Malayan Banyan, Sin Ming AvenueNg Wen Qing, 24, research assistant, National University of Singapore“At this Banyan tree, I felt cold sweat for the first time. As a bird watcher, I was veryexcited to spot a couple of crested honey buzzards perched on the tree’s branches.Walking backwards to get a better view as the birds were blocked by thick foliage, Isaw, from the corner of my eye, what looked like a pile of discarded bicycle tyres.I jumped. The thing jumped too. Turned out it was a black spitting cobra, straighteningitself to a standing position, but without showing its hood. The shutter-crazy part of medecided it was a good idea to grab a photo, but all I got was a blurred view of the snakeslithering back into the tree.Well, I did get a gift from the fig tree that day: the crested honey buzzards dropped aflight feather just before they took off.”
