Observers Name : Sara, Rosie, Faye, Remli, Nazeri, Ibrahim, Kallang and Musa.
Jety/Berth Location: SWS Jetty. Location Location N4° 1'58.75", E113°47'21.53"
Survey River: 13 KM Along Sibuti River from SWS jetty to a small tributary at the right side of Sibuti Estuary.
We ended up with too many cars going to this firefly survey despite advance carpool planning. We set off to Bekenu at 16:04 hr and arrived at Bekenu town around 17:00 hrs. We had a quick briefing on the evening's survey plans when opportunity presents itself while waiting for our food to arrive. With tasks assigned, all were set to go.
Utmost on everybody's mind was of course the crocodiles of Sg Sibuti, not one of us savor the thought of having to swim ashore in case of mishaps. An important safety consideration was reached rather quickly - we must do this survey in two boats:
i) navigator boat : Remli (up front), Nazeri (secure firefly samples), Sara (survey notes), Faye (gps coordinates), Musa (scan and count), Ibrahim (boat driver).
ii) standby boat : Rosie (water sample, air temperature,scan), Kallang (boat driver).
With all team members sufficiently briefed on the procedures we made a move towards Sibuti Wildlife Sanctuary around 1800 hrs to meet up with our boat divers and load up our gear. We were met by Ibrahim, Kallang and Suni (SWS staff) upon arrival. With 1/2 hrs we were all loaded up and raring to go.
Our first water sample at the jetty gave a reading:
Specific gravity 1.004
Water temperature of 29.2° C
Air temperature is 29.5° Centigrade.
Nipah palm trees lined up the entire length of the river, we set off from the jetty 19:10hrs.
Fieldnotes Sg Sibuti CFZ Firefly Survey from SWS Jetty to Kuala Sibuti
Date : 10th. April 2010
START Time: 19:10
COMPLETION Time: 21:10
There was no firefly seen at the Nipah palm trees. The first crocodile was noted at the left side of the river at wpt 143. A few times we were mislead by stars behind the trees as fire flies congregations. The stars can be seen due to the clear cut areas behind the trees making the thickness of vegetation alongside the river wafer thin. Large tracts of land in these parts ahve been cleared for palm oil cultivation.
We noted 7 crocodiles until we saw our first firefly congregation at wpt 150. We also saw several lone egrets perching at the Nipah tree. At WPT 153, we saw a group of 7 egrets roosting for the nite.
Some of the display trees gave that live throbbing visual sensation resulting from the synchronizing fireflies, quite an astonishing experience for some of our survey members, especially those doing this for the first time.
We were a bit disappointed not seeing more fireflies as we were expecting to be more of them here along Sg Sibuti. The nite was both moonless and practically cloud free. It was gathered from local knowledge that the fireflies are supposedly abundant when the water is salty and right after rain. Perhaps the sporadic rain we've been having the past few days have reduced much of the salinity in the area.
A roosting Little Egret, the rest of his buddies took flight as we approached the nipah palms.
We reached the boundary of SWS where a small river runs toward the right before the Sibuti estuary. We entered the area and we saw a cleared area to the left lined up with young berembang trees and the fireflies were seen congregating to display in these trees. The number of fireflies in general were around 20-30 individual in the new trees.
We completed our survey at WPT 227 at 21:02 hr.
Prime beachsand right across from Kpg Kuala Sibuti, our home for the night. What can be better than a roaring fire, dark nite with a kajillion stars up above and surprisingly: no mozzies!
We set off in the direction of the beach not far form the river-mouth. The girls went ahead to set up camp while the boys opted to sleep under the stars, setting up and dismantling tents proved to unnerving for some.
We had a light dinner and just lay on the plastic sheets watching the stars. We saw the Orion constellation, which was quite low at the horizon. This indicated it was very late night already. Above us is the Virgo constellation with huge dust cloud clearly seen in the dark sky. Once a while meteors trails were seen moving from East to West.
We fished a bit during the nite but mostly slept and enjoyed the flickering campfire throughout the nite.
By morning, we tried a bit more casting and settled to the fact that we won't catch anything this morning. We had a quick breakfast and broke camp before the full fury of the sun catches up with us.
Rosie navigating the smaller boat, eyes wide open for sudden moves at the water's edge.
Hill Myna taking flight.
Stork-billed Kingfisher on a branch by the river, the Ruddy Kingfisher made a nearly perfect fly-by across the bow of our boat ... all were too stunned to pick up the camera.
On the way back to SWS jetty we sighted the following birds:
Little Egret
Stork-billed Kingfisher
Blue-eared Kingfisher
Striated Heron
Dollarbird
Green Pigeon
Long-tailed Parakeet
Ruddy Kingfisher (minor)
Hill Myna
Unidentified Babblers
Unidentified Bulbuls
at the SWS jetty we were greeted by a flock of Asian Glossy Starlings and a troop of Long-tailed Macaques. Unlike the night before, on the return trip we were only rewarded with one quick sighting of a crocodile.
PHYSICAL CONDITION:
a. Moon
Last Waning, moon only seen early morning around 0400.
b. Weather
Clear Starry night
Relative Humidity: Low
Temperature: Warm.
Water temperature 29.2 ° C
Air temperature 28.1 ° C
Water pH : 7
Specific gravity: At jetty 1.004 Last area 1.008
Wind : No Wind, only at the last part of the survey a little breeze.
No Haze
c. River Condition
Current: Not moving, Whitish sediment water after rain in the inland.
Boat used: Yamaha 20 hp.
Survey Average Speed 10.5 Km/hr.
Tide: medium
Summary Observation log:
WPT: Time: Co-ordinate River side Fauna Number
143 19:15 N4 01.653 E113 46.990 Left Crocodile 1
144 19:16 N4 01.592 E113 46.896 Left Crocodile 1
145 19:17 N4 01.573 E113 46.832 Left Crocodile 1
146 19:21 N4 01.333 E113 46.478 Left Crocodile 1
147 19:27 N4 01.008 E113 46.042 Left Crocodile 1 juvenile
148 19:31 N4 00.759 E113 45.704 Left Crocodile 1
149 19:33 N4 00.637 E113 45.732 Left Crocodile 1
150 19:36 N4 00.414 E113 45.581 Right Firefly First display tree 10 individuals
151 19:40 N3 59.954 E113 45.333 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
152 19:41 N3 59.937 E113 45.324 Left Crocodile Display at few trees 10 individuals
153 19:46 N3 59.864 E113 45.239 Right Egret 17 birds
154 19:46 N3 59.861 E113 45.237 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
155 19:48 N3 59.778 E113 45.171 Right Firefly Display at few trees 10 individuals
156 19:48 N3 59.774 E113 45.169 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
157 19:49 N3 59.753 E113 45.153 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
158 19:49 N3 59.739 E113 45.139 Right Firefly Display at few trees 10 individuals
159 19:49 N3 59.724 E113 45.124 Left Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
160 19:50 N3 59.698 E113 45.099 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
161 19:50 N3 59.675 E113 45.073 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
172 19:52 N3 59.621 E113 45.009 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
173 19:52 N3 59.609 E113 44.979 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
174 19:53 N3 59.601 E113 44.937 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
176 19:55 N3 59.578 E113 44.941 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
179 19:56 N3 59.621 E113 44.888 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
180 19:57 N3 59.632 E113 44.876 Right Firefly Display tree 50 synchronise individuals at 1sec
181 19:57 N3 59.632 E113 44.872 Right Firefly Display tree 50 synchronise individuals at 1sec
182 19:57 N3 59.633 E113 44.869 Right Firefly Display tree 50 synchronise individuals at 1sec
183 19:59 N3 59.597 E113 44.731 Right Firefly Display tree 50 synchronise individuals at 1sec
184 20:01 N3 59.516 E113 44.633 Right Firefly Display tree 100 synchronise individuals at 1sec
185 20:01 N3 59.507 E113 44.617 Right Firefly Display tree 100 synchronise individuals at 1sec
186 20:02 N3 59.485 E113 44.603 Right Firefly Display tree 100 synchronise individuals at 1sec 187 20:03 N3 59.439 E113 44.604 Right Firefly Display tree 100 synchronise individuals at 1sec
188 20:03 N3 59.410 E113 44.606 Right Firefly Display tree 50 synchronise individuals at 1sec
189 20:04 N3 59.374 E113 44.613 Right Firefly Display tree 100 synchronise individuals at 1sec
190 20:05 N3 59.340 E113 44.649 Right Firefly Display tree 50 synchronise individuals at 1sec
191 20:06 N3 59.321 E113 44.738 Right Firefly Display tree 150 synchronise individuals at 1sec
192 20:11 N3 59.165 E113 44.857 Right Firefly Display tree 15 individuals
193 20:12 N3 59.128 E113 44.843 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
194 20:12 N3 59.096 E113 44.828 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
195 20:13 N3 59.021 E113 44.791 Right Firefly Display tree 20 individuals
196 20:14 N3 58.981 E113 44.757 Right Crocodile 1
197 20:15 N3 58.952 E113 44.702 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
198 20:15 N3 58.947 E113 44.660 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals and several long tail macaques
199 20:18 N3 58.994 E113 44.596 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
200 20:19 N3 59.079 E113 44.536 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
201 20:20 N3 59.120 E113 44.484 Right Firefly Display at few trees 50 individuals
202 20:21 N3 59.119 E113 44.449 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
203 20:22 N3 59.083 E113 44.408 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
204 20:23 N3 58.975 E113 44.323 Right Crocodile 1
205 20:24 N3 58.953 E113 44.294 Right Firefly Display tree 150 synchronise individuals at 1sec
206 20:25 N3 58.914 E113 44.242 Right Firefly Display tree 150 synchronise individuals at 1sec
207 20:25 N3 58.907 E113 44.191 Right Firefly Display tree 200 synchronise individuals at 1sec
208 20:26 N3 58.896 E113 44.131 Right Firefly Display tree 200 synchronise individuals at 1sec
209 20:27 N3 58.888 E113 44.076 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
210 20:27 N3 58.878 E113 44.021 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
211 20:28 N3 58.871 E113 43.980 Right Firefly Display tree 50 synchronise individuals at 1sec
212 20:29 N3 58.867 E113 43.873 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
213 20:32 N3 59.009 E113 43.680 Right Crocodile 1
214 20:33 N3 59.075 E113 43.682 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
215 20:34 N3 59.129 E113 43.727 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
216 20:35 N3 59.162 E113 43.771 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
217 20:37 N3 59.328 E113 43.872 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
218 20:37 N3 59.369 E113 43.871 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
219 20:38 N3 59.402 E113 43.859 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
220 20:38 N3 59.421 E113 43.852 Right Firefly Display tree 20 individuals
221 20:41 N3 59.531 E113 43.947 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
222 20:43 N3 59.628 E113 44.044 Right Firefly Display tree 50 individuals
223 20:45 N3 59.663 E113 44.097 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
224 20:45 N3 59.671 E113 44.106 Right Firefly Display tree 100 individuals
225 21:00 N3 59.718 E113 44.196 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
226 21:02 N3 59.685 E113 44.127 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
227 21:02 N3 59.679 E113 44.117 Right Firefly Display tree 10 individuals
Musa Musbah/MNS Miri Apr 2010
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