Buffy fish owls & mangrove pit vipers: S’pore photog shows us ‘hidden wildlife’ on Pasir Ris Park expedition – Mothership.SG

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I’ve to be trustworthy, I used to be a bit upset when wildlife photographer, Jayaprakash Bojan (45), informed me to satisfy him at Pasir Ris Park for our chat.

I had requested if I may accompany him on one in every of his wildlife images shoots and I couldn’t think about getting a glimpse of any type of wildlife in a leisure park, that was designed for, properly, people.

A little bit about Jayaprakash: He began his profession as a full-time photographer again in 2016, after leaving his company job within the IT trade.

Only a yr in, his images profession was “fast-tracked” after profitable Nationwide Geographic Nature Photographer of the Yr.

The picture that nabbed him the highest prize is each stunning and, truthfully, a bit uncomfortable to take a look at.

A solitary male orangutan peeks from behind a tree, waist-deep in presumably crocodile-infested waters, a state of affairs led to by mankind’s propensity for “rampant palm oil cultivation”, says the caption that Jayaprakash submitted.

It’s extremely sobering, however the profitable shot can be a testomony to Jayaprakash’s skill to seek out that intimate second in wildlife that eludes many different photographers.

Through the years, he went from scaling the Himalayas searching for snow leopards to surviving blistering Japanese winters searching for pink foxes and sea eagles. The final two years, nonetheless, noticed the photographer grounded in Singapore.

Throughout this time, he’s shot quite a few images and movies proper in Pasir Ris Park that led many viewers to query:

“Is that this actually Singapore?”

Like many others, I too was sceptical about getting a glimpse of the wildlife in Singapore that he paperwork on his social media pages. In spite of everything, what are you able to presumably discover on this concrete jungle?

Nonetheless, I packed my bag and left dwelling earlier than daybreak, and drove all the way down to the park that morning.

As I approached the park, I handed a row of homes resulting in the doorway of Automotive Park D the place we had organized to satisfy. Sure, the park’s not too far-off from residences and people.

“How a lot of a wildlife journey is that this going to be?” I assumed to myself.

Protected to say, after the morning with Jayaprakash, I realised that I have been lacking out.

Throughout the park

“Let’s see if we will get one thing fascinating,” he stated to me as we set off into the park, his outsized and infectious sense of journey matched solely by the large bag of apparatus that he carried on his again.

We walked a distance in the direction of the waters and proper by the seaside, he parked his bike and pulled out his digicam. On it was a telephoto lens that was at the very least 20cm lengthy.

He pointed his digicam in the direction of the solar rising over the water and peered into it.

“What’s that? Is that an otter?” he muffled to himself, “Oh no, it’s only a department.”

Virtually each weekday, Jayaprakash involves the park searching for a narrative to inform by way of his movies or images.

Generally, he would spend an prolonged time period on particular animals to doc their behaviour and actions.

As soon as, he noticed a household of noticed owls for 2 months straight.

“Each morning, I wouldn’t do something however simply keep put there… From them mating to having infants, to the infants leaving the nest. I watch them catch rats, frogs, stuff like that, and produce them again to the nest.”

That morning’s itinerary wasn’t going to be as intensive although — fortunately.

As we walked alongside the coast, he identified two white-bellied sea eagles engrossed in a synchronised dance above the waves.

“That one, he’s a juvenile,” Jayaprakash stated pointing up within the sky, earlier than providing this saucy titbit: “He’s courting an older feminine.”

The youthful chicken is the offspring of a household of white-bellied sea eagles that Jayaprakash has been following for a number of years now.

Whereas this younger one left the nest fairly a while again, its dad and mom are nonetheless someplace within the park.

For Jayaprakash, it isn’t onerous to trace this feathered household.

He usually enters the park at 5am when it is nonetheless darkish. Devoid of individuals and alone with the residents (wildlife), Jayaprakash listens for the distinct sound of the white-bellied sea eagle.

He catches it, and off he goes on his bike searching for the avian creatures.

A eager observer

The white-bellied sea eagle household is not the one group that Jayaprakash has been monitoring.

He additionally retains a tab on a pair of buffy fish owls, which park-goers affectionately named One-eyed Jack and Mary.

Jayaprakash got here to know concerning the two after talking to a few “tenured” photographers within the park.

Turning to me, he stated:

“Do you know owls mate for all times?”

Mary is One-eyed Jack’s new companion after his earlier “spouse” handed away in 2014. Some who frequent the park and know of the owls discovered the carcass of his late companion that yr.

One-eyed Jack is seemingly one of many oldest buffy fish owls within the park and is one which Jayaprakash sees often.

“He’s in all probability one of the well-known characters due to his distinctive appears to be like.”

As its identify suggests, One-eyed Jack has just one eye. The opposite was misplaced someday between 2012 and 2014.

Then, there was the household of 14 otters which Jayaprakash began following in 2016 proper there in Pasir Ris. Proper now, their numbers have shrunk to simply three.

“It was love at first sight,” he recalled his first encounter with the otter household enjoying by the seaside.

He witnessed the household develop in numbers, with six new pups born in 2016. He was additionally current when Aquarius, an otter from the household, was positioned within the limelight after struggling extreme accidents on its again.

And in 2018, he noticed Aquarius stepping up as an grownup within the pack.

Constructing a group

Jayaprakash appeared very acquainted with the place many of the animals had been going to be.

As we walked across the park, he would level at a few timber, bushes or waterways, and say:

“Look, that is the place the hornbills usually are.”

“There are normally smaller snakes in there.”

“Generally, the otters might be looking right here.”

This information would not come by due to luck, he jogged my memory. It takes time to slowly study and perceive the behaviours of various animal species.

He additionally added that the group of wildlife lovers on the park helped him all through his journey.

As an example, he’s very grateful for the uncles on the park who would share their newest finds, like a python within the mangroves or a household of otters within the longkang (drain).

As we navigated the park, he ran into an aged man with a digicam slung throughout his again.

“Had been you simply on the mangroves? Did you see something?” Jayaprakash stated to the person.

The uncle simply shook his head and after a brief banter, the person cycled off to his subsequent vacation spot inside the park.

“Uncle is without doubt one of the oldest and most tenured photographers… He helped me with a number of my tales.”

Past the park, he’s made a few mates by way of his social media pages.

At occasions, when he’s on the park, a few of his 40,900 Instagram followers would come as much as him to say hello. Some would even purchase him espresso and breakfast.

As soon as, a pair reached out to him by way of his Fb web page to inform him that they noticed some civet cats at their dwelling and invited him to see them.

“It’s extra accessible (in Singapore). It takes half an hour to get to a different place to shoot.”

That is fairly a change from his wildlife images journeys abroad earlier than the pandemic. Scaling the Himalayan mountain vary, Jayaprakash typically felt like an “ant on this enormous and big panorama”.

So switching to the Singaporean panorama, which is far more compact, was an eye-opening expertise. However as Jayaprakash identified, though it is smaller, the Singapore wildlife panorama has a lot to supply.

“I used to be sweetly shocked by how a lot biodiversity there’s, contemplating we’ve got restricted inexperienced area.”

One factor he discovered whereas being grounded in Singapore is “let go and begin seeing extra”.

There’s a frequent notion that Singapore is boring, and missing in what different locations can provide.

However for Jayaprakash, being grounded in Singapore for the final two years has taught him one factor: Let go and begin paying extra consideration to your environment. You will be shocked at what you discover.

Observing what’s round him

“Was it attainable for me to outlive in a spot like Singapore and do wildlife (images)? I didn’t use to suppose so,” Jayaprakash stated.

To him, the concept was “fairly weird”.

Like I stated early, in case you scrolled by way of his social media pages, you could not imagine that these photographs and movies had been taken proper right here, in a neighborhood park.

But, they’re.

In his two-part collection referred to as “Residents of the Park | Singapore”, he shares a collection of quick tales on Pasir Ris Park and its wild residents.

Like many different parks in Singapore, Pasir Ris Park is situated proper by a residential property. Even Jayaprakash himself lives a brief 5 minutes away.

And because the solar got here up halfway by way of our expedition, extra Pasir Ris residents began turning up for his or her morning stroll or run. Quickly, the park was stuffed with individuals regardless of it being a weekday morning.

However though many stroll by way of the park each day, they miss out on all of the superb wildlife residing in plain sight like a snake slithering on a tree or a household of birds proper above them, stated Jayaprakash.

“Most of us are extremely preoccupied with work and due dates in our thoughts… Even with images, (I’d be) chasing shot after shot.”

As he stated this, he stopped by a thicket and quietly whips out his digicam to shoot a few butterflies fluttering within the daylight.

“When you begin observing extra, it makes you a greater photographer, a greater storyteller.”

And I imagine that may be a takeaway for anybody, in any occupation.

Take a look at Jayaprakash’s newest venture:

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High photographs courtesy of Jayaprakash.