First Semakau Walk in 2011 ----sea star and sea cucumber 海星和海参

Both sea stars and sea cucumbers are belong to the phylum Echinodermata (the Latin name means "spiny-skinned"). Their body consists of five equal segments, each containing a duplicate set of various internal organs.

海星和海参都属于棘皮动物。据说它们幼体时两侧对称，长大后辐射对称。

Juvenile knobbly sea stars，one with six arms 多节海星大部分有五个胳膊，受损后可以再生。不过生物界总有例外，右边的居然有六个胳膊。
Adult knobbly sea star
Sand sifting sea star

It can dig into the sand quickly 这种海星可以很快把自己埋到沙子里

Sand sifting sea star move and dig by these numerous tube feet 海星依靠腹面众多的管足行动的

Sandfish sea cucumber

synaptid sea cucumber

First Semakau Walk in 2011 ----Nice fiddler crabs

We visited Pulau Semakau several times and today it is the first time we noticed that hundreds or thousands of fiddler crabs living around a mangrove tree.

这是我们第一次作为游客拜访实马高岛，第一次观看了一段垃圾填埋场的完整录像，第一次坐车参观垃圾中转站，第一次悠哉悠哉地在潮间带走。第一次发现原来沙滩中央的红树下栖息着数不清的招潮蟹。

Female fiddler crab

fight between male fiddler crabs

Stork-billed kingfisher @ Japanese garden鹳嘴翠鸟

I am not sure whether or not the raining weather is good for birding. However, to me it sometimes means I can observe birds in a very close distance. This time I hid behind a big umbrella and took photos around 3 meters from this stork-billed kingfisher.

Special effect, with Flash 闪光灯特效

Rain with shining sunset

The egrets (cattle egret, little egret and great egret) came back home around 7pm, which is around half an hour later than usual.

Happy New Year 年年有鱼

射水鱼Archer fish

金钱鱼 Scat？

？？？ ???

水獭和泽巨蜥争地盘Otter and Water monitor lizard

两只水獭和块头更胜一筹的泽巨蜥交手，最终如愿占领了堤岸上的休息之处。

Two otters want to find the way to their resting area and water monitor lizards block the road. The final result is that water monitor lizards swim away and the otters have a good rest under the trees.

首先水獭抱住一条泽巨蜥的尾巴

不过泽巨蜥不为所动，水獭另觅上岸之路
不料，这也有一条泽巨蜥准备下水
水獭准备骚扰这条泽巨蜥，不过泽巨蜥很轻松的用尾巴教训了水獭
避开泽巨蜥，水獭最终还是上岸了

在这个树荫下，享受午后的一丝凉意

Milky Stork乳白鹳@Japanese garden星和园

天晴，倾盆大雨；天晴，倾盆大雨；今天下午的天气实在是反复无常。把相机装在密封袋里，打了雨伞冲向裕廊湖。黄脚丫的小白鹭在水边觅食，警觉的黃小葦还未靠近就已飞去，早归的白鹭已经在老树杈上休息了。不过在树梢，停留着一只乳白鹳。荷花池里没有常客紫鹭，也没见白胸苦恶鸟溜达。突然乳白鹳飞起，落到池塘里享受晚餐了。不知道是不是这只乳白鹳极其喜欢这里，还是有几只轮流光顾这个风水很好的小荷池。留张清楚的照片，下次遇见了好作对照。

It is said that the Milky storks (Mycteria cinerea) visiting SBWR and Japanese garden are from the Zoo or Bird Park. From our observation, there are three Milky storks feeding at SBWR, and we also noticed that three Milky storks fly over the Jurong Lake and maybe back to the Bird Park. However, in the small pond located in the centre of Japanese garden, we only found one Milky stork rest or feed. We failed to find the ring or tags on its lag and we are not sure whether there is only one Milky stork prefer this pond or not.

It seems the milky stork doesn't have big impact on other wading birds as grey heron, purple heron, or bittern who are also feeding in this pond.

I like these birds and hope they can live in this heaven forever.

Merry christmas圣诞快乐

这株灌木名叫老鼠勒(Acanthus spp.)，洋文又叫Sea Holly海冬青，因为锯齿状的叶片很像圣诞节的装饰Christmas holly冬青。老鼠勒叶片表面有盐腺，可以排除盐分，因此通常可以在叶面上观察到白色盐粒。
Sea Holly and Christmas holly both have prickly green leaves. Sea holly lives in the mangrove forest and excretes extra salt by the leaves. Some guides encourage visitors to touch the white crystalline layer on the leaves and to lick the finger to feel the salt.