12 Feb 2010 - Helping Henrietta and Wen Qing with their UROPS at MacRitchie Reservoir

Today was even earlier! Woke up at 4.35am then took my dad's cab at 5.05am, picked up Dhava and Wen Qing and we are on our way to MacRitchie Reservoir. We were supposed to meet at the bus stop at 5.45am but we reached at around 5.35am, Henrietta reached about 2-3 minutes after we reach. Then we started heading into secondary forest in pitch darkness. Equipped with our torches, 4 girls headed into the embrace of nature. On our way in, Hen said that there is bio-luminous mushrooms along the trail, if we get used to the darkness, we can even don't need to use torches! But due to safety reasons (the trail is rather uneven and can be quite dangerous), we still use our torches until we reached flat land. It was really an unforgettable experience as normally people will not wake up at this timing to go to MacRitchie to walk in darkness. Wenqing and Dhava walked super fast and were way ahead of Hen and me, it can be really scary to walk alone in the area. After passing through the denser part, we switched off our torches as the road is rather flat already, we reached the reservoir area, the trail was quite narrow with no barriers to prevent people from falling into the reservoir, so we need to be really careful on where we step. When reaching the area, we could see the starry sky. THERE ARE REALLY A LOT OF STARS!!! As the reservoir do not have street lights, even though the sun is rising, the sky was still dark enough to see lots of stars. And after walking for about 20mins, we reached the area where there is a lot of Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffruticosa), then Hen and I walked around to check for opened fruits, while Wen Qing and Dhava walked to a further place for their observations. However, we only managed to find one opened fruit and was beyond our reach. So we thought of joining Wen Qing instead, hoping there is Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffruticosa) there and on the way as well. But after walking there for about 10mins, there were very few Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffruticosa) on the way, so we decided to head back. On our way back, there is a pleasant surprise! We saw something rather big flying around, and when we shine torch at that, the eyes will shine. At first we thought was bat, but it stopped on the floor only about 3m from us, then hen said it's a nightjar, bats do not stop and sit on the ground. She suspected the bird to be the savanna nightjar (Caprimulgus affinis), as she heard the calls. After a while, it flew off again. We went back to the original place, and put down out bags, and try to think of ways to count the number of seeds, then hen used her torch strap to pull the branch down to count and take pictures.

Here are some of the photos:-
While looking for the opened fruits, we saw a slug:-
Then another bird came and caught our attention:- (I only managed to take its eye shine)
Then we are attracted to the beautiful view of the sunrise:- (We can even see the moon on the first picture)
As seen from the above three pictures, the grassland was covered with small circular patches, they are actually spider webs!!! I've taken the close-up pictures:- (Water droplets are seen hanging on the webs! See the vast number of web on the grassland in front of us)
Continue with the sunrise:-
Then we are attracted by the flies on the grass:-
Then we saw 2 Brahiminy Kites (Haliastur indus) perching on the bare tree far away:-
Just some pictures on Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffruticosa):- (The plant Henrietta is working on)
[Leaves; Flower; Flower being pollinated by carpenter bees (Xylocopa sp.); Unopened fruit; Opened fruit]
We only found the beautifully opened fruit after the observation, it was uneaten maybe is because the fruit was located just behind where we are sitting.
Introducing Melastoma sp. flowers:- (The plant Wen Qing is working on)
On our way out, we saw 3 Malayan Monitor Lizards (Varanus salvator)
Just a summary list of the organisms seen:-
1. Savanna Nightjar (Caprimulgus affinis)
2. Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)
3. Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius)
4. Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier)
5. Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans)
6. Asian Fairy Bluebird (Irena pulla)
7. Brahiminy Kites (Haliastur indus)
8. Greater Racket Tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) - this bird is super cool, got 2 long feathers sticking out from its tail
9. Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis)
10. Changeable Hawk Eagle/Honey Buzzard - not too sure
11. Malayan Monitor Lizards (Varanus salvator)
12. Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa sp.)
13. House crow (C0vus splendens)
14. Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrohynchos)
15. Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris)
16. Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus)
17. Swifts or swiftlets

I had a great trip today! Really enjoy these trips. And thanks Henrietta for helping me identify the birds. :P