Macritchie Boardwalk (NSS walk)

Location: Macritchie Boardwalk

Species seen:

Area: Golf Link beside reservoir
Urothemis signata
Pseudagrion microcephalum
Pseudagrion australasiae
Diplacodes nebulosa
Acisoma panorpoides
Lestes praemorsus
Agriocnemis nana
Ceriagrion cerinorubellum
Indothemis limbata
Rhyothemis phyllis
Rhyothemis triangularis
Aethriamanta gracilis
Neurothemis fluctuans
Orthetrum sabina
Trithemis aurora
Chalybeothemis fluviatilis
Macrodiplax cora
Agriocnemis femina
Trithemis pallidinervis
Tramea transmarina
Pantala flavescens
Rhodothemis rufa
Epophthalmia vittigera
Ictinogomphus decoratus
Pseudothemis jorina
Crocothemis servilia

Golf Link Boardwalk
Orchithemis pulcherrima
Tyriobapta torrida
Podolestes orientalis
Vestalis species
Orthetrum chrysis

Euphaea impar
Rhyothemis obsolescens
Nesoxenia lineata

This was a walk led by Mr. Tang from the Nature Society Singapore. There were quite a group of people that came for the walk and learnt together some common species and how different dragonflies have different habits and habitats.

Along the walk we saw many Tramea transmarina and also Pantala flavescens, the two major migratory species to be found in Singapore. These species arrive in South East Asia after following the sea winds down from the Northern hemisphere. They have thus traveled long distances and often can be found in the later part of the year in Singapore, zooming around open land. The Pantala flavescens is in particular rather widespread, being able to be seen even in areas with high rise buildings.

Some interesting things we saw was the Pseudothemis jorina that was flying in a territory across open reservoir, a fast flyer who surveys the area frequently and is hard to capture on camera. Later we were shocked when we saw that it had fallen into the reservoir and was quite still, in fact, being nibbled at by some small fishes (and later swallowed by a big one). We speculated that a swallow flying in the territory had collided with it and perhaps swept it into the water, as this species of dragonfly is a rather strong flyer generally.

We then headed into the forest to try to find some forest species, and being rather lucky manage to see a female Euphaea impar, as they are generally harder to find than the male individuals. We also caught sight of a Rhyothemis obsolescens, with its pretty golden shimmering wings. We were lucky to have seen all three Rhyothemis species today.

Ending our walk shortly before Jelutong Tower, we managed to catch a glimpse of the big turtle in the stream nearby (a really really huge one!).

There will hopefully be other such Odonata walks in Singapore in the future! A casual walk with a group of people eager to learn more is always a good place to start becoming an odonut, even if you know nothing about Odonata at all (:

Neo Teo

Location:
Neo Teo
Species seen:
Anisoptera--Dragonflies
Libellulidae

Diplacodes trivialis

Brachythemis contaminata

Trithemis pallipinervis

Macrodiplax cora

Tramea transmarina

This morning we went along Neo Teo, around Sungei Buloh, originally for cycling, but in the end the bike rental shop wasn't open, so we walked instead.
Well, here's a picture of what the pond looked like:


Trithemis pallipinervis is different from the other, more commonly seen, Trithemis species in a rather obvious way when you see it perched. T. aurora is also known as Dawn Dropwing, T. festiva as Indigo Dropwing, the name coming from the fact that their wings droop when they are at rest. However, T. pallipinervis rests with wings raised above, as if as a mirror image of the other two T. sp. more commonly seen in Singapore.
Tramea transmarina is also a migratory dragonfly, like Pantala flavescens.
Macrodiplax cora has very sparse wing venations, with a long black stripe down its abdomen.

Apart from the various dragonflies, we also saw some birds, including the Slaty Breasted Rail. I also heard the Purple Swamp Hen, while my dad and brother saw it fly (how lucky xD)

In the afternoon we also went to Sentosa, so on an entirely unrelated note, here's a photo of a Nudibranch (possibly) that we saw: