but I didn't think I was gonna go pro or FT so I reckon I'll leave it for later years.
Then... shopping with mom... bought some new clothes... hmm which I seldom do...
Then... met up with Jen Lee and we talked about the process of
archiving her New Paper articles (it's been quite a while in the making, but her articles are many and they're still coming in :) )...
Wruffers to Amar for forwarding this link. I refused to go to bed until I had gone through the entire archive! :P
VG CatsSome hilarious comics - revolving around the worlds of video games, computer games, movies - HL, CS, WoW, Mario, UT... you play it, they've (almost) got it. Some wicked stuff.
Full Moon
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breast peep
Of doves in silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws and a silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
~ "Silver", by Walter de la Mare(Ps. I know that jolly 'ole British poet actually had a poem called
Full Moon as well, but I like this better.)
Those leaning towards astronomy (rather than poetry) might be interested in looking at a simple
lunar map of the moon which I charted out from the original photo. :P Happy Mid-Autumn Festival... don't leave your mooncakes till they're mouldy.
Is this what they call thirst?
I think I now realise why I'm finding Sungei Buloh less exciting as months go by.
It's just because I haven't been learning. I've been guiding, sharing, imparting knowledge, helping here and there, IT-wise, PR-wise, etc., but I haven't been learning anything new... I have been applying what I learnt in college to whatever I observe there, but it isn't fresh knowledge.
Today I had two trainees tagging along while I took on a group of visiting guests from
WWF Thailand, and the Thai education ministry, here in Buloh for a staff study tour on reserve management, outreach aspects and the likes. They're all nice people, and I learnt from them as well. Hee... they're in need of ecologists on the team and should I ever go to Thailand, they said I could stay at their reserve bunkers and help them out a bit. Cool. They've established
Bang Pu Nature Education Center, a joint initiative between WWF and the Thai Royal Army, to celebrate the 72
nd anniversary of HM the Queen; an interesting concept. It looks promising... Bangkok's first urban nature reserve, encompassing ~102ha. But there's still lots of development to be done before it can be officially opened.
Formal volunteer training for the new trainees in the arvo. 'No business' for the 3pm tour so I sat in for the training. Hee... haven't been in Edie's flora training before - here were things he talked about which I hadn't known. But then again, I'm not a plant person lol. Bah, still, it felt great... I was forced to remember things for once!
Then there was Roy, a marine biologist from the Underwater World. With Buloh lacking a resident/volunteer fish expert, I pounded him with questions about fish. I just need more people... more experts... I can learn from. Sigh. How else can I improve? I feel like I've stagnated.
Tree-climbing crab
Quack kek-kek!
This post is partly for the sake of those who have not seen a treeduck and kingfisher side-by-side before, and party for mr budak who seems to have a recent preoccupation with ducks... (or have you always been obsessed with them? :P) Forgive me for the lame captions... I'm crap at writing commentaries lol.
So that White-throated Kingfisher was happily sitting by himself... on his throne of a wooden arrow sign. The Lesser treeduck flies up - he, too, frequently perches on the same post. The two birds meet - and nope, they're not kissing, but snapping at each other's bills.
Mr Kingfisher puffs out his chest and spreads his shoulders and wings: "Heh, I'm not as small as you think I am!" Treeduck is unimpressed.
They then take to ignoring each other...
... but the tension in the air was unbearable. So they talk and decide to put aside their differences. They are both birds, afterall.
Best buddies?
Botanic Gardens
Sometimes I like to go walk about the parks by myself. My mom thinks I'm
wu liao, but I don't see it that way. Not many people have the patience to accompany me on such trips... where I can spend the entire afternoon stationed at the same spot taking more or less the same subjects. I don't have to concern myself with entertaining whoever's with me or needing to come up with topics of conversation. I've time to myself... with the birds... or the dragonflies... or the cicadas... and whatever else are there that day. I may not like to be a
nigel all the time, but I do seek and enjoy solitude.
I bumped into
Joe Lai, former conservation officer at Buloh who has founded and is now running
EART-H, a nature consultancy/outreach organisation. He's been giving educational talks here and there and well... I suppose being one of
the plant experts... he's been kept busy enough. It so happens that he's from my 'batch' of STB Specialised Tourist Guides... got his licence at the same time as I did. Not sure if I'll see him again on Monday - at the induction ceremony - since I've got my driving Final Theory Test then. Sigh. When there are so many free days around me... why must everything choose to happen on the same day at the same time? Anyway it was good to see him again - just when we thought he kinda disappeared after the days of campaigning for Chek Jawa.
White-throated Kingfisher - ain't he handsome?
Adult and juv. White-breated Waterhen fighting over a piece of bread
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Lesser Treeduck
I still see white specks when I blink
Let there be lightning! And little or no clouds! And a dark sky! Shooting lighting is actually quite simple - you just need to be at the right window at the right time, facing the right direction with the right camera settings. :P Wait with an open shutter. When lightning strikes, it takes its own picture. Close the shutter. Check. But being there when it happens is not easy. Either the lightning's taking place behind the clouds, and all you see is a flash of white sky, or the it doesn't want to strike the same area again. I've waited months... and finally... I sat through two black-outs in my house and got
this. Of course, it's not good enough... no standard's ever good enough. I wanted a more threatening feel... I had hoped to take a landscape lightning shot, not portrait... and I had hoped to take more than just one successful shot.
But still, I shot lightning, and I'm happy.
More than a handful
International Coastal Cleanup today... and I had forgotten all about it (until I met Tom, Ria, and a few mud-bathed JC students looking oh-so-weary). Two other events called for my help, and I had to pick one over the other. Naturally, I answered Buloh's call, despite the chance to earn some handsome cash. Tired... so tired and thirsty throughout. Never have I met a more enthusiastic bunch of visitors (and my, with 70 of them in the group, they *are* a big bunch) - all from NTU's Earthlink club. They asked questions one after another, and with so many of them I had to shuttle to and fro many times to stop and look at what they were pointing at and to explain what that 'something' was. Maybe next time I shall record narratives into my iPod and playback a track at a specific stop. Hmm... maybe like if they had mini-radios, I could beam that track into their players. Hehee. Technology's making us lazy
liao. :P Brought them to the prawn harvest demo then for a guided tour.
Some 'assignment photoshooting' around the Reserve, then helped with some work in the office, ... 'twas raining then, so might as well as enjoy the air-con.
Guided a lady from NSS for the arvo slot... here was another who showed great interest. She got sooo excited upon seeing a Whip Spider, and just stood there bent over the spider as though it were some world wonder. I warned her about the Weaver Ants about her feet, but - too late, one crawled in beneath her jeans and up her, erm, leg. And bit her... erm, higher up. It was hilarious... quite a scene, that... her hopping about frantically, pinching her jeans and slapping everywhere... looking down... I laughed with her at first, then not wanting to embarrass her further I pretended to take a great interest in a fly which landed on a leaf to my right...
Waders are in by the hundreds now. My skills in photography seem to be lacking some... sigh. No good pics lately.
Khalid & prawn harvesting demo: "Uh, this is the Indian White..."
Some of the 70-strong NTU group
An attempted artsy pic of waders in flight
The complicated debate of intelligent design
Overdue
The gang at Alex's farewell gathering last, last week. All the best, maomao!
(Btw, somebody's missing from the pic. Here's Viv.)
Too many names, too many faces
Woke up early... waaay to early for my liking... and made my way down to Sungei Buloh. It was the NYAA/HSBC Youth Environmental Award 2005 ceremony. I was helping out. Met Peter... he was from my batch of winners, and I've bumped into him from time to time since. Lucky him and a few other past awardees - those from more recent years - were sponsored to go on an EarthWatch study trip to study koala ecology in Australia. This year's study trippers are going to China to work on the Asiatic black bear. Bah... I didn't go for my trip then 'cos it was in Chiang Mai, I was deemed 'too young' by my parents then, and around that time, some inmates had escaped from some prison around the area where we were supposed to be stationed to study elephant ecology (needless to say, a bunch of convicts on the loose had put to my parents' mind some less-than-pleasant images). And I couldn't go for my EarthWatch expedition when I was in Syd 'cos there were bushfires at the Blue Mountains where we were to work on the endangered frogs. All bad timing. The NYAA Council Executive Director and his Deputy both recognised me and called me by name, and unwitting me had shamefully forgotten who they are - it was such a long time ago; "Of course! We have your track records". Scary memories, they have lol. A teacher who was a guest at the function also remembered me... since I had once taken him and his group of students on a tour before. *shame* I've forgotten who is too.
Had a nice little chat with Mr Wong (Director for Conservation, NParks). He asked about my final-year project - what would I do? Would I do it back in Singapore... mangroves, forests, intertidal? He said NPark'll provide me with whatever data/support I need, not to worry. But... hrm... there're so many buts. Dunno if I should hook up with them or Raffles Museum. Dunno what I wanna do either. Got a couple of months to think about that.
After that it was a teachers' training workshop to prepare them for the Young Naturalists' Programme. Took the teachers around, showed them the usual. This bunch was ok... some of them were so enthusiastic, I had almost forgotten that I was guiding
teachers. They were so unlike the teachers I am used to. Perhaps teachers have off-duty modes too. Like usual, I talked too much. Went overtime. Hmm... I wish they'd give us more time for the touring part.
More waders - as dusk approaches
Plantain squirrel - the effect was not intendedI wanna see a sssnake!
Banjo on my bed; colour's a bit off
I have noticed that after my Japan trip, my body has taken to physiologic disturbances with a little more offence than usual. Those
mysterious bites and blisters that appeared over the nights were indeed mozzie bites. I said I'd recognise mozzie bites, but it seems like I don't any more. I noted where I got bitten by mozzies at Sungei Buloh on Sat, and at those places, there're now swells and blisters. It never used to be like this. Now I get exaggerated inflammatory responses... and I've no idea why. Was it something I ate? Was it the hot springs? Or is it just that the mosquitoes which target me are the uber-aggressive ones? Among the mozzie bites, there's a sandfly bite. At least *that* still looks normal.
Let's Learn English!
Something silly -
masteroni.braunoni.nl/hu.html
Blue-tac works for sticking stuff to the fridge and pinning postcards on the wall, but it doesn't, and shouldn't have been used for keeping a door latch in its place. We should have just removed that useless latch... or superglued it immobile. Well usually Kris is in the house, and she'd be able to come to the rescue of whoever was outside.
Today after picking my sis up, we were stuck outside the house. The latch must have sprang back as I closed the main door when I went out. The door wouldn't open more than 5cm. We pryed and banged and rocked the whole door frame, but the latch still held in place. Stuck my hand through and tried screwdriving the latch base... the nails refused to turn. Got the neighbours/guards to help - obtained an assortment of tools and we brainstormed. Grrr.... stupid door. And stupid Banjo laughing and talking from the inside, his parrotness was annoying. Dofu was barking.
We didn't want to call in the locksmith, not yet, and I couldn't reach my parents, who are in Japan.
Tried useless tricks... maneuvers... grar...
Then I removed the drawstring from my the legs of my trousers... and tied knots here and there, working at specific angles. Looped an end around the latch... then through one side of the door... then another in front... yadda yadda... closed the door. Yanked the string hard. Plop! w00t! Opened the door... slowly... it opened all the way. w00tness! Haha...
KISS, keep it simple. So much for pliers and screwsdrivers, when a piece of string would do.
Rainy days
Finally hit the bushes today... went for Ria's shore talk in the morn at Sungei Buloh. Raining throughout... so didn't do any guided tours. There weren't that many visitors anyway. Saw some terns on my way at Kranji Dam. Might spend some time there one day to shoot them... I just realised that I haven't got any tern pics from Singapore... 'cos usually I'd see them only when I'm on that bumboat to Ubin.
The first of the migratory waders from the wintery, northern regions of Asia have arrived... Redshanks, Greenshanks, Tereks, Mongolian plovers, Common sandpipers, Whimbrels, Marsh sandpipers... the usual ones at Buloh. A few of them are still in their breeding plumage, and a handful of them are the flagged ones - green above white - Singapore's colours, meaning that they've been here (and have been ringed and their data collected) before. Didn't see any with other countries' tags.
Greenshank (left) and Redshanks;
you can make out a wader's flagged leg at the top
Collared kingfisher
My preciouss' RAM has been upgraded to 1GB... haha. Thanks to Comex. Also got a new game for my DS.
Dogged Wanderings turns 2!
I never thought, when I began, that I'd manage to keep this going. :P Two whole years' record of activities, thoughts, and stuff. Better'd archive all of them first.
Exciting news in the nature circle in Singapore go so fast that by the time I check my email and blogs online, my own entry has become old news. :P
This time, it's something that would appeal to the masses (unlike... erm, say, lizards?). Dolphins have been sighted - and videoed - off the coast of St John Island. Again, I should say. Read about it on
Habitatnews!
Ps.
Here's another outdated one: the
Alaskan Malamute abuse case (stole the link from somewhere... forgot where... it was in my bookmarks...)
Putting armed soldiers on the streets to enforce law and order is understandable, but for Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to say, "[the troops, fresh back from Iraq] know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will"... now this is disturbing - the people their rifles are aiming at are their fellow Americans! Has war numbed their humanity?
The same issue, but a different topic - an
editorial in the Boston Globe blamed Hurricane Katrina on global warming. Well, so are many others, though none as strongly-worded as this.
This blog holds some interesting arguments regarding the possible connections between hurricanes and global warming.
Some scientists believe (since the evidence is slim) that Katrina was the consequence of natural salinity and temperature change in the Atlantic's deep current circulation - elements that shift back and forth every 40-60 years.
And here come politics and science and funding debates again.
