Johor Strait to Horsburgh Lighthouse 10Oct10

From Con

I went with Kim Seng, Alfred Chia and gang from Punggol all the way out to Horsburgh Lighthouse and back, it was a marathon day from 6am until 9pm.  We actually saw one and only one Swinhoe's Storm-petrel right off Changi Cove while waiting for the ICA boat. We also saw 10 or more Aleutian Terns in Malaysian waters on the way to Horsburgh; and we saw quite a few Bridled Terns at Horsburgh as there is a breeding colony there. Another notable bird was a Gull-billed Tern. Then the usual suspects, Great Crested Tern, White-winged Tern, etc.

Common Tern

Pacific Swift

I learned from LTK that the difficulty of getting into Changi Cove is worse than we knew. The bridge across the sandy canal has been removed. So even if you could enter via the KTC gate, you won't be able to cross the canal. So looks like we have to apply for a permit to feed the stray dogs.

Here is a picture of the Singapore skyline taken from at least 20 kilometers out from Singapore at 6:44pm yesterday. We didn't dock in Punggol Marina until 9pm. And also a Google route map of our long journey yesterday.

Attaching report from LKS:

Eleven of us (Alfred Chia, Con Foley, Willie Foo, Kenneth Kee, Lee Tiah Khee, Lim Kim Keang, Wing Chong, Wong Chung Cheong, Yang Pah Liang, Yong Ding Li and myself) spent an entire day on a pelagic trip on 10 October 2010. Our intent was to check out the presence of seabirds between eastern Johor Strait and the eastern end of Singapore Strait.

We started rather early and managed to record several species between Pulau Ubin and Changi Point:

Common Sandpiper - 1
Grey Plover - 6 birds seen off Ubin
Gull-billed Tern - 1 non-breeding bird
Swift Tern - 5
Little Tern - 6
White-winged Tern - 1
White-bellied Sea Eagle - 2
Grey Heron - 3
Barn Swallow - several
Pacific Swallow - a few

The highlight of the early morning was a lone Swinhoe's Storm-petrel seen flying betwen Pulau Tekong Besar and Changi South. It settled in the sea a few times before it was lost to view.

Between Pulau Tekong Besar and Hosrburgh Lighthouse (HL), we saw:

Pied Imperial Pigeon - a flock of 10 seen flying on the approach to HL, heading towards Batam
Pacific Swift - a few seen near HL
Swiftlet spp. - over 100 seen flying south
Gull-billed Tern - 1 non-breeding bird that came near the boat near HL
Swift Tern - estimated 40 birds
Lesser Crested Tern - 5, a few seen on flotsam
Bridled Tern - 20 counted at HL and 20 en-route
White-winged Tern - 20 birds in all, mostly near the Johor coast
Common Tern - 1 non-breeding at HL
Aleutian Tern - groups of 5 and 2 on way to HL and 1 and 8 birds on way back. All birds were believed to be in Malaysian waters between the extreme south-eastern tip of Johor and HL. Highlight of the trip. Some birds were within 50 metres of our boat!
Barn Swallow - hundreds seen flying close to sea in N-S direction

The weather was slightly hazy and very cloudy and the sea was rougher once we got to HL. There were no raptors seen on migration and no marine mammals but overall, the trip was very successful in gaining an insight into seabird presence in the Johor and Singapore Strait during the fall migration.