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At Platform 1, we were treated to a visit by a Common Goldenback woodpecker (Dinopium javanense). It was busily hammering high up among the trees. A pair of Black Naped Orioles (Oriolus chinensis) and a flock of Asian Glossy Starlings (Aplonis panayensis) with a juvenile among them, also dropped by. Each giving us their unique song. Although the water level was very high, there were almost no mudskippers sheltering among the roots (as I've seen in the past). But Mud-creeper snails (Cerithidea obtusa) festooned the trunks! On the way to Platform 2, an eagle-eyed member of the group spotted the nest of a pair of Copper Throated Sunbirds (Nectarina calcostetha). The neat ball of a nest was high up in a tree, in the middle of a thicket of climbers. And finally, I managed to snap a decent shot of the male, who was very agitated with our attention to his nest. So we moved along quickly. At Platform 2, a Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) was soaring above Pulau Buloh. It circled several times before flying off. On the way back, we stopped again at Platform 1 and the tide was then rapidly going out. The water was only about 20 cm deep. How pleasantly surprised we were to see the beautiful and elegant Spot-tailed Needlefish (Strongylura strongylura), a graceful whisper of pastel-coloured Fanged Death. A closer look at the sandy bottom revealed a pair of Horseshoe crabs (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda). A large barnacle-encrusted female was busy digging up the sand, with a smaller male riding piggy-back on her. Just before we reached the Main Bridge, a Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica) tantalised us with its usual madcap antics through the undergrowth. Flora notes: Sonneratia alba trees everywhere were dropping their ripe starry fruits. They plopped regularly into the water at Platform 1 and littered the boardwalk at Platform 2. And finally! The Avicennia officinalis is starting to bloom!! |
 Whip Spider, with egg sac?  Copperthroated Sunbird nest  Male Copperthroated Sunbird  A pair of Horseshoe crabs |
 by ria tan, 2001 |
