Tree Top Walk Revisited

Rubber Hevea brasiliensis trilobed fruits and inflorescence

It was a 8:45 Sunday morning and I found myself in Venus Drive. My two collegues have not arrived yet. So I meandered to a field nearby. The fallen white 5-star petals one large Pong Pong tree traced a circular 'drop- zone' under the foliage. Then I saw a pair of Collared Kingfishers. After a few attempts ( they saw me) I managed to frame one sitting on a high branch. Then closeby another high branch with fruits that looked like rubber seed. This was my 3rd visit to the TTW (Tree Top Walk) and I hoped to see something different ( read my 05' posting of TTW plants here).

Collared Kingfisher

We followed others and took the 'new' path to TTW from Venus Drive CP. On the way we saw a ball of mud the size of a small coconut ( ~ 3-4" in diameter). It turned out to be ant's nest ( see image below) instead of the more dangerous wasps.

I was hoping I could revisit those plants I saw last year. But I did not find most of thems. The monkeys, squirrels were there. I spotted the familiar climber Bauhinia sembifida near the entrance. I missed the Myrmeconauclea strigosa ant-plant and the Baccaurea parviflora on the plank walk back after the TTW.

Red bracteoles on inflorescence of Macaranga heynei

Witches Broom in the making -adnormal growth caused by viral attack of the plant. Most of the brooms ( black mass of dead branches seen in '05 May ) were gone - perhaps someone had trimmed them.