Saturday, December 30, 2006

Happy Birthday Countrygirl!

Wishing Sandra (Countrygirl) a very Happy Birthday!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Lunar Beauty

Note: Thanks for the 'Taggings'. The list will be coming up next. In the meantime, I would like to share some pictures taken yesterday while running around helping out in a Treasure Hunt Event.

The moon was still high in the sky yesterday Sunday morning. Took my tele-zoom to the max (300mm) and with slight touch-up and cropping, below is the result.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Believed to have decended from dinosours.. Raptors

A situation of being in the right place, right time. These were spotted in the suburb residential area we stopped by for breakfast on a Sunday morning. Pictures were not very clear due to the long distance between the lens and subject and high cropping done to bring you the closeups.

Spotted one, then two and there were three!



12/Dec'06 - Positive identification! These are Crested Goshawks of the Accipiter (Ak-sip-i-ter) family. Scientific name Accipiter Trivirgatus. Normally a forest bird, but has been seen to be doing fairly well in the urban areas where numerous sightings have been made. All they need is a bit of wooded area and have adapted to feed on the rodents and other birds of the urban area.
Sincere thanks to Seng and Carol of Nature Owlet, The MNS Shop for providing the identification & information.













Friday, November 24, 2006

Hooked on Macro World

Some macro shots of tiny mushrooms.
Sorry no scale comparison to show size but these are the size of a pinky fingernail.







Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Another Electrifying Moment

Another storm in the near distant and another of mother nature's spectacular display of power. Missed an earlier strike that was much grander but the Nokia E-70 stood up to task for this.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Weather gone wonky

Its been like this everyday for the past few weeks; One minute it will be blistering hot, and the next, thunderstorm.

This was the storm viewed from my office on Friday evening just before quitting time.


Lightning is awesome and frightening... depending on your proximity from the storm. Here's one I managed to capture using the camera on my mobile phone.


Pictures above taken with the built-in camera on the Nokia E-70. Better something than nothing.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

World's Largest Flower

Rafflesia (rafle'zhÉ™) , any of a genus (Rafflesia) of parasitic flowering plants native to the rain forests of Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines. The plants have no roots, stems, or leaves, consisting of threadlike growths on the tissues of the Tetrastigma vine that hosts them.

This is a Rafflesia Cantleyi. Compare the size to our Semai guide, Ngah.


The flowers have no leaves and hardly any stem, just a huge speckled five-petaled flower with a diameter up to 106 cm, and weighing up to 10 kg. The flowers will only last for 2-3 days then it will start to turn black and wilt. That is when it will smell like rotting meat, hence its local names which translate to "corpse flower" or "meat flower".


From seed to bud, it takes no less than about one and a half years while from bud to full bloom takes another nine months! The seeds germinate and spread fine threads inside the vine.


This is just another 2-3 days to full bloom.



Monday, November 13, 2006

Tacca Integrifolia

a.k.a. Black Lily, Bat flower...

Pretty wings

This mantis was caught in a spider's web and was struggling. It did manage to break free.


Another look at the pretty wings.


A damselfly basking in the sunlight.


Here's a little fella with "tails". Only manage this one shot before it took off.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

When the rain has passed

Mother nature adorned with jewels after a refreshing shower... well, in our case here it was a torrential downpour.







Monday, November 06, 2006

Shy Lizard!

The subject 'blushing' from all the attention its getting..



Here's Moggie stalking up the tree to shoot the lizard after it tried to get away from the attention.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Sneaky Shots

Brown birdie probably has a nest nearby. Managed to get this shot through the bushes.



Two male Rajah Brooke's Birdwing butterflies having a drink at the stream.


These two otters were still asleep when we dropped by at 9.30 in the morning. Maybe they had a late night out ;-)

Thecostele Alata

Three stalks of flowers :) Thanks to Moggie for ID'ing the orchid.
The first one that started (longest hanging below) seems to be still going strong.
The blurry stalk is the latest to start blooming just a week back.



This is what the tip of the stalk looks like... It just keeps going and going and going ... like the energizer bunny.



The flowers up close.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Yo-ho me hearties!

A different kind of 'sailboat'.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Infection

Many things are infectious. Some good, some bad and some debateable (like yawning). For now, feeling grateful for friends near and far is very infectious. I like to dedicate some photos to some of those friends whose blogs I visit almost daily.


This is for Whisky; They say every cloud has a silver lining. Sometimes, it is gold.



For Moggie; The underwater spider that you missed.



Specially for Ladyhawk; There will always be wind beneath your wings.
{Note: This is a picture of a sea-eagle though}



This flower for Sandra; For sharing the beauty captured on your lens and the sweet comments you leave on our blogs.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Monday, October 16, 2006

Night of the Masked Intruder

My house had an uninvited guest.. came in unnoticed, hid behind some stuff and was discovered when the curtains could not conceal its form. However, it was no homosapien with malice intent.

A musang (civet cat) had wandered in through the upstairs window earlier and my guess it got confused in an unfamiliar surroundings i.e. no trees and bushes. Maybe it was exploring and still being a juvenile, curiousity got the better of it.

While I was glad to see the 'wildlife', this was still my room and I did not want to wake up to find it snuggling up to me. So I tried to cox it with a carrot to come out. It didn't work the way I expected to. Rather than find the carrot enticing, it started to back away from the carrot like it was something revolting. Change of plans; Use the carrot to drive it towards the window or balcony door. Whatever works...


"Oops, I've been found out!"




"Now how did I get in and more important, how do I get out?"



Highway to the exit.
"Boy mummy's not going to like it when she finds out."

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Happy Wild Orchid

ID? The stalk grows downwards and the flowers are no more than half a centimeter across.



Small but so pretty.

Predators Above & Below

Predators below such as jacks and tuna prey on the anchovies from below. The anchovies attempt to flee towards the surface where the seagulls are waiting.






Both big fish and birds feed.






Man will also feed. Here they drag a line hoping to land the big fishes.