Nature

At Lassen’s Peak, CA

 The natural beauty of Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA, is only tempered by the dry and long summers that threaten the ecosystem of Northern California. Here at King’s Creek Meadows, the melting snow reclaims its streams and give life to the spring flora and fauna. The delicate trimlines of the snowfield’s edge embraces the contours…

Return to Pulau Ubin

Remembering – This little island on the Straits of Johor is accessible from Changi Jetty via a short 15 minutes boat ride back in time to an island jetty, and village beachhead preserved for its laid back past and less than ideal maintenance. Countless school boys, civic groups, curious city-slickers and committed adventurers have spent…

The Panther Meadows

The Upper Panther Meadows is located on Mount Shasta (4322m), towards the end of the metallic road leading to the summit trail, on the tallest mountain in Siskiyou County, Northern California. The meadow is fed from spring-water arising from Panther Spring, in the upper reaches of the volcanic slopes where it emerges at source from…

Aside

It’s hard to tell if this was one of the new bulbuls. By that, I mean the birds that had painstakingly emerged from its nest a few weeks’ ago (view here).  The pair had been elusive since I started hearing their cries last week and managed to sneaked in a picture of them on a mild Sunday afternoon.

The cacophony of calls seems to suggest that these birds were young and innocent, noisy and new, making their grand tour – a visit to the mother-house no less. The calls were not identical to that documented here – less musical and more chirpy , suggesting that there may be a variety of  baby bulbul calls at different stages of maturity.

In any case, these birds are well on their way to a new future and beginning.  One can only hope that the fragile and increasingly developed suburban ecosystem does not fail them.

(Lumix GX85 14-140 mm Lumix)

 

 

Grizzled or Young?

The Indian Ringneck parrots continue to create life and vibrance in my garden as they perch and preen on the upper reaches of the bamboos.  Meanwhile, another parrot, somewhat gruff in the face, and perhaps a little worse for wear feed precariously on the upper reaches of the peacock tree. Such is life in the…

The Yellow-vented Bulbuls Return to Nest

The yellow-vented bulbuls have returned to nest again. This would be the fourth generation of sorts. They come, amidst great changes to the garden, its  environs and the landscape about us, as urbanization inches its way towards our idyllic rural neighborhood and the ever pressing developments clang and clink. The black bamboos have been decimated…

Journeying the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park

Day 1: Journey from Haneda to Lake Kawaguchiko, taking in the Mt Kachi Kachi Ropeway & the walking the budding hydrangea trail down to the lake. Day 2: Fuji Shibazakura Festival by Lake Motosu & the Fugaku Wind Caves Inhabitants’ lakeside interludes at Kawaguchiko Day 3: Driving the Fuji skyline to Mizugazuka Park and onward…