AMERICAN PIE : REUNION

This movie is the fourth installment in a comedic movie series that was first screened in 1999 and subsequently in 2001 and 2003. 9 years later after the last movie, they came together for a class reunion to update each other on what happened to them over the course of a decade.


Starring the original cast of actors and actresses such as Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Sean William Scott, Chris Klein, Tara Reid and so on, it was nostalgic to see them once again. They may not be my real classmates, but it was still kind of wonderful to meet them after such a long separation. Some did not change much and aged gracefully while others looked noticeably older and mature.


The movie was off to an entertaining start when I burst out laughing in numerous scenes. Yes, it was still slapstick but I think it is better than the recent Adam Sandler movies. I was also surprised to find a visibly older and skinnier Rebecca De Mornay towards the end of the movie, playing Finch's mum who was banged by the always horny and crazy Stifler.


So what is next after the reunion? We shall see if this is the end of the comedy series or whether more will come.

BLACK-HEADED MUNIA

I love such passerine birds since the day I saw small flocks of them at the Punggol field in 1994. Amongst the various Munia species, this one has distinctive black head feathers that are separated from the brown body plumage. Even its bluish beak is a statement. Its other interesting common name is the Chestnut Munia.


A link on this finch is shown below:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-headed_Munia

BAY EAST

It was at this park that I first saw this bird species. I had on several occasions walked near the dense undergrowth and a flock of them flew off out of nowhere. There was one in particular that I remembered and it seemed to have a very bright orange to scarlet head of feathers.


I have absolutely no idea what bird this is and it was a challenge trying to capture photos of it. This was the closest I got to taking its photos. This particular bird was on its own and from the blurry photos, it look like a finch with an orange head.

NB on 15 Jun 11: I checked with some colleagues and apparently, this is a non-local known as Zanzibar Bishop (scientific name: Euplectes nigroventris). They are foreign talent and escapees. They are gregarious and polygamous birds that are found in coastal lowland areas and breed in tall grasses and reeds. One male, presumably the one with scarlet head feathers, can breed with multiple females with several nests. A link is attached below:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Rainforest-Birds---Zanzibar-Bishop&id=1056865

AUSTRALIAN BIRDS

This was another display at the ABC, promoting an awareness of the finches in Australia.

Finches is group of birds much like our Sparrows, Munias etc.

In comparison to the earlier posts, these birds looked real because they are real! My colleagues who saw these photos asked me the same questions if they are fake?

It wasn't easy to take their photos through the meshed enclosure and I had to discard so many photos showing the mesh more than the birds. In fact, if you look at these photos closely, you can still see the remnants of the mesh interfering with the quality of the photos.

Anyway, in the ecological perspective, it is interesting why these birds are so colourful. Apparently, they do not have a lot of predators in their habitats and their colourful plumage is more for courtship purposes. I love studying about ecology!

SCALY-BREASTED MUNIAS

I posted about them before. This photo was taken on 12 Feb 10 on my way to my office.

The Lonchura punctulata, a particular species of finch, is a passerine bird common in Tropical Asia and can be observed to feed on the grass seedheads in overgrown areas.

I have spotted them rather frequently along this stretch of Pasir Panjang Road and sometimes in HortPark's Nursery Holding Area vicinity, but I have not seen the less common White-Headed Munia (Lonchura maja), Chestnut Munia (Lonchura malacca) for years now. The last I saw them was at the former Punggol fields. before the development razed everything to the ground, when I was doing a project in NUS.