Changi 15Oct05

Form KH

Con and Danny were at Semakau, so Peck Chan, Yamane and I joined LKK, Jimmy and Cagan (a Turkish student) for a birding trip to Changi reclaimed land. LKK picked us up at Tampines MRT station and we went to meet Jimmy and Cagan. The first bird to greet us was a Brahminy Kite. We headed to LP150 and stopped by the grassland at the sight of a Lesser Coucal. Hiding in the tall grass were some Scaly-breasted Munias and a White-headed Munia, as well as 2 Indian Silverbills. Initially, the silverbills gave us a hard time IDing them, until LKK recalled his trip to Africa. These birds were escapees. Behind them was a Long-tailed Shrike on the fence. At a distance was a Black-winged Kite and a Chinese Pond-heron. Then a small flock of Great Egrets flew past. As time was running late, we quickly left the grassland and headed towards Changi Cove. Before reaching it, I spotted a Purple Heron in the tall grass.

At Changi Cove, a Little Tern was flying in front of us, White-winged Terns were flying far away at the jetty, but the stars here were the several pairs of Malaysian Plovers. Before Jimmy could close in his big gun on one pair, they flew off. Nevertheless, they were there for a good few minutes before Jimmy decided they were worthy of his going back to the car to grab the big gun. As we were about to leave for the sandy beach, a flycatcher caught LKK's attention. It was an Asian Brown Flycatcher. En-route, we saw a whole flock of Red Collared Doves on the ground and the fence. Also, there were some Little Ringed Plovers on the ground. By the time we reached the sandy beach it was already high tide and there were no waders in sight, but there were some Zitting Cisticolas at close range. LKK mentioned that the cisticolas do not zit when nesting.

Malaysian Plovers (male on left, female on right) ©Tan KH

These 5 shots are from Yamane.

At the grassland looking at munias, coucals, silverbills, shrikes

At the cove looking at terns and Malaysian Plovers.

LKK scoping out the birds for us.

Cagan and I hoping to pick out more species from the mixed flock

Little Ringed Plovers

The last stop is the rocky beach. Before we reached it, LKK already saw that there were thousands of waders on it. The rest of us struggle to spot the flock as they were well camouflaged against the rocks. Apparently, they roost here when it's high tide and feed at the sandy beach during low tide. The majority of the waders were Lesser Sand-plovers. Among them were Red-necked Stints (the smallest birds in the flock), Sanderlings (larger than the Lesser Sand-plovers), a Ruddy Turnstone, a Curlew Sandpiper, some Grey Plovers, Pacific Golden-plovers. By 10:30 am, the sun was very strong and there were no new activities on the shore, so we decided to leave. That makes 34 birds for the day.

Lesser Sand-plovers with a Pacific Golden-plover hiding among them ©Tan KH

01 House crow
02 Javan myna
03 Common myna
04 Barn swallow
05 Black-naped oriole
06 Paddyfield pipit
07 Zitting cisticola
08 White-throated kingfisher
09 Blue-tailed bee-eater
10 African silverbill
11 Chinese pond heron
12 Great egret
13 Purple heron
14 White-headed munia
15 Scaly-breasted munia
16 Lesser coucal
17 Long-tailed shrike
18 Red collared dove
19 Spotted dove
20 Brahminy kite
21 Black-winged kite
22 Asian brown flycatcher
23 Common sandpiper
24 Lesser sand-plover
25 Curlew sandpiper
26 Little ringed plover
27 Malaysian plover
28 Sanderling
29 Red-necked stint
30 Pacific golden-plover
31 Grey plover
32 Little tern
33 White-winged tern
34 Ruddy turnstone