Visits from Singapore Botanic Gardens

This is a post that is long overdue. Last month, I made a few visits to Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG).


It has been a long while since I last visited SBG. So what drew me there this time?


It was the flowering of the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world- titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum). This flower has sort of delayed its predicted date of blooming. Finally when it started opening its petal-like leaf or spathe, many went down to have a good look.


I went down for a couple of times but the flower seems to be taking longer than usual in opening up fully. Sadly, the outcome of the bloom was an incomplete opening of the spathe and the spadix (central column) had flopped downwards. Read the detailed full story of the saga at Ivan's The Lazy Lizard's Tales blog.


On one of the days, Ron brought me around and we saw this Pink Mempat (Cratoxylum formosum). It bloomed like cherry blossom. With the sunlight directed at the tree, it made this photo very stunning.


There were many bees attracted to the flowers of the tree!


Another tree with pretty flowers will be the Yellow Saraca tree (Saraca cauliflora). The Saraca tree produces heavy clusters of bright saffron-yellow flowers growing directly from the branches or trunk.


Also on the trunk but not a flower is this cute Plantain Squirrel (Callosciurus notatus).


I especially like this shot of what I think is a Common Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax) hugging tightly onto the branch.


At the pond, there were Black Swans (Cygnus atratus) with their baby cygnets! How nice to see them together for my first time.


The cygnets are sure adorable and a great attraction to the kids in the garden.


Though the swans are not native to Singapore, these Lesser Whistling Ducks (Dendrocygna javanica) are. You can also find them in the ponds of Botanic Gardens.


By the side of the pond, there was this shy Yellow Bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) where I could only take a photograph of it when hiding behind a bush hehe.


On a huge fig tree, we stumbled across many Pink-necked Green Pigeons (Treron vernans) actively feeding happily away.


The male of this pigeon has a grey head and throat while their upper breast and neck are pinkish-purple and their lower breast is orange. These pretty pigeons can still be sighted in some urban areas with greeneries. I once even saw it from the overhead bridge beside a MRT. You just have to open your eyes to spot them.


The Olive-backed sunbird (Nectarina jugularis) has a long slender decurved bill that helps the bird to sip nectar from flowers. It is interesting to note that Nectarina is its genus name- related to nectar.


Last but definitely one of the most exciting will be the cute Spotted Wood-owl (Strix seloputo)! The owl was mostly closing its eyes when I visited during the day time.


How nice the owl was when it opened its eyes for a while. Hehe! Soon, it went back to its sleepy mode.

It's nice to have a stroll enjoying nature in a garden full of both manicured and wild creatures. If you are in town, do drop by for a good walk since it is so near to Orchard!