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Vol 10 No 7 |
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As my colleague Tay
and I were heading back to our office, we saw ranger Bill who excitedly told
us that a family of Smooth Otters were swimming in one of the ponds.
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© Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve |
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Vol 10 No 7 |
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YNP camp was an
enriching experience. As student leaders, we were trained not only in our
knowledge of the wildlife at the Reserve, but our threshold for patience was
put to the test as well! Some of the children were rather mischievous and
learning to work with them enabled us to think creatively. Mutual trust was
developed, and not only were we their group leaders, but we became their
friends! YNP camp was physically tiring as there was so much to do in one
day, but at the end of it, I knew what contentment was. I have done my part
in achieving something meaningful in making this an enjoyable learning
experience for children
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© Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve |
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Vol 10 No 7 |
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Are we there
yet? Are we there yet? |
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© Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve |
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Vol 10 No 7 |
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Main
article | Table 1 (summary) | Table
2
(longevity records) |
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© Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve |
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Vol 10 No 7 |
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Main
article
| Table 1 (summary) | Table 2 (longevity
records) |
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© Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve |
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Vol 10 No 7 |
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Main
article
| Table 1 (summary) | Table 2
(longevity records) |
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© Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve |
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Vol 10 No 7 |
Being used to playing “Where’s Wally?” with our sunbirds
and tailorbirds that hop in and out of the dense mangrove foliage at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
(SBWR), and lugging my scope around to see those little brown specks on the
mudflat a bit better, I was unprepared for the close encounters that awaited
me at the London Wetland Centre. This was easy game. It’s a photographer’s
paradise – chuck away those ‘monster’ telescopic lenses; the birds there are
so close that you’ll be forced a few paces back to focus. |
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© Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve |
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Vol 10 No 7 |
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It was a brilliant day with clear blue skies, as clear as crystal, with a sun that was typically hot in Buloh. I made my way to Hide IC to check if anything unusual was happening at A3 Pond before calling it a day. As I entered the hide, the cool shade provided a retreat from the blazing heat. Sitting in the cool hide, looking out on the glittering water and vivid green mangroves covered with an ever moving multitude of birds, is always a new experience for me. There was so much going on that it was difficult to decide what to focus on. Even in the hide itself my attention was constantly distracted by the mosquitoes buzzing near my ears. As I peered into my pair of binoculars, what seemed like hundreds of waders came to life! There were sandpipers, greenshanks and redshanks, pattering along the mudflats like schoolgirls in their first high heels. Plovers were bickering among themselves, many of them foraging for food. As I looked for flagged birds among the hive of activities, a pair of long red legs immediately caught my attention, I rubbed my eyes to have a second look at the lady in red bird, making sure it was not a mutated redshank with legs on red stilts.
The bird
looked normal enough with lovely legs like that of super models one would see
on television, whose long legs seems to start immediately from under the
chin! Jeremy our Conservation Officer confirmed it was special indeed. It was
later confirmed to be a Black-winged stilt by Su Hooi our Outreach Officer.
She claimed to have seen a similar bird six years ago at the same pond. This
would unlikely be the the same bird as this latest
finding was a juvenile. The inexperienced little one must have
strayed from its flock as it migrated from southern and eastern Europe, the Mediterreanean region, the Middle East, central and
southern Asia, central and eastern Africa. All these regions that these birds
frequent had both tidal and freshwater marshes, lagoons, mangroves, saltpans
and irrigation reservoirs.
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