Saturday, March 06, 2010

A Week of Sungei Buloh

I had to go to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve most of last week, and was really glad that as usual, there were lots of interesting things to see!

Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
We saw 2 Estuarine Crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) near the main bridge on some days. This was the smaller one resting near the sluice gate.

Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
At the same time, there was a bigger crocodile under the main bridge. The Estuarine Crocodile is the biggest living reptile, and can grow to over 6m long!

Smooth Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata)
This Smooth Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) was also spotted near the main bridge.

Smooth Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata)
On Monday, we were really lucky to see 6 Smooth Otters! And 3 of them even went near the toilet at the visitor centre! Rather amusingly, when they approached the toilet, someone inside flushed and the otters were rather surprised by the sudden sound and ran away to the main freshwater pond near the toilet.

Smooth Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata)
The 3 otters started swimming in the pond and appeared to be hunting for fish in the pond.

Smooth Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata)
Meanwhile, another 3 otters were high and dry resting on the bank of the pond.

Smooth Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata)
The otters even went to the pond at the entrance of the reserve! The ranger complained that they had been eating the kois and arowanas. I found the situation rather funny, though I was pretty sure that the park authorities were probably not too happy about this.

Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris) Flower
While I was at the pond near the entrance, I noticed that the Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris) was flowering, and decided to grab a photo.

Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris) Fruit
The fruit that I noticed during a previous trip was still there!

Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica)
Near the visitor centre, we also saw the usual Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica) that was ringed.

Pink-necked Green Pigeons (Treron vernans)
There was a pair of Pink-necked Green Pigeons (Treron vernans) on the Berembang, busy shaking their tails to each other.

Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans)
Unfortunately, they did not really doing anything exciting and eventually, the male decided to rest on a branch.

Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans)
It even closed it eyes for a while. Not sure if it was all tired out with all the courtship and chasing away rival males.

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
There was this Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) that often appear near the pond too. This moorhen has a very wide distribution, and can be found in most parts of the world!

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
They appear to prefer swimming compared to other related speceis, and feed on water plants and small invertebrates.

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
We noticed that it also fed on the fallen Berembang stamens floating on the surface of the pond.

Will be going to Sungei Buloh again next week. Hope I will have the same good luck again!

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