Changi 02, 07Feb08

Con on 2 Feb

Here are a couple of my shots of the Red-necked Stint today.

A couple of the dark morph CHE.

My first flight shot of the Malaysian Plover!

Lapwing on sentry duty.

Juvenile Pied Harrier.

A couple more from SC. Left: blue-tailed bee-eater. Right: Dark morph changeable hawk-eagle.

Con on 7 Feb

On first day of CNY I tried to enter CC through the KTC construction entrance, but no luck, the guard was on duty so I went to Ubin instead and found plenty of Copper-throated Sunbirds.

Today, following the posting by Simon, I went to try CC again. Once again, the KTC entrance was guarded. So I went to the Airshow Entrance and said "I'd like to go birding". They said okay and gave me a Visitor Pass !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a slow start to the day. Low tide was 6:35am, and by the time I got to the beach at 7:45am there were still plenty of waders but I was looking directly into the sun without a scope so it was difficult. I drove around, the Lapwings were still there, but the fresh water pools had dried up and the Wood Sandpiper and the "Green" Sandpiper were gone. At 10:00am the female Pied Harrier came out for breakfast and I followed her around a bit. I think she is the same one that has been at Changi for the past couple of months.

At 10:30am I noticed two folks on the sand bar that looked like birders so I drove over and it was Subaraj and Martin "............." They had just been on the sandbar and found 8 "white-faced plovers", some males, some females, some indeterminant. Subaraj said they are bigger than Malaysian Plovers. So I went out on the sandbar to look and sure enough the flock of 8 was right were Subaraj said it was. But it was too far for a decent photo, and when I tried to get closer the flock flushed.

Leaving the sandbar I flushed 2 Savanna Nightjars. The first two pictures are consecutive and of the same bird. The third picture might be the other bird, not sure.

Then I went to the Eastern Most Point of Singapore, and the Red-necked Stints where there again, and also one Yellow-fronted Canary (escape from Africa) was singing his heart out on one of the Casuarina trees.

Male Savanna Nightjar ©Con Foley

Oriental Honey-buzzard ©Fang SC