Halus, Pulau Punggol, Punggol, Changi 08Mar08

From KH

We started the day at Halus (actually Pasir Ris Farmway 3) for the Javan Pond-heron and sure enough, there were at least 2 of them in breeding plumage. Also present were more non-breeding pond-herons. As always, there's great difficulty to ID the species in non-breeding plumage, so we'll leave them at that. Besides the various species of herons and egrets, there were also waders and a handsome Common Kingfisher in the canal.

Javan Pond-heron ©Lau JS

Moving on to Halus proper, we were disappointed to see the polluted state of the Moorhen Pond... Fortunately, the Grebe Pond is holding out and still offered us 2 breeding Little Grebes. By 0830, we were ready to roll on for our Booted Eagle at where else but Punggol Island, however not before waving goodbye to a breeding Chinese Pond-heron by the side of the road.

At Punggol Island, the Booted Eagle made its appearance again! This time a dark/rufous morph. We saw it in the sky and quickly got off the cars to take a closer look. Immediately, the raptor got spooked and flew towards Johor. We thought we have lost it, but unexpectedly, it u-turned halfway in the straits and headed towards us! The cameras were back in action again. 2 Booted Eagles in a single season!! What more can we ask for? Also present were the 3 Black Bazas that had wintered here for the whole season. Of course, the resident raptors were also around. While checking out the Chestnut-winged Cuckoo location, we were being asked to leave the island, but we took a little longer to vacate.

Dark morph Booted Eagle ©Con Foley

Dark morph Booted Eagle ©Fang SC

Along the way to Changi, we dropped by Punggol Grassland but did not see much. A Changeable Hawk-eagle was calling though. The drain is overgrown. Hopefully, the Painted Snipes are back, although we did not see any.

At Changi, we had an exciting day - we got bogged down! Fortunately, we were able to save ourselves and achieve our target - the Oriental Plover, in breeding plumage. However, we dipped at the White-faced Plovers and Red-throated Pipits.

Oriental Plover dwarfing a Lesser Sand-plover ©Lau JS

Oriental Plover ©Lau JS

Female Eastern Marsh-harrier ©Lau JS

3 species of Munias quenching their thirst on a hot afternoon. 1 Scaly-breasted, 3 Black-headed amongst White-headed ©Lau JS

Sanderlings ©Lau JS

Pasir Ris Farmway 3
1 Striated Heron
2 Grey Heron
3 Purple Heron
4 Little Egret
5 Great Egret
6 Javan Pond-heron
7 Chinese Pond-heron
8 Common Sandpiper
9 Common Kingfisher

Halus
10 Yellow Bittern
11 Little Grebe
12 Zebra Dove
13 Spotted Dove
14 Lesser Coucal
15 Blue-tailed Bee-eater
16 House Crow
17 Common Iora
18 Javan Myna
19 Common Myna
20 Yellow-vented Bulbul
21 Baya Weaver

PP
22 Black-winged Kite
23 Black Baza
24 Brahminy Kite
25 Booted Eagle
26 White-bellied Sea-eagle
27 White-breasted Waterhen
28 Asian Koel
29 Collared Kingfisher
30 White-throated Kingfisher
31 Common Flameback
32 Large-billed Crow
33 Black-naped Oriole
34 Brown Shrike
35 Oriental Magpie-robin
36 Zitting Cisticola
37 Yellow-bellied Prinia
38 Oriental Reed Warbler
39 Common Tailorbird
40 Olive-backed Sunbird

Seletar Airport
41 Cattle Egret
42 Rock Pigeon
43 Long-tailed Parakeet
44 Dollarbird
45 Asian Brown Flycatcher
46 Asian Glossy Starling

Punggol
47 Changeable Hawk-eagle
48 Long-tailed Shrike

CC
49 Eastern Marsh-harrier
50 Common Greenshank
51 Ruddy Turnstone
52 Sanderling
53 Pacific Golden-plover
54 Grey Plover
55 Kentish Plover
56 Lesser Sand-plover
57 Malaysian Plover
58 Oriental Plover
59 Red Collared Dove
60 Barn Swallow
61 Pacific Swallow
62 Paddyfield Pipit
63 White-headed Munia
64 Scaly-breasted Munia
65 Black-headed Munia