Bird Watch !

       Animals has been known to seek refuge and even making plants or places with bushes and trees as their home. As long as they find the place safe and suitable to them..Orchid garden also has been known to be a place for certain animals such as birds to nest..I've waited long for this to happen, and finally I got it...


      Haiwan sememangnya suka mencari perlindungan atau menjadikan tempat-tempat yang mempunyai tumbuhan dan pokok sebagai tempat tinggal..Selagi mana ia didapati sesuai dan selamat.. Tidak terkecualilah kawasan kebun orkid saya ni...Saya memang menunggu-nunggu nak buat pos ini..akhirnya dapat juga..

         One day while doing a routine check-up on my orchids, I found a bird nest with couple of eggs..I was totally not aware when did the birds built it..The nest was built inside my unused orchid pot..FYI this was a substitute picture, cause mine accidentally got deleted..but anyway this was the real eggs of this bird species..Wonder what species was this?

       Satu hari sedang jengok-jengok pokok orkid, terjumpa pulak sarang burung.. siap dah ada telur dah..tak perasan bila masa dia buat sarang. Ni gambar ganti..gambar saya yang ori dah terdelete..tapi memang gambar telur spesis burung ni yang sebenar..Sarangnya dibuat di dalam pasu lama yang saya tak sempat nak ubah..Tau spesis burung apa ni?

         
        On the day that I was going to Bangkok, I did take a peek..there were already two hatchlings inside..maybe just one or two days old..  

        Hari yang nak ke berangkat ke Bangkok tempoh hari , saja pi check..dah menetas dah..sempat snap gambar. Ni rasanya baru 1, 2 hari..masih merah lagi..

        
Back from Bangkok, Thailand..just 4 days..the hatchlings already showing a tremendous growth..they  grew so fast..!

       Balik Dari Bangkok, Thailand, tengok-tengok dah tumbuh bulu dah..baru 4 hari...cepat sungguh..

4 days later, the their feathers started getting thicker and thicker..

4 hari selepas tu..Bulu-bulu dah mula kembang dan makin tebal..

          Still at the 3/4 days interval..they were ready to leave the nest..How very fast birds grew..! This was the last picture that I've taken..cause next day the nest was empty..

          Pun dalam jangka masa 3/4 hari bulu dah penuh..dah sedia untuk terbang..Cepatnya burung membesar..! Ni lah gambar terakir yang saya snap..esok tu dah tak ada..

 Leaving this nest to me for momento..

Tinggallah sarang kosong buat kenang-kenangan..

        This is the species..Yellow Vented Bulbul, one of the common birds of Malaysia..The scientific name is Pycnonotus goiavier. A few years back the same species had built their nest on my Ceologyne rochussenii..not one but thrice on the same plant..

       I feel glad that the bird has chosen to nest in an orchid pot underneath my orchid shade, this is not something that you can see very often..


        Inilah spesis burung yang empunya sarang tu..Di sini kita panggil Merbah Kapur..agaknya sebab bahagian pipi dan kepalanya berwarna keabu-abuan..Burung ni banyak terdapat di Malaysia.. Nama sainsnya ialah Pycnonotus goiavier. Nama Inggeris Yelow Vented Bulbul.. Beberapa tahun dulu burung merbah ni dah pernah buat sarang dekat pokok orkid saya juga, Coelogyne rochussenii..bukan sekali tetapi 3 kali di pokok yang sama..

          Pada masa yang sama saya berasa seronok juga sebab rumah orkid saya dijadikan tempat tinggal oleh burung ni..bukan sesuatu yang selalu kita dapat lihat selalu...

Everything that's realistic has some sort of ugliness in it. 

Even a flower is ugly when it wilts, a bird when it seeks its prey, 

the ocean when it becomes violent.  

- Sharon Tate

Day Visitor...

            This is my first post about a 'visitor' during the day..As you can see I want to include not just orchids but also a surrounding fauna to make this blog more interesting..hope you get a little bit of everything..but all still related to orchid..

            Plants and  animals go hand in hand. they are a perfect company to each other..in fact they need each other. Animals need plants to survive and vice versa, a connection that can't be broken..I think this is my third post on a frog that I've found among my plants..they surely like the shady, moist and humid places to rest..orchids garden provides the environment that they like..While checking at my plants I've found one resting on a drift wood where I've planted my Dendrobium dearei..It just sits there motionless waiting for insects to come by..for people who are squeamish, might find these images a little bit uneasy..sorry for that.. I think that  this frog is a different species compared to my other posts on these amphibian..

            Kali ni entri yang pertama berkenaan dengan 'pelawat' di waktu siang pula..Sebagaimana yang dapat dilihat saya tak mahu pos tentang orkid sahaja di dalam blog ni, tetapi ada juga perkara lain yang saya kira menarik untuk tatapan pengunjung.. namun semuanya masih ada kaitan dengan orkid

           Memang tak dinafikan, tumbuhan dan haiwan terutamanya serangga sememangnya memerlukan antara satu sama lain. Rasanya ini kali yang ketiga saya poskan tentang katak, bukan apa katak agaknya suka dengan tempat di mana orkid ditanam, yelah tempat tu sejuk, lembab, teduh. Masa sedang tengok- tengokkan pokok terjumpalah seekor lagi.. Minta maaflah kalau ada pengunjung blog yang geli..

Rasanya spesis ini lain sedikit daripada pos saya yang sebelum ini..

         

Just a few pictures from different angles..

Frogs have it easy, they can eat what bugs them..

Night Visitor...

        I've made an entry before of a beetle on my orchid plant, Here's another one that I've found..

 This beetle was resting on an old leaf of Peristeria elata.  

Its quite small, roughly around 3 centimetres..

A close up on the body..reveals a very pretty metallic sheen...

 Its just sits there motionless..

but  I had to be careful while snapping the picture..

Another close up..

 Another shot showing on different angle..

 Another close-up on the body, nice metallic colouration..

 This is my first time seeing this species..

guess this is a nocturnal type..

 A close up shot on the head..

 A view from the front..

Last shot..still not moving..anyway, thanks for 'your cooperation'..!

Kumbang bukan seekor, bunga bukan sekuntum (As if there is only one beetle, as if there is only one flower)  

- Malay proverb

Night Visitor...

        Last night I found this fella..The Oriental garden lizard, scientifically called Calotes versicolor. This is a very common lizard found everywhere in Asia..

This is still a juvenile. resting on a Dendrobium moschatum roots

Its almost impossible to get as close as this during the day..

At night they don't really move much.

Crawling away slowly to avoid my camera flashes..

View from the sides..

You can always see this species around the garden, 

usually on bushes and trees, in an exposed place..

They usually appear motionless to attract less attention to themselves..

but when provoked, they will jump to the ground and run in a split second..

They are insectivore, eats only insects..

They are very plain looking lizard, with tanned coloured body 

to help them camouflage around their habitat..

Because of their long slender bodies they can move very fast..

 

 The tails are really long, almost three times the lengths of their body..

Before I forget , I would like to thank Ze Julio and his nice blog 'Pedras, Plantas e Compania' for being my 7th followers..

Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, 

like those meadow flowers which individually seem odorless 

but all together perfume the air. 

- George Bernanos
 

Night Visitor..

         Another visitor for tonight..this time its this little gecko, still a juvenile, sneaking around my orchids..maybe looking for an insects to feed or just looking for a place to hide...

 Close up..

  See how small it is..still a very young gecko..

Oops !.. Trying to run away..

 There you are...

Okay..Last shot..I won't bother you anymore..good night..!

"Flowers seem intended for a solace of ordinary humanity."
-  John Ruskin

Night Visitor...

        After the last post about this topic, I think It was quite fun discovering new 'visitors' on my orchids..not pests of course !.. some of the discovery was quite interesting.. Last night while looking at my orchids, again,.. under the orchid shade,  I saw a beetle that I've never seen before in my life..This is a first time I saw this species..maybe it was nocturnal or it just simply to hard to see or haven't yet stumbled upon during the day..

        Selepas pos berkenaan 'pelawat' orkid yang lalu, rasanya menarik juga berjumpa dengan 'something new' ni..Tapi yang pasti bukan makhluk perosak orkid la!..Ada di antara fauna yang saya jumpa tu memang bukan yang selalu kita lihat..Semalam masa saya ronda-ronda di rumah orkid ternampak pula kumbang ni..Tak pastilah spesis apa..tapi memang saya tak pernah tengok lagi..mungklin kumbang ni dari jenis yang 'keluar malam' kut..atau pada waktu siang susah nak nampak..

 This is the tiny beetle that I've found..

resting on Cattleya's sheath. 

This is a very pretty beetle. 

Love the contrasting colours of black and yellow patterns..

  A view from different angle..

Close up of the beetle's head. 

A very slight other angle than the picture above.

Its a nice, cute little beetle!

The moon looks upon many night flowers; 

the night flowers see but one moon..

- Jean Ingelow
 

Night Visitor...

        Taking care of my orchids not just only during the day but at night too..not every night of course....but sometimes I do walk around my orchid shades for a night visit in case if there's an unwanted pest lurking around or 'having a party' on my plants.. not only pests, there are also other creatures that 'lounging' around the orchids..Last night I found this 'guy'!


       Menjaga pokok orkid ni bukan sekadar pada waktu siang saja tapi waktu malam pun boleh juga..Tapi malam ni biasanya saya pergi tengok-tengok sajalah, manalah tau kut-kut ada serangga perosak yang menyakitkan hati..Tetapi pada masa yang sama ada juga pelawat tak diundang..saja datang lepak-lepak di bawak rimbunan pokok orkid..Semalam saya jumpa 'dia' ni !

          A cute frog resting on the orchids pseudobulb..the orchid is Coelogyne trinervis..I don't know what species of frog this is..haven't got time to search on the internet, but I think this is a common local tree frog..

"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment.  

My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.  

The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful."
-  Abram L. Urban