My Fungi Photo Collection - 2010

Mr. & Mrs. Ants with the melastoma flower

Taken while both busy searching for food (i think so..)

What is actually they are doing? I observed them while taking their photos but still i can't figure it out. What is actually they are doing, moving from end to end, on top of the flower till to stem of the tree. But the best shot is have is this while both are below the flower petals.

I stand next to them for quite sometime because they did not stop moving. They seems to be very busy but still i didn't see they found something like, food or anything else. Maybe they just scared because of my presence? Nah...i don't think so... he he he.. I sit there quietly what.

Okay, that is the lame story of mine for today. Till then. God  bless!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - From the eyes of the fern

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY -- Water Source



Photo taken at hilly paddy field (padi bukit)
at Alutok, Ulu Tomani, Tenom

Photo taken at village rubber plantation
at Alutok, Ulu Tomani, Tenom

Nature Center Magazine -- Nature Site of the Week

First of all i want to say that I AM SURPRISE!! I am not actively update this blog anymore because i didn't have any recent discoveries of any animals, plants, nice sceneries or views. As i dedicate this blog for my walk deep into the rainforest of Borneo with all the experiences and adventures that i encountered through it. Even though, i am not doing research on wildlife and plants anymore, my heart is still strongly towards the nature. That is the reason this blog still talking about nature, plants and animals live within it.

I want to thank Emma Springfield for write about this blog and featured it in Nature Site Of The Week in their website Nature Center Magazine. I am surprise because this is a very rare opportunity besides i thought my blog is not interesting with my broken English and messy Grammar. (^__*). Anyway, i want to say thanks to Emma and the team in Nature Center Magazine. Thanks to Ratty because i know you are one of my best buddy in this blogosphere. You always visit and drop comments, encouragement words i may say in this blog since i learn how to blog back in 2008. You inspired me with your adventure in your site The Everyday Adventurer. So, THANK YOU very much from the bottom of my heart guys. You made my day! Yay!

Will share more of my exploration in the Bornean rainforest ya! Till then!
 

My Flowery Friend - Liparis wrayi

Photo taken at Muaya Waterfall, Sipitang

It has been more than a week i didn't wrote here. Today i want to share a little bit about one of the Orchid that we found last year. This is the terrestrial orchid species. They grow on the ground. Actually before this i only known that orchid grows on trees and never on the ground. But when i joined one of scientific expedition with UMS last year, i learn a little bit about orchid from a botanist friend that working on orchids of Borneo.

She told me that orchid did grow on the ground and using soil as the substrate to growth. This is a new thing for me and i find it is interesting, though.

This one is a tiny orchid, only about 15cm height and the flower also tiny. But they are pretty as you can see in the photo above. The scientific name is Liparis wrayi. I tride to Google to get more info on this orchid but can't found any details info about it.

So, then i leave you guys till here. Have a good day and I Love Orchids.. (",)
 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Climbing Liana Fruits

Photo taken at Muaya Waterfall, Sipitang.

My Little Friend - Mr. Spotted Stream Frog (Rana picturata)

Here i am coming back with another story of my another little friend. Known as Mr. Spotted Stream Frog with his scientific name Rana picturata and living along streams and sometimes can be found perched above roots and rocks. They always make a sound (call) like a quick succession of 'cricks' and uttered rather sporadically.

Photo taken at Muaya Waterfall, Sipitang

This fella have another similar friends called Rana signata. They are differentiate by striped on signata and spotted on picturata; also their tadpoles maybe indistinguishable in the field.

This is a little bit info of his "babies"...:(^__^). The tadpoles are black in appearance with a blueish shimmer. The tail fin is moderately high the tail itself is long. The Tail fin bears many skin glands that become visible under appropriate light. The iris has a red ring around the pupilla. They live in stagnant or slow moving water and frequently found in stream side pools with accumulations of leaf litter. These tadpoles specialize in using the spaces in stacks of leaf litter. They hide during the day, but may come out and surface during the night. At night they are much paler in coloration. (Info from Frogs of Borneo).

Okay, that is a little bit about my another little friend. Will come back soon with another great stories of my little little nature friends... Till then. (",)

My Little Friend - Mr. Smooth Guardian Frog (Limnonectes palavanensis)

Photo taken at Ulu Padas Forest Reserve.

Let me introduce my litte friend for today. This is Mr. Smooth Guardian Frog (Limnonectes palavanensis). A very nice common name and did he looks like a Guardian? Hmm... for sure he is the foret guardian where he inhabits. This little fella can be found on the forest floor of primary forest and most often can be found in the lowlands but it has been recorded up to 1, 300 m a.s.l.  

Why i call him "little" because he is small indeed. The size is approximately 30 mm for male and 40 mm for female. They are small.

How did the male and female meet and look after the eggs? Males call from below leaves on the forest floor and attract females to a terrestrial egg diposition site. Eggs are laid on the ground and are guarded by the male. Finally tadpoles hatch from the egg jelly, climb the male, and are transported by the male to a nearby body of water.  Interesting right?

Alright, that is a little bit info and story of my little friend Mr. Smooth Guardian Frog. Till next time we share another story of another friends i have in the forests of Sabah..mmm.. Sipitang to be more specific. Till then guys!

Environmental Education Activities

Just to update on some of the EE activities that i have been involved since our company joint the SEEN network. It was a good thing te bo part of the network and i get to know more of the EE activist. Can i say their are activist or practitioners? Okay, let it be EE practitioners. Here is some activities that i involved in 2010.

1. Environmental Awareness Workshop for youths organized by SFI and SNC as invited speakers/facilitators.
2. World Environment Day 2010 for Sipitang District co-organized by SFI & DOE, Sipitang.
3. Youth Development Programme - Eco Shopping Game organized by SFI and EAC as invited speakers/facilitators. 
4. EE Race 7 for Kota Kinabalu and Penampang organized by EPD, KK.

Eventhough it is only four so far but it is a good start. The awareness on the cleanliness of the environment in Sipitang is so poor. After WED 2010, there is still not much impact on the communities. Their are still rubbish everywhere in town and on side of the road. Along the beautiful Sipitang esplanade, there are plastics everywhere. Feel very pity for the people living here because the beauty of this small cowboy town is spoiled by the scenario of pieces and pieces of plastics, bottles, cans, papers etc. I leave it till here. Hope to make a little change somewhere somehow.

PHOTO IN ACTION

Clean-up campaign at SMK Padang Berampah during
Environmental Awareness Workshop March 2010.

Clean-up campaign in Sipitang town during WED 2010 celebration.

SFI youth perform during the WED Appreciation Night. We have a
great time and happy to see all the talented youths on stage.

YDP Series 4. Group photo of all youths involved in the programme.

Teachers visits SFI Nursery during the EE race - 7. 

Frustration on Rajang River Disaster

Feel like so frustrated and disappointed because of the disaster at Rajang River, reported since 7th Oct 2010. The chronological event is as follows:

Photo credit to The Star Online

I didn't wrote anything about it in here because i just don't want to talk about it in here. But i did wrote two posts in my LITTLE ROSE DAILY JOURNAL.

• My Presentation and Disaster at Batang Rajang/Igan on 11th Oct 2010
• Igan River Our Source of Life - Water is Life on 12th Oct 2010

The other one is in my Melanau language blog Asau Bau Aruh Ngau Bau Sapau. Can't tell what i feel when it is affected our people in our village in Kampung Kebuaw. Our kampong is at the mouth of the Igan River. It is about 45 minutes drive (boat drive) to reach the South China Sea.

I Googled today using log jam in rajang river and i get 17, 100 results within 0.24 secs. Most of it about the news on this disaster. These are some online news from local and international newspaper such as BBC News, Mongabay.com,  The Star, Bernama, Borneo Post Online and also independence news online such as The Malaysian Insider, Aliran.com, Malaysian Mirror Inside Sarawak, Free Malaysia Today and also bloggers such as DayakBaru.com, Borneo Unleashed and of course my blogger friend at Planet of the Monyets.

You can choose any of the links above for more news about this disaster. Personally i really really frustrated with the logging practice in Sarawak. If they do it according to the rules, the nature will not get angry and the very bad things like this will not happen. Nature know very well how to give a good lesson to the human but, how human react and take action to faced and managing such an huge disaster like this? Do we learn well from Nature? hmmmph...

I leave it till here... No more comments and critics... No point of talking but i can't do anything back... Till then...

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Forests Beautiful Sunset

Photo taken at Tomani, Tenom, Sabah

Interesting Moth

Front view of the moth.
Photo taken at Tomani, Sipitang, Sabah

View from behind of the moth.
Photo taken at Tomani, Tenom, Sabah

I love taking photo of moths now. I think i have quite a few collections of interesting moth species so far. But i am so sorry that i can't give more information about this species because this is my first encounter of this species too. When i think it is unique and interesting, for sure i don't know who are they.

I am so sorry for long silence from this blog because i am busy updating my other blog. Besides i didn't have anything new about my nature encounters so far. It's only ordinary things because i didn't went to jungle/forest lately. Only visiting a few kampongs and plantation so, not much on nature/wildlife things.

Anyway, thanks for my new followers that adding me in your blog lists and also for my loyal nature friends. I am so sorry that seldom visiting you guys here. Hope your adventure is fun and interesting each and every day too. I leave you guys with these two photos of unknown species of moth. Have a good day all !!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Animal Dung, Treasure of the Forest

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Cob Web & Morning Mist

Simply Pretty - Actias maenas

I was amazed by this beautiful creature early in the morning. Over excited! That is what i feel when i saw this moth on the wall of our house in the camp site. It was really really and totally amazed me. This was my first encounter of this species of moth. I tried to Google it and at first i didn't find any match images on the net. I keep on searching and finally i found a brief info about this species.

Actias maenas, also known as Actias leto, can be found from north-central India east to Malaysia and from there it ranges south to Borneo. The subspecies A. maenas diana can be found on Sumatra and Bali. Actias maenas is quite variable in coloration throughout its range. In addition, the females have much shorter tails and fewer markings, making them look like a different species. In the wild, larvae feed on the foliage of Averrhoa, Schima, Adinandra, Canarium, and Turpina but have been reared in captivity on many other species, including Cider Gum (Eucalyptus gunnii) and Cucumber Tree (Magnolia acuminata). This huge moth prefers lowland forests and is not easy to find. - Quote from God of Insects.

Interesting isn't it? God creates such a pretty creature on this earth. I still feel i am very luck this time cause i found this new species of moth. My first encounter. Feel happy and proud of it. (^___^).. Till then. 

Tagal System - Pelian Fish

I am so sorry for the post that i deleted yesterday. It suppose to be a video of the fish that i took but an error occurred when i upload the video here. So, today i do a posting on the same title. A collection of few photos and my experienced with all the fishes. I did wrote about the story of Tagal System before in my post: Swimming With The FISH - Tagal System. That was a year ago. I often visit this village and if i have time, i will spent my time visit the stream/river next to this village.

 According to the villagers, this year is the 3rd year of the establishments of this Tagal in their river. So, this year is suppose to be the harvesting year. However, the river always get flooded and the fish often brought by the water to the down river. But, as you can see the fish is quite large in size already but this species, they called them Pelian Fish can grow as large as half meter long. This one still very small, it's only about 20cm.

 As we reach the river bank, suddenly all the fish came out. They seems to aware of our present and i am sure they know that we will feed them. Maybe because they already get used of it. If people come by, they will get free food. He he he... But, this time something more interesting to be experienced by us. The villager told us that the fish is now tame. They are not afraid of people anymore but still not that tame ya.So, we want to see and experienced it by ourself.

 I told my friend that i want to step into the river and feed them there. I want them to come near to me and eat from my hand. As a few seconds, more fish come and tried to steal the food from my hand. I just keep it in my hand and let them get it from there. 

 I am kinda overexcited and as you can see, there a lots of fish around me. What a great experienced. I wish i brought my clothes and swim with them there. Ha ha ha... 

Mission to Complete

Dear Blogger Friends,

I have decided to offline for a while from blogging world. Not for a long time but only for 87 days. I have a mission to be completed this coming 87 days...mmm...nope..it's 85 days left now.

So, i may not update this blog regularly since i need to concentrate with my mission. I create new blog dedicated to this mission at: MY 87 DAYS MISSION. If you guys wonder what is my mission visit this blog. Yai! I really need to work hard on it.

Wish me luck guys! Till then!

Dragonfly

Dragonflies and damselflies are among the largest and most colourful insects. They are carnivorous and can hunt prey while flying about. They breed in water. The eggs hatch into a brown nymph which spends up to four years in the water before emerging as the colourful adult. Both are belong to the order Odonata. Order Odonata divide into three suborders: Zygoptera, the damselflies; Anisoptera, the dragonflies; and Anisozygoptera, a group somewhere in between the two. The Anisozygoptera suborder includes only one or two living odonates.

Dragonflies and damselflies are large or moderate sized predaceous insects. The body is long, often slender. The head is big with very large and prominent eyes. The antennae are thin and very short. They have four wings which are approximately the same size. The wings are membraneous with many veins. They have six legs with hooks. Hooks are also found on the tail end of males for clasping females. Nymphs of dragonflies and damselflies are aquatic.

How to differentiate between these two suborders? Here is some information that you can use to identify whether it is dragonflies or damselflies.

i. Dragonflies are big and acrobatic in flight. They like to attract attention. Damselflies are small and dainty and only fly short distances.

ii. Dragonfly resting or feeding holds its four wings straight out from its body. Damselflies at rest hold their wings folded or slightly spread, but close to their bodies.

iii. The fore and hind wings of a damselfly are the same shape. They all have narrow bases at the point of attachment to the abdomen. The wings of a dragonfly are different shapes. The fore wings have narrow bases while the hind wings are wide at the base.

iv. The aquatic nymphs of dragonflies and damselflies are also different. Nymphs of the damselflies have three tails like projections. These are gills, and are absent in dragonfly nymphs.

Hope this info will help those who did not know about this pretty insects. This three photos are the best shots that i ever did for a dragonflies. I never success to capture any of their photos before. I was lucky that this guy did not move while i am trying to get closer to him. Next time i will try to get a photos of damselflies but i know it will be more difficult to get. Till then!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY -- Another Ferns

Cricket Again?

 Trying to hide from me. He turn his back and ignoring my existence. Perching on the wild orchid's flower.

Me? Still trying to get his photos. Behind the petals of the flower hiding Mr. Ant. Moving so fast until i missed him in both of my photos. It's okay Mr. Ant, i will get you some other time. Till then!!

1000 visitors from 47 countries

First of all, i want to thanks all my viewers, friends from near and far for viewing and visit my site. At 2240 hrs today my site has reach 1000 visitors from 47 countries counted since 27th March 2010. This widget i add to my blog 4 months ago just to know which country is my viewers were from.

The highest viewers must be from my own country, friends from Malaysia with 364 views, followed by United States with 291 views and United Kingdom with 150 views.

Thank you so much for all of your support and i will keep on update my blog with more stories and photos of wildlife of Borneo. It is my passion and i will keep on doing it. I love nature so much and will share it with all of my viewers. Till then!!

Hunting Butterfly..... Again!

After I saw Mr. Green Cricket, i met this little friend not far from me. I want to take his picture while his wings flipped but he seems to be avoiding me. I tried my best to get his shots and these two is some of it. I still remember early this year i did hunt for a butterfly photos as well. See Hunting Butterfly where i captured a butterfly photos on flowers. Hmm..still i find it is difficult to get pretty picture of Mr. Butterfly. It is okay, i will keep on tried my best to get another one after this.

A tiny one with brown in colour. There was a big round eyes on the back of the wings. It is for sure just to do some camouflage and protect him from his predator. 

I will not give up Mr. Butterfly, i will get another species next time. There are a lots of different species of butterfly in Bornean forest. Till then!

Comouflage & Mimicry by Mr. Green Cricket

Camouflage and mimicry are adaptations some animals use as protection from predators. An animal that uses camouflage looks like things in its environment. It might look like a leaf, a twig, or a rock. Animals that use mimicry use colors and markings to look like another animal.

That is what Mr. Green Cricket doing. They just look like the green leaf where both of them perch. I almost overlook them for my first glance but then i realize there was something on the leaf. 

Just looks like the green leaf. The coloration is really similar. 

However, i only got the chance for about two minutes to captured their photos. This two is the best that i can get. They really gave me their best pose. Enjoy their photos. Till then. 

Spider Web & Mr. Spider

As early as 6am in the morning when we enter the forest we will see them on the ground. Sometimes we just ignore their occurrence because we want to see something more interesting without realizing that they are great as well. As part of the forest resident, i may say they are quite amazing. Below i post a few shots that i took during my recent trip into the forest of Sabah. 

This web is quite thick and big on the ground. Because of the morning mist, the web covered by the mist. 

They even make a web on the small Mimosa pudica trees. 

I love this one very much because even though the water drops on the web, it still can stays there. Quite tough structure for a spider web.

Suddenly, one of them came out. Maybe he notice my presence there and feel uncomfortable. But then, i manage to get the shots of this spider. 

See, it looks very pretty. 

I left him alone and hope i didn't step on any of them while i am walking on that trail. Anyway, it was great to realize and acknowledge they are part of the nature in any forest that i visit. Till then.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Logging Truck