RAPTORS - Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus).

  Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus). Found in India, S. China, S.E.Asia, and New Guinea. A bird of opened country like padi fields, grassland and oil palm plantations. Feeds mainly on rodents.

RAPTORS - Crested Serpent-eagle (Spilornis cheela).

The term Raptor  is given to identify 'Birds of prey'. . It is infact derived from the Latin word 'rapere' meaning 'taking by force'. Many of the birds shown here are migrants as well as residents of Malaysia. The migatory birds came here from the Northern Hemisphere during their winter month because of scarcity of food and to breed in our wormer climate.

a)  Crested Serpent-eagle (Spilornis cheela). A resident in Malaysia and Singapore. This bird is widely distributed in India, South China, S.E.Asia and the Sundas. Mostly found in mangrove forests, oil palm plantations and other wooded areas. Its main diet is snake, hence the name.

BUTTERFLY LIZARD OF MALAYSIA.

A beautiful healthy Malayan Butterfly Lizard.

The butterfly lizard is an agamid native of Thailand, Myanmar, Malay Peninsular and Sumatra. There are eight species and they breed by normal sexual reproduction. But four species are parthenogernetic and has only one sex. They reproduced by cloning. The Malayan Butterfly Lizard (Leiolepis beliana beliana) is one of them.

Its paterns and markings are colourful.

These lizards prefer open, dry, sandy areas where they live in burrows. At the slightest sign of danger they will dart back into their burrows, but will re-emerge about five minutes later.

Vegetations and small insects, constitute to their main diet. They are monogamous and will care for their youngs for some months before the youngs leave to build their own burrow.

A Butterfly Lizard
 feeding on a cricket.

They are quite territorial and can be seen to drive away intruders from nearby burrows. I have seen some of them living quite close together. In a radius of 15 meters, I have counted three burrows.

Peeping out of its burrow
before coming out to forage.

Milky Stork (Mycteria cinerea).





A Milky Stork scratching itself.

     


The Milky Stork, a large water bird, with an estimated world wide population of around only 5,550. Listed as "Vulnerable" by the IUCN/Birdlife International. it can only be found on the West Coast of Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Historically, in Malaysia they are found mostly along the West Coast, but due to habitat deterioration, low reproduction and predators their number is very low now.

Drying out after its bath.

     The lake at Pulau Kelumpang has being confirm as a reserved breeding, feeding and roosting sanctuary for the Milky Stork. Around the Kuala Gula area, a semi wild population of released Milky Stork can be found.


Collecting twigs for nest building.



Frolicking in the hot sun.

Asian Openbill Stork (Anastomus oscitans)

An Openbill with outstretched wings while landing. 

    

The Asian Openbill Stork are distributed throughout the Indian Subcontinent, Thailand right up to Cambodia. During certain times of the year they can be seen among the wetland and padi fields of Malaysia.

An Openbill foraging for food.

     The storks are normally found congregating at wetlands and padi-fields foraging for food. They feed mainly on molluscs, especially of the pila family. Most of the time the birds used their bill to search for the molluscs in the water and can manage to open the shells to extract the meat. All adults have a gaps in their bills which is well adapted to hold the slippery shells of molluscs. Susprisingly this feature is absent from the juveniles. Water snakes, frogs and large insects round up as part of their food chain too. At times the stork can be seen gliding in flocks, circling in the air, using the thermal to help them move around and save energy.

A freshwater crab fell victim.

     Breeding season is around July to September. Nests with 2-4 eggs are often built on half submerged trees.

The openbills like to sun
themsleves like this.

Ancestor Day (Hari Moyang) of the Mah-Meri Orang Asli tribe of Malaysia.

This article was published in the SJ Echo March 2015 issue.

     Mah-Meri (pronounced: Max Mri) one of the Aborigines tribes of Malaysia are confined to the state of Selangor of Malaysia. They are mainly living near the coast and are mostly fishermen. Being skill carvers and weavers, their labour of love are highly valued by art lovers and collectors.

The Moyang Bojos. A main character of the Jo'oh Dance.



The ancestor shrine being
prepared for blessing ritual.

     The Mah Meri are very respectful of their ancestors and as such set aside a day each year as Hari Moyang (Ancestor Day). On this day, the community pays respect to their ancestors and seek their blessings for bountiful harvests.



     Rituals and blessings are offered to all that come to seek. The Jo'oh Dance is performed by women dancers. Masked male dancers called the Moyang Bojos join in the dance too. They dance around a symbolic mountain (weaved out of leaves of the pandanus trees), that represent their belief of how the world come into being. Music is provided by a group of percussionists and singers.

Blessing ritual in progress.

    
     The women dancers wear blouses made from pounded barks of the Terap tree. While their hairs are decorated with objects and things in their daily lives, weaved from the leaves of the pandanus trees.




The Jo'oh Dance.

     On this Ancestor Day, the villagers and (outsiders too) are encouraged to bring food and drinks as contribution to the celebration. These are then displayed on long tables and serve as refreshments after the rituals, ceremonies and dance performances are over.

They are highly skill weavers too.



Some sing too.

Heads of women dancers
decorated with weaved objects.

The percussionist performing.

BUGIS STREET OF SINGAPORE.

Entrance to Bugis Street.

Durians. King of fruits
to the locals but obnoxious
 to the uninitiated.

   Bugis, refers to the seafaring people of South Sulawasi province of Indonesia. Before the arrival of the British, the Bugis used to sail up a canal here to trade.

   After the war, from 1950-1980s, hawkers gathered here to ply their wares. Bars began to spring up and transvestites gathered and attracted a lot of Western Tourists. At the height of the Vietnam War, the GI R&R really made this place boom. Everywhere, the writeups of this place is all about the sleezy going on. The transwomen of Bugis Street is even immortalised by an English-Language film made by a  Hong Kong film company.

It's a shopper's haven.

Clothings are aplenty too.

You name it they have it.



Food of many nationalities can be had.

    In the mid 1980s with the building of the MRT underground stations, the whole place was transformed. In order to regain its former glory minus the sleezy reputation the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board transformed this place into a tourist shopping haven.


Every taste is catered to.

 

Very cheap too.







Locals snacks to appease your stomachs.





You can rest anywhere after
a hard day's shopping.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugis_Street#Pre-1950s