Changi, Halus, Seletar Dam, Yishun, SBWR 04Oct08

From KH

Danny and I were a bit early for the usual KT gate, which was not opened yet but there were 3 lorries waiting outside. To avoid attention, we decided to head for the other KT gate (motocross one). Huge mistake! The motocross track was muddy and super bumpy. Even forrester gets bogged down! Fortunately, there were construction workers with huge excavators to help us out and we did not lose any car plate. :)

As such, we did not enter CC per se and headed for somewhere less challenging - Halus followed by Seletar Dam. Halus was relatively quiet, although there was a juvenile Tiger Shrike and the usual Little Grebes. At Seletar Dam, a flock of about 30 Yellow Wagtails were spotted. There were also a hundred or so Barn Swallows (a far cry from the hundreds during morning and evening feeding time). Danny sighted a CHE flying over Khatib Bongsu.

It was lunchtime and that was when we happened to pass by an Yishun condo and spotted the family of very tamed Lesser Whistling-ducks. One of the parents was very shy and hid in the overgrown garden of the condo, but the other parent was not shy at all and it proudly paraded its chicks despite the security guards' presence. There were 6 chicks in total. What a successful breeding season for them! When a House Crow flew pass, the chicks instinctively huddled together. The ducks were sighted at about 11:30 am.

Soon it was high tide and time to head for SBWR. There were no rare waders or flycatchers. Moreover, the Black-tailed Godwit was MIA... :(

There was a Mud Crab at the Main Hide and a Plantain Squirrel was stripping tree bark.