Reptile of the Day

I never expected to see one of these in MacRitchie. On the other hand I was really expecting to see a few Clouded Monitors. I could not find the bird making all those calling but instead I found this tiny guy, a Malayan Water Monitor. It was slightly bigger than the one we spotted and caught from our school. I took a few shots.

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The young animal was quite scared and moved away from us at first sight. Slowly, he started to dig and look around for insects or anything to eat.

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It slowly started to move towards the water. Before letting it go, I took one last shot with a flash. Pity the lizard, it suddenly got shocked.

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This was the only reptile I came across that particular day at MacRitchie. Although I was expecting to find a few snakes, none of them showed up, causing my trip there rather uneventful. But, I'm at a new place, I'll find it like this now. In the future, I may be able to spot many more creatures.

Common Encounters

I have to say that even once having neared the exit, I happened to spot many more insects, like this cricket that can easily be found in forested areas.

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Finally we reached the exit. After getting ourselves a small drink we moved to the park and shot this dragonfly. This is the same species that I encounter in school everyday and seems to be very common in urban areas.

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I could not get much clear shots though. Just as I was to get another shot, the draginfly flew away. I heard loud calls from the air and hence moved away to check out what it was.

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Damselflies Mating

After minutes of walking, I finally could see the exit come closer. I was rather exhausted by then already, but upon seeing the exit, I was pleased. We still continued to look around for any animals. I chanced upon a pair of dragonflies, the Bue Sprites, mating while flying around above the surface of the water. Just as I followed their route, they settled down on a thin twig above the water surface. It seemed to be my luck and hence I bent down to try shooting them. This was the only clear picture I could get, though.

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As you can see the damselfly below, which I suppose is the female, is not clearly visible in the shot. I did take many shots but most of them were sensing the background. Anyway, this was the first time I had photographed a pair of mating damselflies, so I was happy with this shot. I'm sure I'll encounter many more in the future.

Macaque Troop

We were still on our way back on the path beside the water. I could already see the exit from a distance. At a curve, I spotted a troop of Long-Tailed Macaques grooming each other. They were doing this on a slanted tree and wee actually had to walk beneath them. I took a shot of them as it was the first time I saw macaques at MacRitchie.

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As they continued grooming one another, a young macaque decided to leave and go get some leaves to chew on. He was rather daring as if he was to lose a bit of grip, he would have fallen straight into the water.

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Very soon an adult got distracted by one of the trekkers and got out of the troop. He slowly walked closer and tried to show faces at some of them. I took a shot, this time accidentally with a flash.

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The 8-Legged Killers

I had mentioned in my earlier post that I would be back at MacRitchie soon. Well, just two days after I actually went there once more with a friend of mine. This time, no Green Crested Lizard appeared before us at the road, but we had plenty of encounters with spiders. We were walking along the path in the reserve when we noticed a few Bat Lilies blooming. Just by the side was a very strange spider with long legs with stripes of black and yellow on them.

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I realized that flash was not good all the time, so I took another shot without flash. Comparing both images, they seem to be equal to me.

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During our walk, we met an old man who told us about his Snake Encounters in the reserve. While I was listening to him with his story of the Blue Malayan Coral Snake, I spotted a small St. Andrew's Cross Spider on its beautiful web beneath a leaf.

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After having walked a few kilometres, we reached a T-junction. One path led to the exit, where I could already see cars moving on the expressway, and the other was a very long route that takes us all over the reserve. We realized that we did not have enough time to take the whole round, so we decided to go back the way we came. But this time, we took the path beside the water. While trying to avoid some Carpenter Bees, I noticed a spider with a fly caught in its jaws.

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My First Damselfly Shoot

As I said, I was in MacRitchie Reservoir and even after having spent almost an hour walking in the reserve I did not spot anything. I did capture a Slender Squirell in the camera but the image was not clear at all. After deciding on which path to take, my cousin and I took the path beside the water. As I walked past a damselfly caught my eye. I identified this particular on as the Blue Sprite, a common damselfly in Singapore. This was the first time I shot a damselfly too.

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My first picture did not turn up really well. I left it and continued my journey. But very soon it started to drizzle, but I thought that it would not really affect us. But the rain started to get heavier and heavier, forcing us to retreat. We walked back the same way we came, this time just a bit faster. From a distance, I noticed the Blue Sprite still sitting down on the leaf. I gave it a go and I shot it once more. The result was much better.

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How's that for a starter? Well, I should have called myself lucky to have left that place at that very moment as just as we reached the bus stop, the rain was so heavy that I could hardly see anything ahead of me. I was very dissapointed that I could not spend the whole day there, but I knew that I' would be back, one day.

Green Crested Lizard

Finally, it was the start of the March Holidays, and so that meant that I would once again be visiting one of the Nature Reserves after all this while. I decided to go out on Monday and where I went was MacRitchie Reservoir. This had been my long-term plan but I did not know how to get there myself. Hence my cousin came along with me as he had been there several times before. Just as we alighted at the stop, I got my camera out, ready to shoot anything that catches my eye. I had not even reached the MacRitchie Reservoir Park, when a Green Lizard crossed the road just behind me. And I was surpriesd, for it was actually a Green Crested Liard!

I tried shooting it on the road itself but some guys walked by, and scared it towards the nearby plant. I did not want to miss the opportunity, so I immediatley followed it to the plant. Here are some shots I got.

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I really felt how different this lizard was, comparing to the Common Changeable Lizard. I was so close to this creature yet it did nothing but stare at me. The Changeable Lizard, on the other hand, would flee the moment it senses our arrival. Well, that should be why the Green Crested Lizards lost to the Changeable Lizard in urban areas.

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The plant that this lizard had climbed onto was actually an ornamental plant with huge thorns on it. While I tried to get my camera into the plant for a close-up shot, I actually pricked some of my fingers. Thats why I had to wait until the lizard climbed all the way up to the top of the plant, so that I could get some good shots. Here in this picture, you can see that the Green Crested Lizard was actually in an urban area, just that it was close to the Nature Reserve. Don't you see the road and the stairs in the background?

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While I was photographing the lizard, it actually gave me a good pose, with one front leg stretched, and its eyes looking at me but the face turned the other way. It looked like a model posing for the photograph.

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As it was actually the first time I had spotted a Green Crested Lizard, I took as many pictures as possible. Of these, here are some of my best.

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This fellow was a rather small one. Green Crested Lizards can reach up to 58 cm in length, but the one here was just about the size of a normal Changeable Lizard. This could have been an advantage, as if it were to be older or bigger, it would have been more wise and would not even have allowed me to spot it!

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And finally here's a last shot of it as it tried to climb up the top of the plant.

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After having taken all these shots, I though that this would be enough. I still had not even reached the Reservoir Park, but had been held up so long due to this lizard. Although I wasn't really expecting to find this little fellow, I'm glad that I did. But what I see tells me that these little creatures, sadly, may soon wipe out. Snakes like Whip Snakes and Bronzebacks feed largely on lizards, and although the Changeable Lizard is much more common than the Green Crested Lizard, Changeable Lizards are more agrresive and can escape even before their predators strikes at them. And, these snakes are also more common in wooded areas, the same place where Green Crested Lizards are more common.