On Saturday 20th June 2020, I brought my friends Bao Shen and Christalia to Coney Island to carry out my Act for Nature and for them to be in close proximity as well as learn more about nature!
Actually, Bao Shen acted more as a guide because he was more well-equipped with information and he also brought along a pair of binoculars for us to use and see the various animals more clearly!! He also had a very high quality camera so most of the pictures here are from him. Christalia also had a decent camera with some problems zooming in so her pictures will be used her too!! Sadly, I realized an iPhone had severe limitations when it comes to photo taking so most of these photos will be credited to them!
A black naped oriole we saw before it started raining:(
Then, extremely unfortunately, it started raining at around 10am. And the rain continued on for around 1 hour so we were stuck waiting in a shelter..
The rain gradually came to a small drizzle so we thought it was safe to leave and continue on our trip! But, it started pouring soon after we left the shelter… However, since we were all equipped with windbreakers (from Bao Shen’s mom) and caps, we soldiered on in the rain!! Unfortunately, the rain made it difficult for us to look up to look for birds since the rain would get into our eyes.
But I felt like the walk in the rain was one of the most memorable parts of the trip for me. The rain made it extremely cooling, alongside with the sound of raindrops on the ground, and the smell of the rain was just amazing!! It was really calming, I don’t really know how to describe it but it was an amazing experience for me:-)
Even as it was raining, we got to see this absolutely adorable juvenile yellow-vented bulbul and later on another bird flew in to join it but we didn’t get a photo of them on the branch together:(
To quote Bao Shen, that made coming to Coney Island worth the effort.
And soon after, we left Coney Island:( For a walk that was supposed to take 2 hours, we ended up taking approximately 4, since we were all a bunch of slow walkers.
Even though we left Coney Island, our Act for Nature didn’t end there! On our walk back to Pasir Ris Park, we also continued our trip as if we were still in Coney Island.
I don’t remember what we were taking pictures of? But right after stepping out of Coney Island, we continued taking photos of the animals we saw!!
Even after stepping out of Coney Island, we spent at least 20 minutes right outside of the entrance taking pictures of the birds we saw. I think this really just goes to show that there’s always so much around us that we can appreciate and take photos of, and we just need to be a little bit more observant to be able to notice them!!
We went through Lorong Halus Wetlands and Bao Shen led the way. But the wetlands is famous for little Grebes but we didn’t see any:( Instead we saw a lot of butterflies!!!!
And on our way, we also saw a wild boar!! Credits to me, I spotted it!! But it disappeared so quickly we didn’t get any photos of it..
And on our way back we saw this CUTE DOG!! Christalia and I went crazy over it, I sprained my ankle during the trip but I’m pretty sure I ran towards it after seeing it!! Bao Shen was a little less crazy, he was more focused on taking pictures of birds
All in all, it was really fun!! I felt like after the trip, I was more than ready to go on another one because it was truly so enjoyable. I thank my friends, Christalia and Bao Shen for making this trip even more amazing than it already was :))
BFF Biodiversity Challenge 2020 