Around McRitchie Reservoir and back

In preparation for my Mt Kota Kinabalu hike in March. I decided to go for an endurance trekking exercise. At the same time, I was trying to acquire as much needed pictures for LK from RMBR.

The endurnace trekking starts from my place, into Zhenghua Partk, towards the Pipeline Reserve, and into Rfile Range Road. At the end of Rifle Range Road is a track leading to McRitchie Reservoir. Along the way, one will pass the Jelutong Tower, and then into surrounding area of SICC. Once at McRitchie carpark, continue the journey to the Kayaking station, and onto Venus Drive to the HSBC Tree Top Walk and then back to Rifle Range Road.

In total, this journey will be 24 km long and will take about 6 to 7 hours to complete.

But it took me 7.5 hours to accomplish this feat, and that was because I stopped once too often to take pictures. Logged the journey using my Garmin Forerunner, and below is the coverage of my walk. (The loop is actually the McRitchie Reservoir)

Time 08:30 hrs – Lining the Pipeline Reserve are the Rain Trees (Samanea saman). This tree was introduced into Singapore in 1876 from South America. This tree offers much shade as its canopy covers large areas.

At this hour, the birds were very active.

Unfortunately most of them were simply too fast for me to capture with my camera. A flock of green Bee-eaters were flying about, but the most acrobatic of them all was the Pacific Swallow (Hirondo tahitica). Pacific Swallow involves in aerial acrobat as that is how they catch their insect meals. Unlike swift, swallows tend to catch the insects near to the ground.

Despite the fact that I was using speed of 1/1000 sec, I was still not able to freeze them in action. This Pacific Swalow was taken near the SICC - it just caught an insect and decided to rest on this sign. Could not miss the opportunity for some closed up.

Along the Pipeline Reserve, there were many spider webs glistening in the morning dew. Took this shot of this yelow flower with a drop of dew on the blade of grass. I called it Awakening!

When I was doing my National Service, the instructor always tell us "never stand in the skylight", for you can be easily seen. Well this Collared Kingfisher (Halcyon chloris) made that mistake, and provide me with the opportunity to take couple of "shots".

This unknown bird perched on a tree with no foliage, which is a delight to people like me who cannot wait to get a few shots of them.

This Land Snail (ID unknown) was also out foraging for food. This is unlike the common Giant African Snail, to me this specimen is better looking than the Giant African Snail.

Time 10:30 am - At this hour, the birds decided to hide. One can notice that the ambience sound is now lacking in birds'call! The insects at this time were not very active. Occasionally, one will chance upon some of the birds that were hiding in the foliage.

Like this Great racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus). In this shy posture, I can only take its back. Notice the tail plumage - it is elongated with a tuft at the end.

Another angle of this shy individual. It has red eyes, and can mimic the calls of other birds. Feed mainly on insects, it is actual quite easily spotted as it tends to make very "cheerful"noise in the foliage. I managed to spot a number of them by locating their calls.

In another tree, I spotted this individual. Not too sure about its ID.
Time 12:00 Noon - I arrive in McRitchie. Half way in my trek, and I was already quite tired. (Must be the heat).

In the water, I noticed these pond skaters. They were in the hundreds. Not too sure why they were congregating in this spot!

At this hour, the insects and the reptilian animals were now most active. Cicada noise fills the air, and butterflies were everywere.

This skink was sunning itself when I accidentally scared it, and it scurried into the undergrowth. Looking at the belly, you will notice that it is golden in colour. This is the Many lined or Common Sun Skink (Mabuya multifasciata). Skink has smooth scaly skins and is diurnal (active in the day).

To prevent collection of water on their leaves, a lot of plants have leaves with tips. Called it Drip Tip (that was what the sign said). By preventing accumulation of water, and as the leaves have special waxy coating, water will be drained off much easily, and thus prevent algae forming on the leaves. (Algae tends to grow on branches but seldom on leaves)


Time 15:00 Hr - Having looped round McRitchie, I was on my way to the Treetop walk, and noticed many rattan. Rattan comes in many size, and the most obvious trait will be the barbs. They have different design, and this type of rattan tends to be a "creeper", and the barbs (thorns) help in the process of creeping up. But woe to the person who accidentally brushes into one of them, the only way to unhook is to move backward.


And copying the design from the rattan, man has build barbs around these pipelines. I used to walk on top of these pipelines, just to cross from one point to the other. Now it is no longer possible.Time 15:30 hr - At the tree top walk, I met a fellow nature lover who has vast knowledge on plants. He explained to me many plants and its flowers and leaves. I was most appreciative, and he told me he was looking for Tongkat Ali. Then he found it, and showed me the Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia). Most of us are familiar with the roots, but not the complete tree. Tongkat Ali is an aphrodiasac use in this part of the world. It is extremely bitter, and occasionally people will mix it with honey before partaking it. Time 16:30 hr - Finally I reached home. My legs were sored and my feet hurt. But it was worth it. Now I wonder whether my Semakau kakis and Climbing Crabs kakis are interested in this endurance walk!

Olive backed Sunbird bulding a Nest (7th Feb 2008)

This is the 1st day of the Lunar New Year (2008).

Wishing one and all - Blessed New Year and Good Health to you and your loved ones.

As tradition dictates, we were out visiting relatives, and in one of our stops in Bedok and in the balcony, a Olive backed Sunbird (Nectarinia jugularis) was building a seemingly untidy nest.

The site of the nest was a Kaffir Lime tree (Citris hystrix), and there is a good reason for choosing such tree, for the Kaffir Lime tree is full of spikes. But then since it is building its nest in the balcony, it has nothing much to fear!

Apparently this individual is quite use to the presence of human, and I was able to be very closed to the subject, in fact about 1 m away. Though I was capturing the building process with speed of 1/500 sec, the fluttering of the wings were blurred.

With great mastery of flight, this sunbird seems to be suspended in mid-air, with wings folded, it was coming in to land on its partially build nest.

And then it landed, and busied away with the nest building.

I wondered how the nest eventually will look like, will have to check at later stage.

Coral Fluorescence and other attributes

Coral Workshop in Semakau (25 Dec 2007)
(Kindly provide correct ID of coral if named wrongly. Much appreciated)
For the rest of the pictures please follow this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/tan-tc

As the workshop was held in the evening, the first few coral that we came across was fluorescing in a beautiful green glow! Eventually we will get to see other corals and even Peacock Anemone glowing in the dusk light.


Picture 1 - Favia sp.

The phenomenon of FLUORESCENCE is when matter of higher energy is being absorbed by a substance, and in term being released by that same substance at a lower energy level. For CORAL FLUORESCENCE, the higher light energy (blue colour) is being absorbed by the Coral, and released in a lower light energy (green or red colour). Thus coral that may appear dull in the daytime, may emit myriad of colours during the dusk period.

Jani (our workshop instructor) explained that this is the normal reaction of such coral during certain time of the day as a form of “sun block” to reduce the animals from receiving harmful ray (ie. UV light which is at the other end of the visible light spectrum).
It is also known that younger Coral (Coral Recruit) tends to radiate more than the older ones. Takeing advantage of this behaviour, scientist has used this behaviour when they are out looking for recruit for their research. Of course, in the aquarium trade, to make their coral exhibits more interesting, the tanks will always be bathed with UV light.

Dr Charles Mazel - a leading investigator into Coral Fluorescence, said that it is possible for coral to fluorescence without any known reasons. The phenomena of Coral Fluorescence is still full of mystery. Is it an indicator the health of the coral; for spawning reason; ward off predators. Scientists are still wondering!

Picture 2 - Brain Coral (Symphyllia sp.)

Picture 3 - Turbinaria

In this picture below, it can be clearly seen that those polyps that are out of the water, the glow tends to center in the center of the Calyx (the calcium cup that the polyp lives), but those in the water has a more brilliant glow. The reason is that only the lived part of the coral (polyp) is the one that glow, and not the Calyx.

Picture 4 - Closed Up of the Favia sp.

Picture 5 - Carnation Coral (Pectinia). Totally submerged in water, the polyps are out and fluorescing.

We came across these two corals, with one of them “bald” on the left side. I took a compass bearing, and interestingly it pointed to the East. This is co-incidental or maybe this specimen does not like the harsh morning ray, but then how many low tide coincide with the Sun rise, and in this spot.

Picture 6 - Faviidae

Referring to BALDING of Coral, usually the balding occurs at the top of a coral mass. The primary reasons are
· Settling of Sedimentation
· More prone to physical contacts with other floating objects
· Direct Sunlight when exposed during low tide

Picture 7 - Faviidae

An interesting observation was pointed out by Jani, and that is to infer the wave energy of the shore by observing the type of Corals that grow in that region. Boulder like Corals (eg. Porites, Montipora) tend to indicate higher wave energy shore, and more so if there is an absence of the Branching types of Corals (eg Acropora)

Estimating the age of coral, is by looking at the size of the coral and estimating the thickness of the coral from an imaginary centre point of the coral mass. As coral grows about 1 to 2 cm a year, then the coral below is about 15 years old. Some of the bigger ones are older than you and I!

Pictue 8 - Symphyllia sp.

Beside the Coral that was Flourescing, this uprooted Peacock Anemone was also radiating in bright orange.

Semakau is blessed with all these types of corals and more. And we are blessed to have Semakau. And all the more we have to be mindful of our heritage, as these once lost will be hard to replace.

(Special thanks to Jani for her keeness to teach us, and Luan Keng for organising)

Chek Jawa - 23rd Dec 2007

Despite aching from the previous day "exercise" of Tug of War with discarded drift net (http://wildfilms.blogspot.com/2007/12/taking-out-trash-belayar-creek-labrador.html), I simply could not let the opportunity of visiting Chek Jawa comes to pass.

Together with like minded friends, a day in the realm of Nature is definitely worth the Orchard crush.

I have been to Chek Jawa, the shore side but have never ventured into the inter-tidal area. This will be my first time and indeed the shore is so abundant with organism that thankfully this area was spared from development into Housing Blocks!

Starting at the boardwalk, there are already much to see.

This plant (Flemingia strobilifera) has two unique type of leaves. The puffy flower like leaves, are actually folded leaves and in the olden days, these leaves can be used as filling for pillow!

There were many types of crabs along the board walk, many were busied scurrying into their nest which in this case belongs to the Mud Lobster. Below is a Mangrove Crab (Family Grapsidae). This type of crab is also known as Vinegar crab in that the Chinese especially the TeoChew pickle them with black vinegar, and it is then taken with porridge.

As we ventured into Chek Jawa, there were many Fiddler Crabs, but this was special to me as these have RED EYES. It was very difficult to ID them as

• they were small
• we were at the board walk

The Fiddler Crabs below (male withthe one big claw, and the female) have been identified as Uca dussumieri. (Thanks to Prof Peter Ng and Luan Keng from RMBR)

This is the female juvenile Uca dussumieri.

Approaching the inter-tidal area, we were greeted by this huge expanse of Green Carpet, but then there were many areas covered by Yellow/White blotches.

Only when one goes down on the knees and examine them, did one realised that it is the Green Sea Weed that has been bleached. See the following photo.

What caused this mass bleaching? Too much fresh water from the monsoon rain, or perhaps it is the run off from the Sungei Johore just up north. Hope that Kok Sheng's group can shed some light as they were doing the transect here to determine the recovery of Chek Jawa from the continuous deluge. http://cjproject.blogspot.com/2007/12/december-transect-day-1.html

Facing seaward, the feather friends were having a feast on the sand and mud banks. The Little Egrets were less shy, and I was able to reduce my distance from them.
Whereas the Great Billed Herons were quite shy. Pictures taken from a distance.
As was in Pulau Sekudu, there were many Hermit Crabs that dwell here. (Sekudu is just next door to Chek Jawa). The biodiversity should be quite similar.

Most common hermit crabs that we have seen are the Striped Hermit Crab (Clibanarius sp). In the picture below, the hermit crab is using the shell of a Volute, and in the other picture, it is the shell of a Conch. Other than the exposed parts, the rest of the hermit crab is very soft, and will be vulnerable to be eaten or attacked if it does not have some kind of protection.

The shell is one example, but heavy camouflaging is also vital for their survival. This hermit crab is big, and the volute shell that it has occupied was huge. Still this hermit crab has taken camouflaging to a very high level. If it has not moved, one will have easily given it a miss!

We were glad that we managed to see two different types of Horseshoe Crabs. The smaller Mangrove horseshoe (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) and the bigger Coastal horseshoe (Tachypleus gigas).

The Horseshoe Crab is not truly a crab but belongs to the Spider family. I have always been fascinated by their eyes. It has more than ONE pair of eyes. The Horseshoe crab has a total of 10 eyes. Eyes are found on the underside as well as on the tails!

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/education/horseshoecrab/eyechart.html

But the most prominent of all the eyes, must be the one on either sides. The Lateral Compound eyes. These are used for finding mates. Of course - what can be more important than to pro-create.
Talking of pro-create, June found this mass of "mee sua", which we believed are the egg capsules of certain slugs. Look closely, and you will see the round eggs inside the strand. Like mother hen, June ensured that we did not trampled on her precious brood! Good for June.

First time I came across this Nudibranch Armina babai, unlike most nudi, this one was not colourful and rather plain. The uniqueness of this nudi is that its gills are on the side. See the picture immediately below this.
The gills of the Armina babai.
The greatest find of the day must be this Headshield Slug. Previously this has been identified as belonging to the Hydatinae family, but has been provened to be wrong. The correct family should be Aplustridae. The specimen that we saw is most probably a Hydatina zonata.

This is a very beautiful slug, it feeds on polychaete worms. Its mantle is so huge that it cannot be totally retracted within the shell. For defence, it relies on camouflage and its ability to swim.

Probably due to the previous fresh water carnage, most of the sea cucumbers that we saw were juvenile, wish them "Grow up quickly". The specimen below was found by Samson, and it was smaller than his watch. This Ball Sea Cucumber (Phyllophorus spiculata) was small, the Button Shell is even smaller.

The sea cucumber belongs to the Echinoderm class. Similar to this will be the Sea Stars and the Brittle Stars, which we saw a fair number of them as well.

We came across this candidate which most of us suspect could be Cake Sea Star. But from the "A Guide to Sea Stars and Other Echinoderms of Singapore", this specimen seems to be the Gymnanthenea laevis (Family Oreasteridae). According to this book, the notable features are the spine-like tubercles on the central radial plates, and the arms are slightly upturned at the ends.

Another look at the Gymnanthenea laevis but from the underside.
Unlike the sea-star above, the specimen below is the Spiny Sandstar (Astropecten indicus). It has pointed legs and with that many legs, is also a very good burrower and it is in this domain that it hunts for its preys.

Lastly, why is the triangular object moving against the current? Answer, there is a Leaf Porter Crab (Neodorippe callida) below. This is how this Leaf Porter Crab caught our attention.

It possesses special claws to hold on to the leaf or in this case a covering. Usually a nocturnal creature, we were very fortunate to come across this one, and quite a big handsome one too. They tend to grow to about 15 mm, and the one we saw was about this size.

Indeed Chek Jawa is full of surpises, and I wish that it will remain so for the future generation to come in appreciation and awe.

Other blogs

http://wherediscoverybegins.blogspot.com/2007/12/discovery-chek-jawa-on-23-dec-2007.html

http://mantamola.blogspot.com/2007/12/chek-jawa-tidal-walk-on-23-dec-07.html