Admiralty Park, Simpang 11Mar10

From KH

Started the evening at Admiralty Park. It was nice to share this nice little park with some of my colleagues. We started off with a Changeable Lizard right outside RP.

Then two Cattle Egrets in breeding plumage were foraging in the grass patch.

At the pond was a Red-eared Slider, a commonly released pet.

As we walked further along, there were many more in the river. There were two White-breasted Waterhens in the river and Yellow-vented Bulbuls in the tall grass.

The insect life here is quite rich. There were quite a number of butterfly species here, but all of them did not pose for me! Fortunately, their relative, a moth, was more obliging.

  

There were also dragonflies, cicadas, ants, etc. Where there are insects, there are spiders. Shown here is a female Golden Web Spider.

At the mangrove portion of the park, a Common Sandpiper was wagging its tail on the bank.

A Giant Mudskipper was peeking out of the water.

Other fish here were a Green Chromide

and some Humpbacked Cardinalfish.

The greatest surprise today was a mixed flock of a pelican and six storks. It looks like an Australian Pelican. The storks were a mixture of Painted and Milky Storks. All these birds do not exist naturally in Singapore. They are free-ranging birds from the Zoo or Bird Park. The photo below shows all three species. The pelican is the largest of them all; the Painted Stork is the one with a black band on the breast; and the Milky Stork is the one at the bottom.

Scaly-breasted Munias were common here.

Also present, but hiding and calling in the bushes, was a Yellow-bellied Prinia. Other birds seen were an Oriental Dollarbird, a Dark-necked Tailorbird, 2 Common Ioras, 5 Ashy Minivets, 2 Paddyfield Pipits and the usual starlings, swallows, swiftlets, sparrows and mynas. A raptor flew behind the canopy and did not offer good views for identification.

However, the animal that got more attention from the group was a lone Long-tailed Macaque high up near the canopy. No prize for guessing its sex!

Finally, we ended our walk with what we started off with - a Changeable Lizard. This is a male in breeding colours.

Moving on to Simpang, I only had 15 minutes there. Started off with the common birds like Common Sandpiper, Pink-necked Green-pigeon, Brahminy Kites, kingfishers, etc. It was nice to see a male Red Collared Dove here. Finally, glad to end the walk with a Violet Cuckoo.