Day at Upper Pierce Reservoir

I am writing this today but the trip happened yesterday. I went with my father by taxi to the Old Upper Thompson road and went into the reservoir by the main gate.

The first thing i saw was two wild dogs. I only manage to take a picture of one of them as the other one ran into the woods.

I expect this dog was sniffing for food when I saw it. It quickly ran into the woods after seeing me approaching it.

A Long-tailed Macaque in the middle of the road. The macaques found around the reservoir were all afraid of humans, unlike the ones in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. This is a good sign. It showed that no one fed the macaques that lived around the reservoir.

Can you spot the yellow dragonfly in this picture? I saw it flying around and grabbed the chance to take a photo of it resting.

The dragonfly on this tree bark was well camouflaged. Can you spot it?

This spider jumped in front of me. At first I thought it was an ant. After examining it, I realised that it was a spider. I do not know the name of this spider as I did not see it or read about it before. This was my first time seeing it.

I heard a cicada singing on a tree branch. When I approached the cicada, it suddenly flew and landed among the grass(circled). Can you spot it? Find for the red circle. (You might not be able to spot the circle too.)

My father spotted this tiny creature on a stone table. It looked like a spider but my book does not say anything about it. It might also be a pseudoscorpion.

An orange cicada. Spotted it flying. Its abdomen was a beautiful red in colour. It landed on this leaf and I managed to take a photo before it flew away.

A brown praying mantis among the leaf litter. Saw it hopping around. It might be a Dead Leaf Mantis. I expect it hopped around for lunch before going back into hiding.

While on my way out of the reservoir, I spotted a Green Crested Lizard. This creature used to be a common tree lizard in urban gardens, but lost competition to the Changeable Lizard. Now it can only be found in wooded areas.

The lizard saw me and ran into the vegetation. It turned brown. Can you spot it?

We did not see any snakes that day. We were lucky that a taxi came in or we would have to walk all the way out to the main road.

Pulau Ubin

Yup, as stated above, I went to Pulau Ubin today. I sat a boat to that island. It cost my father $7.50. The ride is $2.50 per person. Just in case you are wondering who I went with, I went with my brother and of course my father. We rented 3 bicycles and started out to look for animals. We headed for a place called the Chek Jawa Wetlands.

The first thing I saw hopping along was a Banded Bull Frog. This nocturnal insectivore is common even in urban areas.

We continued our way to the Mangrove Broadwalk and saw these mudskippers together. Some even rolled over in puddles of water. Cute!

This little crab was about to hide into a hole dug by itself. Look at the pincers. There is a big difference in size.

A whole gang of crabs.

A Nipah plant.

This little crab digs holes too. According to someone, this is a Sand Bubble Crab. Quite small in size.

The spider which made this web is a good web artist.

Can you spot the camouflaged mudskipper?

This Mud Crab is the biggest crab I have seen today.

This crab has beautiful colours. This is the nicest crab I have seen today.

Another crab with different size pincers.

A Malayan Water Monitor. This creature is among the largest lizard in the world. It can climb trees and is also an expert swimmer and diver. It feeds on small animals and fish.

A shot of a Yellow-lined Epeus. This spider can grow around 9mm. It can be found in heavily wooded gardens or mangrove swamps.

Can you spot the grasshopper in this picture? The actual size is about 6cm.

A crab pulling a leaf. Wonder what is it going to do with the leaf. Eat it? Or is it going to lay its eggs on it so the young can feed on it?

After we reached the end of the broadwalk, we cycled back to the shophouses and ate chilli crabs. Does anyone like them? I like it. I also ate black pepper lobster. This is the end of the trip. I did heard someone say he saw an Oriental Whip Snake but I did not see any though.

Volunteer in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

Yesterday went to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve again. This time is for an orientation program for volunteers. I attended a talk on the common animals found in the reserve. These animals include the Plantain Squirrel, the Long-tailed Macaque, the Oriental Whip Snake, the Elegant Bronzeback and the Four-ridged Toad. At around 4.30, I went for a guided walk.
These was what I saw:

Can you spot the Colugo(circled)?

Zoomed in version of the Colugo. I apologise that the picture is blur. My camera just could not sense it. Its quite far away from me. For a better picture of it, go to this website: http://www.ecologyasia.com/

A strange, colourful and beautiful insect.

For the rest of the guiding, the guide just talked about plants. After 5, the guiding ends. I went out with my father to get some things for christmas.

Trip to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve(again)

Yesterday I went to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve again. Shawn had to wait for someone so I went there first. These was what I saw:

Can you spot the Clouded Monitor in this picture?

The lizard in this picture might be a Sun Skink.

This snake is either the Elegant Bronzeback or the Blue Bronzeback. After seeking help from an animal expert called Nick Baker, I found out its a Blue Bronzeback.

Shawn came right after I saw the snake. We took some pictures of the snake and move on with our journey. These was what we saw:

A type of flower. Anyone knows what is it?

A nice little cricket.

Yap. Two snakes that day. This beautiful snake is either the Oriental Whip Snake or the Malayan Whip Snake. Through further examinations, I say it is the Malayan Whip Snake.

This poor colourful caterpillar had been killed by ants.

Has anyone seen this type of grasshopper before? I have not.

This spider is a female Golden Web Spider. I like its colours. It can grow about 5 cm measuring from the head to the tip of its abdomen.

A treehopper. Cute isn't it? Hmm... Maybe I should buy a book on insects. This way I can identify the insects I saw.

The second and the third caterpillars of the day. Colourful and hairy. Hmm... Maybe I should buy a book on caterpillars too.

This Clouded Monitor is digging for food. It feeds mainly on small animals which it often find digging in the substrate.

This spider is most likely to be the Common Housefly Catcher. It had caught a moth. This picture proves that spiders sometimes catch preys bigger than themselves.