Changi, Turuk Track, Mandai Mudflat 04Dec05

From Con

On sunday morning I went to Changi and saw a few usual raptors, including Black Baza. In the afternoon I was at Turut Track and saw the Barred Buttonquail. In the evening, I ran into Danny and Jia Sheng at the Mandai mudflats, and saw the Black-Headed Gull.

Black Baza ©Con Foley

Great Cormorant ©Danny Lau

Left to right: Common Greenshank, Whimbrel and Black-headed Gulls ©Danny Lau

Black-headed Gulls ©Con Foley

Black-headed Gull and Whimbrel ©Con Foley

This is the male Barred Buttonquail, but it incubates the eggs and rears the chicks single handedly. The nest is on the ground. This one must have stepped away from the nest briefly, and then a human (me) shows up and he goes into his act. He walks across the road very slowly, like walking through a minefield. He quivers on every step. Then once across, he lays down in the sandy verge and pretends to feed and take a sand bath. As soon as I move, he scurries off into the bush. From start to finish I watch him for 5 minutes, and he never takes his eyes off me. Clearly his instinct is to draw the predator away from the nest, pretending to be an injured bird.