USR-An Amazing Reservoir Park.

Of Endemic Crab, Night Frog, Unique Spider and Rare Butterflies.

The quiet Upper Seletar Reservoir Park is well known for its forest bird, butterfly and insect life. But being adjacent to the Nee Soon Swamp Forest, there is also a surprising diversed freshwater aquatic life as well.

Singapore Swamp Crab Parathelphusa reticula USR

On one late August morning, I was delighted to find a nocturnal swamp crab in one of the drains here following Art Toh’s FB post. It turned out to be the Reticulated Swamp Crab (Paratherphusa retculata), one of our three endemic crabs found in Singapore. It was only discovered in 1989 inside the Nee Soon Swamp forest as its secretive and nocturnal habits have kept it hidden all these years.

Malesian Frog a nocturnal semi aquatic carnivore occurs in swampy mature forest.h

Nearby a Malesian Frog Limnonectes malesianus betrayed its well-hidden nook by jumping away. Luckily for us it stayed motionless at it’s next resting spot. According to Nick Baker all the local Malesian Frogs have this black marking on the external ear drum. Along the same drain, there was a small reddish brown catfish about 10 cm long. I missed getting a shot as It was quick to swim away and hide under the leave litter.  

Female Coin Spider guarding its eggs.

Further up the road, on a tree trunk that I used to go pass umpteen times, a family of Spotted Coin Spiders Herennia multipuncta, were busy bringing up another new generation of these unique spiders. They are small and live on the tree trunks all their life, using camouflage as their survival against predators. Every successful generation is a celebration for this species as the male can only mate once in their lifetime.

Two rare butterflies came out this morning. The small Malay Dartlet that can be confused with the Common Dartlet and the male White-tipped Baron which I though was the more common Common Baron. Both are my lifers.

Malay Dartlet. It was not listed by early researchers and only discovered in 2011.

White-tipped Baron with a slight bluish sheen at the leading edge of the forewing. Thanks to Gan Cheong Weei and Aaron Soh for the id.

Besides these, there were some uncommon butterflies like the Full Stop Swift, Hoary Palmer, Palm Bob and the Darky Plushblue, the last staying on the same leaf for hours.

Full Stop Swift.

Darky Plushblue the least encounter among the four Flos in Singapore.

Hoary Palmer a fairly large skipper distinguished by its strongly whitened hindwings.

Palm Bob, once rare but expanded due to the cultivation of palm tress as ornamental plants.

Our hope is that there will be no developments at this park to destroy the precious biodiversity. Plans should be put in place to enhance it. There should be no trespasses inside the primary forests so as not to disturb the wildlife there.

I like to thank so many of my friends who helped to find and showed me these creatures, without which I would not have been able to photograph and post them here.

References:

Ng PKL (1997). The conservation status of freshwater prawns and crabs in Singapore with emphasis on the nature
reserves. Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore, 49: 267–272.

Nick Baker & Kevin Lim 2008. Wild Animals of Singapore.

Butterflycircle.com

Singapore Biodiversity online

Butterflying to stay safe!

Just happy that I developed an interest in butterflies besides birds over the years. During this restricted gathering period, I preferred to go looking for butterflies in quieter nature areas like Upper Seletar Reservoir Park, Butterfly Hill in Ubin, Bukit Brown and SBG-Gallop Extension to get my nature fix.

Here are some of the beauties that I encountered this July. Some are moderately rare, most are common with one or two lifers in between. My thanks to Catalina Tong, Lim Kim Keang, Gan Cheong Weei, YT Choong, Lee Yue Teng, Lena Chow and Lawrence Leong for sharing their knowledge, showing me the butterflies and identifying them.

Plain Plushblue, the most common of the four Flos species found here. P. Ubin

Malay Plum Judy, the most common of the three Judys here. Always tricky to get a full side view as it twists and turns all the time. Can be found in our parks and gardens. P. Ubin

Common Redeye is uncommon. An unmistakable skipper with a red eyes and unmarked wings, Butterfly Hill, Ubin,

Dwarf Crow is the smallest in the Crow family. Locally and seasonally common. Butterfly Hill, Ubin.

Palm Bob, common and widespread after it was discovered in the 1990s. OCBC Arboretum. SBG-Gallop Ext.

Common Dartlet, common fast flying Oriens enjoying sunning near the ground. OCBC Arboretum. SGB Gallop Ext.

Great Helen, a large forest dependent swallowtail. This a male. USR.

Major Yellow Oakblue, Arhopala major. Common within the CCNR, tailess. USR`

I think this is a Dingy Line Blue, a small butterfly sunning itself at Bukit Brown Cemetery. ID corrected to Tailess Line Blue by Aaron Soh.

Reference:

butterflycircle.com.

nss.org.sg

Biodiversity and Biome, NParks.

The Critters of Dairy Farm NP

Joined my friends for a walk at Dairy Farm NP this Sunday morning after hearing of a sighting of the Black-crested Bulbul there by Geri Lim. But it did not show. A few of us had brief glimpses of the Greater Green Leafbird feeding on the White Mulberry. Other than that it was rather quiet. So we ended up looking for the other creatures at the Park.

Thanks to Meilin Khoo for showing us this Stink Horn Fungi growing by the roadside. Unfortunately the sweepers unwittingly broke half of the “skirt”, but it was still a good find. The smell of rotting flesh of the spore head attracts flies and other insects, and they in turn help to disperse the spores.

The Nephilengys malabarenis was first found at the Malabar Coast of South India. This particular specimen was spotted by Art Toh hanging under the pile of Tembusu logs at the hilltop at its web. It quickly moved away just as we were trying to get some shots.

Assassin Bug lived up to its name. This one found a male Golden Orb Spider. It will inject vernon to kill the prey and then suck out its dissolved remains.

A pair of Oriental Whip Snakes by the Wallace Center provided us with some distraction. This one was moving its head up and I managed to catch a view of its underside. Mildly venomous, it can take small birds like the Pygmy Sunda Woodpecker.

St. Andrew’s Cross Spider rest with each pair of legs stretched out forming a cross. They also spin zig-zag whistish webs in the form of an X just where the legs rest like in this photo. Females are larger than the males.

A Malay Viscount, a common butterfly at the park looks very similiar to the Horsfield Baron.

Rifle Range Link Ramble.

 

Went down to Rifle Range Link this morning trying to get some photos of the Chestnut-winged Babbler, one of the more elusive forest babblers.  It was calling and came close but moved too fast for any shots. Well just have to try again some other mornings.

Don’t know why the False Tapioca plants and the Leea indicas that used to cover the stretch of the Rifle Range Link were cleared. This spot was the most reliable place to find the Van Hasselts Sunbirds and Lancers and Skippers.

Walking down this trail is never a waste of time if you keep your eye peeled for the slightest movements. This was how I came across this Black Scorpion out foraging by the track. It belongs to the genus heterometres, spending much of its time hiding under dead logs and crevices. We have two very similiar species in our forest, the Malaysian Black Scorpion and the Asian Wood Scorpion, the largest of scorpions found here.

This Black Scorpion was about 10 cm long. Not usual for it to be out in the open like this.

Further down the trail, an Emerald Moth was resting quietly on a green leaf, which makes difficult to find. This is part of their survival strategy to bend in to the habitat. This is another first green moth for me.

But the female Arch Duke is more conspicuous with its speckled brown wings.  It used its fast flight to evade its predators. Most of my photos of this butterfly is from the top as they are normally seen feeding on the ground. Happy to get a shot of the underside.

The recent hot weather also affected the Bat Lilies in the forest. Just about every plant is blooming. The flowers are unique in their shape and color, with two petals pointing up and long whiskers flowing down. The flowers are in between. This one even has a double flower, which is rather unusual as they do not bloom so easily. Do go down in the next few days to witness this mass blooming.

Among the leaf litter on the ground, this purple fungi stands out. It is quite large for a mushroom but the head is not the usual dome shaped.

 

 

Panti Forest is about Butts too!

Hutan Panti Reserve just north of Kota Tinggi is still the closest birding site for the many of the lowland bird species that went extinct in Singapore over the past 50 years. Families like the trogons and broadbills come into mind.  But it is also a place for some of the rare forest butterflies that cannot be found here.

I wish I had spent time looking for them during those early years when we were birding there. But it is not too late as many of the rare species are still there.

Last weekend we spent two mornings there. It was quite birdy. Two Scarlet-rumped Trogons showed up and a flowering Syzygium attracted spiderhunters and a Red-throated Sunbird. Collectively we had a total of 80 bird species, many from calls. But unfortunately no lifers for me.

It was a good thing that we went looking for butterflies as well. We found some rare ones and some real stunners. Most are new to me. Yes lifers! Here are a few that I managed to photograph.

This my favourite. The Malay Punchinello, what a nice name. I checked it up in the dictionary and it means “punch”. The colors certainly are punchy. There was a previous record in 2013 in Panti and a more recent one at Tioman. They normally rest with their wings half open. They are a little more common in Thailand. Wish we can have this in Singapore.

The Arhopala trogon is rare but have been photographed at Panti before.  So easy to overlook we are just lucky to find it.

I also like this Redspot Duke.  Nature decided to give it just a red dot to brighten its dull brown wings.

 

The Sumatran Gem is uncommon in Panti, but rarer in Singapore, recently shot at Rifle Range Link.

Malayan Bush Brown looks like most of our bush browns except for the two darker stripes across the wings.

The Great Marquis is a family new to me. Uncommon resident of lowland forest like Panti.

The Syszgiun flowers also attracted this female Great Helen and other butterflies to it. My first photo of this large butterfly. Uncommon in Singapore.

This badly shot oakblue is identified as the Large Metallic Oakblue. They all looked so similiar to me.

Ref: iNaturalist Butterflies of Malaysia.

 

The Mangrove Dwellers of Sungei Buloh.

The little of what is left of our mangroves is vital for the survival of many of our mangrove dependent birds, reptiles, butterflies and dragonflies. Without the mangroves they will simply disappear and we will be the poorer for it. On a short morning walk at Sungei Buloh yesterday, we came across some of these survivors there. Let’s hope that this protected wetland will be their home for many years to come.

Out door nature workshops for the students during the school holidays. All lined up on the bridge waiting for the crocodiles to appear.

 

 

Scarce Silverstreak at KM

Conjoined Swift at KM

From top left, the Colonel is locally common at the Kranji Marshes. Kim Keang’s sharp eyes picked up the smaller and less colorful Scarce Silverstreak at a distance. My lifer the Full Stop Swift( bottom) was spotted by Richard White.

First time I came across this beautiful Mangrove Shield Bug, seen along the boardwalk. Lena Chow posted a link from WildSingapore with the ID. Not only are they mangrove dependent, the larvae can only be found on the Buta buta trees where they will feed on the new fruits. The adults were often seen clustered together under the leaves.

The Mangrove Dwarf as the name suggested is a smallish dragonfly that is found only in the mangroves. This uncommon dragonfly lives and breeds in the saline waters of the mangrove.

The Copper-throated Sunbirds, another mangrove specialist, are busy bringing up another brood to grace our wetlands. I had the wrong setting for this and had to brighten it.

The Ashy Tailorbird is also confined to the Mangroves. They are often jumpy or hiding behind the vegetation. Good to have this one out in the open posing for a shot.

It is never easy to spot a small motionless snake that has the same color as the surface it is resting on. But Marcel Finlay managed to see this Mangrove Pit Viper along Route I. Small ( about 40 cm) but venomous, it likes to stay near water edges and wait for its prey. The rest of us were happily shooting away for another great encounter of the herpy kind.

Painted Wing Lifers

Thanks to Lim Kim Keang, Lena Chow and a few others, I now pay great attention to the butterflies I see along the way when I am out birding. Some days birding can be slow so there is no harm in looking down instead of up for these painted wings zipping around or resting under the leaves.  Adding birds to my national list of 335 is getting tough, but there are still hundred plus new butterflies that I have not seen in Singapore.

It helped that my micro four thirds Olympus OM-D set up with 70-300 mm birding lens allows me to get some decent shots of these creatures without having to change to a marco lens. Of course the results are not that spectacular but good enough for posting.

Some of the butterflies that I photographed last months include two lifers to kept the excitement going during these outings.

This Malayan Sunbeam at Bukit Batok NP was so engrossed with licking on the surface of the Simpong Ayer leaf, that it did not move at all. Obviously it did not get its name from the pale underside but rather from the bright orange of the upperside. The other sunbeam is the Sumatran found mostly around the mangroves.

The dainty Psyche was flying just above the grasses while I was trying to shoot the Crimson Sunbird at the Helliconia patch at Dairy Farm Nature Park. A forest edge butterfly , both sexes look alike.

 

We were at Dairy Farm Nature Park to shoot the Jambu Fruit Dove that was feeding on the False Curry Leaf Tree when this colorful day moth Dysphania subrepleta was struggling to fly. It may have just eclosed and needed some time before flying away to the safety of the greenery.

The Lord of the Rings, the Common Five Rings is the rarest of the Rings. Found in the same localities with the three and Four Rings. It is hard to separate from the other Rings in the field, so I was told to just photographed them. This was taken at Upper Seletar Reservoir Park. A week later I had another one at the car park at Hort Park.

The Centuar Oakblue is another lifer from Bidadari. I was there to check out the returning migrants and saw it flitting around a low bush. It is the biggest of the oakblues but easy to miss.

Reference: Gan Cheong Weei and Simon Chan Kee Mun. A pocket Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore) 2007.  Steven Neo Say  Hian. A Guide to Common Butterflies of Singapore. Singapore Science Center. 1996