Tagged Myna feeding nectar

The Sea Apple (Syzygium grande) out my kitchen window has been flowering luxuriously  recently and I decided to get some photos of their pom pom-like flowers for my collection.

There were many little pollinators buzzing around the flowers.

 
A Javan Mynas (Acridotheres javanicus) flew in after I finished taking the pictures and it hopped around the tree putting its beak into the flowers. It was only later when I was processing my images that I realised that this bird was tagged (Look the the grey ring at its leg).

 
Another picture of the bird on the another nearby inflorescence.

At first I had thought that it was just feeding on the insects attracted to the flowers. But it should be instead feeding on the nectar since BESG blog had recorded this bird doing it before.

I wonder what research this bird was ringed for. Any ideas?

Tigers from the Past

NeI find the Newspaper SG which Ria used to dig out some past of Pulau Semakau and Pulau Sakeng very interesting. I decided to try to see if I can get some articles from our natural history and wala! Managed to find some articles on tigers in the past. Click on the picture to enlarge.

I used the keywords ‘Tiger’ and ‘Bukit Timah’ to search since searching ‘Tiger’ came out many entries from Malaysia rather than Singapore and searching ‘Tiger’ and ‘Singapore’ came out more soccer stuff and tiger beer than the animal itself. Bukit Timah is known to be a ‘Tiger Resort’ last time so this is the best bet for a successful search.

The last suspected tiger killed was in 1930 near Chao Chu Kang Village. But I found one dated 1935 whereby someone seemed to heard a tiger roar at Bukit Timah Hill. I guess that was never verified. Have a fun read!

Back to Buangkok

Decided to went back to the Buangkok grassland for a short walk just to relax myself during this weekend.

Here is a close-up of what I thought to be the Buffalo Grass, Paspalum conjugatum.

Possibly Smut Grass, Ischaemum ciliare.

Another flower of a an unknown grass.

 
And another…

 
There is a drain there and I jumped inside, wondering if there are any Kangkong, Ipomoea aquatica. Sure enough there are some down there. Do you know that it is actually a kind of morning glory?

 
Here is a wildflower that I have never seen before.

 
And lastly, as I was leaving, I caught a glimpse of a day flying moth, Amata hueberi on a Coat Button, Tridax procumbens.