Singapore Botanic Gardens UNESCO World Heritage Site

Singapore Botanic Gardens (新加坡植物園)

Singapore (2015)
7th August, 2015. Killiney Road

Established in 1859, the Singapore Botanic Gardens played an important historical role in the introduction and promotion of many plants of economic value to Southeast Asia, including the Para rubber tree.

Over the years, the Gardens has continued to introduce and rejuvenate its horticultural attractions while continuing its mission of connecting plants and people.

Today, the 74-hectare Gardens is a key civic and community space, and an international tourist destination. Attracting an annual visitorship of more than 4.4 million, it is also an important institution for tropical botanical and horticultural research, education and conservation.

The Gardens showcases the best and most spectacular of tropical flora, including more than 10,000 types of plants and the region’s most significant living collection of documented palms, orchids, cycads and gingers. Its historic 19th century garden landscape is well preserved and includes the earliest ornamental designed lake in Singapore. Home to numerous heritage trees and a tract of primary rainforest, the Gardens is less than a 10-minute walk from the shopping belt in Orchard Road. The Gardens was inscribed as Singapore’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

Up : Oriental Pied Hornbill (冠斑犀鳥)
Bottom : Lesser Whistling Duck (栗樹鴨)

Singapore (2015)
14th August, 2015. Tanglin

Singapore Botanic Gardens (新加坡植物園)

Singapore (2015)
7th August, 2015. Singapore

Golden Oriole and Golden Plover

From left to right :
€1,42 : Eurasian Golden-Plover (歐金斑鴴) ; €0,71 : Golden Oriole (金黃鸝)
Latvia (2015)
28th June, 2015. Liepaja

Golden Oriole is the only member of the oriole family of passerine birds breeding in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions. It is a summer migrant in Europe and western Asia and spends the winter season in central and southern Africa. Golden orioles have an extremely large range with large populations that are apparently stable. Therefore, they are evaluated as least concern by BirdLife International.

European Golden Plover is a largish plover. This species is similar to two other golden plovers. American golden plover, Pluvialis dominica, and Pacific golden plover, Pluvialis fulva, are both smaller, slimmer and relatively longer-legged than European golden plover, and both have grey rather than white axillary feathers.

Iraqi birds

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (藍頰蜂虎)
Iraq (2015)
21st January, 2015. Iraq

Nature Iraq conducts scientific studies on biodiversity including birds, plants, mammals, and other taxa. In addition, through the laboratories and field staff of Blue Horizons, a private lab that Nature Iraq helped to establish, Nature Iraq has conducted sampling of water quality physical and chemical parameters and conducted sediment and bacterial analysis.

Also Nature Iraq has helped to build civil society networks to activate grassroots support for the protection of the environment, particularly the marshlands of southern Iraq and the watersheds of Kurdistan, northern Iraq. Further, Nature Iraq strives to build capacity within Iraq, both in government and in academia, to help restore and protect the environment.

European Robin (知更鳥)
Iraq (2015)
21st January, 2015. Iraq

 Common Kingfisher (普通翠鳥)
Iraq (2015)
21st January, 2015. Iraq

Tree Sparrow (麻雀)
Iraq (2015)
21st January, 2015. Iraq

European Goldfinch (紅額金翅雀)
Iraq (2015)
21st January, 2015. Iraq

Wildlife in Oman

First row :
Indian Roller (棕胸佛法僧) ; Arabian Scops Owl (阿拉伯角鴞)
 Sooty Falcon (烟隼)
Second row :
Bruce's Green Pigeon (黃腹綠鳩) ; Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (藍頰蜂虎)
 Rüppell's Weaver (麗臉織布鳥) 
  Oman (2014)
26th August, 2015. Ruwi

Oman witnesses huge swarms of migratory birds during their seasonal journey between their nesting habitats and the places where they spend winters, especially those birds migrating from Europe and East Asia. Many birds, especially water fowl, migrate from faraway regions like northern Siberia, and travel about five thousand kilometres.

Visitors can see many species of birds in each of Oman’s different regions. Al Hikman Peninsula, Masirah Island, Al Wusta Governorate beaches, the Lagoons, the beaches and springs in Dhofar are ideal places for bird observation. Many of these species live in Dimaniyat Islands and in Musandam.

Indian Roller (棕胸佛法僧)
Oman (2014)
7th July, 2015. Ruwi