The Animals in Labrador Park
As we approached Labrador park, I told the girls if they quieted down we might see some animals. We only made it a few more feet before we saw a Malayan Water Monitor coming up from the shore.
The Water Monitor looks black in some of the photo below, but in the last one you can see the yellow spots which appear in a striped pattern down it's back. Google says Water Monitors are 8 to 10 feet long. I thought this guy was smaller, but we were quite a bit above him on the Boardwalk, so it was hard to judge. Apparently the pattern is more grey in adults so this one probably was a juvenile. Monitor's eat fish and small animals. They're non-venomous, but will bite if cornered. I wouldn't want to be close to one. I like the raised walkways found through some of this park.
There's some kind of scary animals that live in the Park. MsE's nature class had Snake Drills this week. She says, "If you see a snake, you shout snake and WALK away." She was very clear that you walk and don't run so you don't scare the snake. It reminded me of MsC's nature class when she was little in Canada. There they had Bear Talks about what to do if you saw a Bear!
They're not all scary though. We saw a lizard. Sometimes these guys have orange heads, which seem to be the males. The female can be more green. I think they're an Oriental Garden Lizards, also called a Changable Lizards. These guys are not scary; they're only about 10 cm long. We spot them when they're moving. When they stop they're so well camouflaged they almost disappear.
We watched the Plantain Squirrels with their feathered tails leap from tree to tree. We saw lots of Mynahs and other common birds, but we spotted a new bird too. It browny-gray with a white face and black mask. It's breast was white, but it's belly was creamy yellow. We're always on the look out for new species to find in our bird book. MsE's nature coach, mentioned that she is excellent at spotting the birds, and finds them where they other kids can't.
I didn't see any fish jumping this day. Sometimes I spot quite large ones right in the harbour. MsC spent a while chatting with the fisherman. She also very politely asked if he knew he was standing next to the "no fishing sign". There is a fishing pier much farther down the park, but I'm sure he figured it was fine as there was almost no one walking the waterfront on this weekday morning.
Besides our nature watching, we also visited one of the playgrounds. The park runs along the waterfront, but there's no beach access. We do kick off our shoes in the sand floored playground though. They girls find this old school playground with it's wooden teeter-totters, metal merry-go-round, and swing set quite novel. It reminds me of the playgrounds of my childhood - although much much much hotter.