A Brown Dragonfly

For the record, I stumbled upon a brown dragonfly which I have not seen before in the park.
Location : Zone B, at the wetland or swampy area. 

Flash floods and some views of the park in April

Zone F  in heavy rain.

 It has been raining heavily for the last three days (mainly nights).  The parkland is situated on a very hilly area and is the headwaters of a stream, which for convenience I call the Kambatik stream.  The heavy downpour would normally create flash floods.  However, due to its hilly landscape the excess downpour would race downstream.  This event is exciting to watch and offers some fine photographic moments.

After the floods, I walked up the Cempedak Hill and found a lone Plaintive Cuckoo.  This time it is the female of the species, a lifer for me.

Here are some views of the park taken in April’18.

Flash floods at Zone F

Zone B

View towards Zone A, looking east, from Cempedak Hill (Zone G)

Ladies, this plant is for you.

The centre oil palm tree (above)
 is where the Lipstick plant grows

 I had a pleasant surprise upon seeing the Lipstick vine ( Aeschynanthus spp) that hugs the oil palm trunk at Zone B (see inset) producing flowers.  For a couple of days I have been watching the moment when the flower will reveal its full blooming glory. The Lisptick vine is a native plant in Sarawak or Borneo Island for that matter where it naturally grows on trees close to rivers and streams.  The flowers look like a red lipstick poking out of a deep red holder.  The leaves are waxy and succulent . This plant does fine on a hanging basket.

Near blooming stage

The flower starting to full bloom.

Ever free ferns from Kruak wetlands

A mixture of 'Miding' and 'Paku Uban' ferns at Kruak Wetlands

Paku Uban (foreground)
Miding (background , at left of picture)

 You can enjoy plucking  free ferns any day of the week within minutes of walking.  This phenomenon is made possible by developing an area of about half an acre within the park focused on the 'cultivation' of edible ferns.  Two species of ferns that grow naturally here are the Miding ( Stenochlaena palustris) and the Paku Uban (Nephroplepsis acutifolia).  These ferns love bright sun, damp ground mixed with tall grasses as natural support.  At the moment I am developing part of the Kruak wetlands specifically for this purpose.  I have blogged a fair bit about these ferns and how to cook them.  Please follow this link to know how...>>>>http://kambatikpark.blogspot.my/2014/04/wonder-fern-at-park.html

Young leaves of Miding

'Miding' ferns freshly collected from Kruak wetlands

Miding served with rice

Kruak wetlands
Zone B

Green umbrella and practice green

Big enough for a 'Practice Green'
Zone B

Zone B - 'rough area'

 It has been a wonderful day to work under cloudy sky, gentle breeze and Sunday - which is a normal day at the park.  I take a day off only on Friday.  Today I enjoy the beauty of the light and shade under the green umbrella of oil palm fronds.  At Zone B is one of my favourite 'golf green' spaces.  The central lawn area is big enough for a practice green.  There are at least five locations in the park with  'practice green' spaces done as a function to relax the eyes in the fixed grid of oil palm planting layout and also acting as a recreational ground and wildlife 'flight air space'.

Shade and light under the green umbrella of oil palm fronds
Zone B

The wild Phaius orchid is flowering

Keruak wetlands at left and back of
picture

 Working at Zone B this morning, I noticed the wild orchid of the Phaius variety is starting to give out flowers.  The last time it produced pods, I did broadcast the spores and to my pleasant surprise have germinated.  There are at least a dozen of new seedlings seen around the main stand now.  I intend to move some of these new seedlings to other locations to study its adaptability and growing success.  This variety of the Phaius orchid seem to prefer  filtered light  and  wet ground with rotting organic biomass.

Wild orchid of the Phaius variety
Nearby the Keruak wetlands area, Zone B.

White spores revealed after the mature pods are opened.
Zone B.

New terrestrial orchid found

 Found a new terrestrial orchid with upright flower spikes at Zone B yesterday.  The area is at the edge  of the Kruak wetlands.  The damp earth covered with rotting branches, fronds and leaves have provided the ideal conditions for this new discovery.  At this point of writing I'm still unsure what species of wild orchids it belong to. Could it belong to the Nephelaphyllum tribe of which the Tania is a likely candidate.  Or it could be placed under the Phaius tribe of which two genus are relevant i.e. Phaius and Calanthe.  I'll study in further detail this new find and will revert in future posting its likely nomenclature.  What excites me is its colourful sepals that are a light brownish purple.  The two petals are whitish and the lip is a nice subtle brownish purple with attractive orange brown centre leading to its reproductive parts.  I have reserved a name for it....

Birding at Paya Point

Female Brown-throated Sunbird feeding its young at Paya Point

Female Brown-throated Sunbird

 The birding look out area called Paya Point is located between Zone B and C, covering an area about half an acre.  In Malay 'Paya' means swampy area. The area collects rain water from three hills that are the headland of the swamp.  The area is water-logged and thus the natural vegetation is mainly grasses, creepers and small trees mainly the Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffructicosa).  I have cultivated heliconias somewhere in the middle of the area and these are allowed to grow wild as part of the natural landscaping.  In between the tall leaves of the heliconias can be observed the female Brown-throated Sunbird and clinging on the long grasses are the Chestnut Munia and Dusky Munia.  As added bonus there are  lizards and tree shrews for surprises.  At ground level have been sighted monitor lizards, frogs, White-breasted Waterhen and many species of dragonflies.

View of Paya Point, looking east.  Note the tall heliconia plants in the middle of the swampy area.

Thickets of grasses, ferns and creepers are nesting grounds for Munias, White-breasted Waterhen, butterflies, dragonflies, frogs etc..

In the far background are the round and broad leaves of the Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffructicosa) .  These tall shrubs or small trees are frequented by bulbuls, squirrels, tree shrews, pigeons, sunbirds and flowerpeckers.

Chest-nut Munia foraging for grass seeds at Paya Point

In Plain Sight - Provinsi Yellow Palm (Part 8)

A large specimen of the Yellow Palm (Dypsis lutescens)
Syn : Chrysalidocarpus lutescens
Note the clustering habit.  New canes are produced from base of the clump as older ones mature.

Golden stems and leaf stalks
View looking north

 The plain area at Zone B which is mostly wet and marshy is dedicated to a collection of Yellow Palm (Dypsis lutescens) . The Yellow Palm is also commonly referred to as Golden Cane Palm or Butterfly Palm.  It is a clustering feather palm with its crown shaft bright yellow in colour.  One feature that is attractive of the palm is its slender leaf stalk.  Both the stalk and leaves will give an even richer golden colouration when planted in sunny places.  I have successfully propagated them by seeds though germination may take sometime.

View looking south

View looking south

View looking south
Location : Provinsi Yellow Palm, Zone B.

A Prinia preview

Perenjak Padi (Malay) - Prinia flaviventris
Location: Zone B

 The Yellow-bellied Prinia is a resident of the park.  Despite that status, to get close to it has been a big problem for me.  However, today I am lucky.  Out of the blues it decided to give me a most pleasurable photoshoot session.  The prinia has one of the loudest calls among the small birds at the park.  It doesn't fly straight and when it fly the wings flap loudly.  I understand that the Yellow-bellied Prinia is the only prinia on this big island of Borneo.  Its music to listen to the singing of the prinia.

Singing on a tall stem...

Singing from the branches of the oleina tree..

The presence of grassland or grass reserves proves useful as perches for the prinia..
Location : Zone B

Sambar Murai Gila or the Pied Fantail

Sambar Murai Gila (Malay) - Ped Fantail
Location : Zone B

 Living in a lowland dipterocarp forest one is able to find the "Sambar Murai Gila" comes out from the jungle to checkout the forest fringes.  It is only one of the many fantails in Sarawak that has the habit of coming close to human habitation.  Today it came close enough to show off its beautiful fantail.  The tail feathers have a broad white tip that are of progressive length and when fanned out form a semicircular-shaped tail.  Today it was busy moving about the branches of the Shrubby Dillenia to devour some red ants.

A flirting fantail with suicidal downdropping behaviour

Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica)

 I have not been able to really zoom in to this bird until recently when I noticed their particular behaviour at close range.  One day I was at the fruiting Jackfruit tree with a few of the fruits overripe and partly rotten.  The fruits therefore attracted a lot of insects chiefly the fruit flies.  The name fantail describes its behaviour well.  It likes to prance and dances on the branches and twigs.  It opens its fantail wide in a flirting fashion.  But one behaviour that attracts me to this bird is its attempt at suicidal flight where it would downdrop its wings and tumble down only to rise up in quick succession to repeat its dances and prances.   

Note the characteristic white throat and quite long tail.

The Pied Fantail is a lowland forest resident in Bintulu and is the only species in the family that is known to come close to human habitations like gardens and plantations.