Two birds and a chick

Magpie- Robin or Murai Kampung (Malay)
Location : Cempedak Hill, Zone G

 On a Sunday morning, I thought how pleasant it would be to have a stroll around the park.  I was trying to look for a surprise.  Any surprise.  The surprise came in the form two birds and a chick.  Firstly, the Magpie Robin was singing her heart out to the denizens of the park.  Pitching her voice to a melodious tune, her song ran for a couple of minutes but stopped when she spotted me.  Later, at the same tree a lone Blue-throated Bee-eater took  to the perch unnoticed by me but soon as I took a glimpse of it, the colourful bird flew away.  It has been a while since the bee eater has been spotted perching on the Cempedak tree.  Finally, as I was about to finish my morning walk, my eyes were focussed on a black object that moved about the short grasses near the Kruak Wetlands.  And sure enough it was a young White-breasted Waterhen, but because it was still very very young the white breast didn't show.  She was all black.

Blue-throated Bee-eater

Young chick of the White-breasted Waterhen

Young chick running for cover
Location : Kruak Wetlands

 

Highlights today at the park - 3 July'15

Orange-bellied Flowerpecker enjoying the Jackfruit
Zone C

Stick insect, Zone D

A treelet producing very sour red fruits, but edible.
Zone D

A natural vertical garden

Oil Palm tree ( Elaeis guineensis)  circumvented by various ferns
Location : Kruak Wetlands, Zone B.

Fern, fern, ferns...

 One can easily be enthralled by the beauty of the oil palm tree trunks.  Seen against the morning light one can see how richly endowed it is  with a extensive variety of ephiphytes, shrubs, and even tree species that habitually take root at the rotting cut bases of the oil palm fronds or branches.  A better word to describe this is vertical gardening.  This is because the oil palm tree acts as a green column for the various plants species that successfully attached themselves to it. The plants bio-diversity that thrive on the oil palm tree consists mainly of ephiphytic ferns of the genera Nephroplepsis, Polypodium, Davalia and Pyrrosia, orchids, and the pioneer  plants species like Shrubby Dillenia, Senduduk, Ficus family etc.  Here's some examples of vertical gardens at the park growing naturally.....

Zone B

Zone C

Zone F

After shedding , its time for a show of true colours

After shedding all of its leaves, this jungle tree species is starting to show its true colours- very bright yellow colours.
Zone C

 What a unique jungle tree.  After shedding its leaves, it is starting to regenerate with new flushes.  Colour diversity in the landscape is arresting to the eyes.  It is picturesque and at the same time gives an added ecological interest.  While the jungle green is as it is generally known evergreen, there can be a few jungle tree species that does not enter into the evergreen category.  Others could be a variant of a semi-deciduous type where the shedding is partial.

View of jungle tree in flushes as seen from Zone B.

Flushes of the Eugenia oleina, Zone G and F
2 July'15