2025 Singapore
We flew in a holding pattern for half an hour, circling the water between Batam and Singapore before sunset. Even after 17 hours of flying, the extra time was well worth the views.
I didn't photograph them, but a person had brought some plastic jugs and was gathering water from this stream. No idea why and they didn't seem social enough to ask.
These spiders are pretty big-- the body alone is probably over an inch, maybe almost two. Sitting on the web, their legs would just fit in my hand. Only the females of this species are big-- the males are tiny. Gigantism probably evolved as a way for females to combat mating plugs. In contrast, smaller, more agile males have an advantage in reaching the femaile first (and so getting to apply their seal and ensure their parentage).
These were frequent on the early morning trail. I took a less-traveled path and almost walked right into one's web, with the spider right at forehead level for me. Something Frost never mentioned.
While I was hoping to see more monkeys, these little squirrels were great entertainment too.
This was the only Lineated Barbet I saw that day. Apparently they are invasie and quite common, so I might get a chance later in the week. Though these are beautiful, sadly a third of the native species have gone extinct, and a 2016 Conservation Biology paper estimated that ~10 species went extinct without ever being noticed by humans.
After wandering around for an hour or more not seeing a single bird (though ) could hear them), a flock of maybe ten Pied Imperial Pigeons flew in and made quite a ruckus. As they pulled the berries off the trees, berries and leaves and twigs fell in such numbers I kept checknig to see if it had started raining again.
This Pied Imperial Pigeon is hanging upside-down to get at the small berries. After he heard (saw?) me he quickly flew away.
Another Pied Imperial Pigeon in the same flock in the process of eating a berry.
Looking north to Johor Bahru, Malaysia from the Kranji Nature Trail on the northern edge of Singapore.
Endless plastic hides in the marsh on the Johor Strait
Observation blinds hide the hiker from the birds, and the sun
Singing
A Great Egret watches the inlet
A discarded flipflop floats in the inlet
The tiny males (right, with red bodies) are dwarfed by the female Giant Wood Spider (left)
Side view of the Giant Wood Spider
A beautifully colored male Copper-Throated Sunbird struts his stuff
The Copper-Throated Sunbird male is attentive as the female flies in
The rather drab Copper-Throated Sunbird female keeps an eye on her (potential) mate from below
Dead tree
Abandoned walkway over the mud flat
A Pink-Necked Green Pigeon nesting
Great Egret
A tree bud that looks strangely like a bird
A Great Egret fishing in the inlet
A Painted Stork beyond the mangrove trees
Tangled roots of a Mangrove tree
A Plantain Squirrel leaps through the Mangrove tree roots and past a plastic bag that's wrapped around the tree roots
Plaintain Squirrel eating seed
Plantain Squirrel knaws through a seed, casting bits aronud. Messy eater.
A crocodile swims past
This Estuarine Crocodile was easily fifteen feet long
Painted Stork
Painted Stork on the hunt
I took shelter from the rain storm in one of the blinds that are setup overlooking the inlet. Apparently, so did this rather well-fed Malayan Monitor Lizard. He's a big one, maybe eight feet nose to tail.
I slowly made my way back into the blind, under the lizard's constant attention
Back inside the blind, exactly where I had been sitting for twenty minutes waiting for the rain to stop, now looking directly down, between the slats. Had he been watching me the whole time?
Thirty feet away from the blind, I distriburbed another Monitor Lizard; this one smelling me.
But it's not interested in me.
A Painted Stork flies by while I'm crossing the bridge back over the Sugei Buloh Besar
A Painted Stork flies by while I'm crossing the bridge back over the Sugei Buloh Besar
A Painted Stork flies by while I'm crossing the bridge back over the Sugei Buloh Besar
Just a half mile swim away is Malaysia
Over the five or so hours I spent at the reserve I saw less than a dozen people. One of them was this photographer. She saw me start at a spider that was building a web across the path and admonished me for my cowardice. "It's not going to hurt you!"
Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay
Underneath the Dragonfly Bridge
Marina Bay Sands from the Gardens
Construction project in Marina Bay, seen from the Helix Bridge