First Stop, American Memorial Park!

"Scumbag Butterflies..."

For our first location, we decided to walk around the American Memorial Park located in Garapan, Saipan to observe the biodiversity that took place there. We started off with a photowalk hoping to cross with some interesting things...

The grasses were swarming with dragonflies of all sorts and colors! It was fairly difficult to get up close with them but, with patience, we were able to take a close shot!

Nature is filled with very odd things! We found this tiny caterpillar suspended form a tree! Though we couldn't see where the "web" was coming from, we assumed it was being hoisted up by a spider. Cutting it loose, it fell down to the ground, opening the opportunity for a shot.

This flower serves to be the most prominent flower we see around the island. 

Coming around a from a bush, we see that at the bottom, a large numbers of spiders have built their homes to protect themselves from the rain and other extremities.

Under and and around this bush, lives a vast number of spiders waiting for their next meals. 

Apparently, the federal government has set these up as insect traps. We're not sure for what reason though. Do you? Leave a comment below! :)

Interestingly, papaya trees are growing alongside the tall forest trees.

A brief glimpse of how the species interact in the environment we were on. We caught some butterflies and a bee in it, but they just moved too fast.

This yellow bird was pecking on the tree.

Man-made structure.

Fungi grows on many of the dead remains of wood from people who had left  it there from a barbeque. 

HUZZAH! Take that Mosquito!

Altered by man and designed to their specifications, it wasn't surprising that the American Memorial Park had relatively few interesting creatures to see. The only place where we noticed a significant amount of reptiles were in the drainage river flowing through the park. There, a school of fish would swim downstream towards the ocean, as seen in the image. The water levels weren't high at all and the current was relatively gentle. It was interesting to see that there were fishes in that water at all because of the pollution that has taken place around it. There was a noticeable amount of white substance floating by the edges. We presumed that it could be accumulated scum and trash residue. 

There were hundreds of crab holes by the river. Though sands were soft and mushy, the crabs were incredibly swift to enter their holes. It was disappointing because we couldn't get a picture of them. I wish I had telephoto lens to be able to capture them from afar without scaring them away.

Filled with organized floras, the American Memorial Park seems to thrive on this type of flower.

HAVE FUN UNDER THE SUN AND EXPLORE MOTHER NATURE!