Flying things. While at Singapore's superb Jurong Bird Park yesterday, we were buzzed by many fascinating birds in their aviaries, but the coolest thing that buzzed us was not even a bird. We were just walking down a path when a flying lizard skimmed just over our heads, alighting on a thin tree just in front of us. How cool is that? He wasn't part of any exhibit; in fact, it was probably a stupid place for him to be hanging out. We got a good look at him on the tree; about six inches long, brown with a blue-green head, and had a neck wattle that he could thrust out.

Also while in the bird park, we had a good sighting of a new bird species that we can actually count because he wasn't part of any exhibit. In the surrounding trees we spotted a Goldenback woodpecker. We aren't sure if it was the Common or Greater variety, though.

There were several new outstanding exhibits at the park, including the waterfall aviary (a meshed-in enclosure as big as a small stadium) and the Windows on Paradise, where we watched the male birds of paradise put on wild displays for the females. Like the zoo, the encounters are in-your-face, without a safety screen. Nice to be in a country where civil litigation isn't running the show...