Marina South, Alexandra Hill, Halus 22Oct05

From KH

Only Con and I went birding this Sat morning. Danny and his sons will be at the bird race this evening till tomorrow. Having been tipped off by Danny that the Chestnut-winged Cuckoo has been spotted at Marina South, Con and I started at Marina South. Con picked me up at Wheelock Place at 7 am. Our first destination was a short canal that leads to the sea. Nothing much here, but the sunrise was nice.

Nevertheless, we did see a Chinese Pond-heron, among the common birds. We did not go into the wooded areas as it was muddy. We then headed towards the Marina City Park, but there were no ducks in the lake, nor birds flying around. "Marina South is good only when Danny is around." Con joked. So we decided to leave this place and hit Alexandra Hill. On the way out, we saw a flock of 5 Chinese Pond-herons on the open grassland, the largest flock we've seen so far.

Alexandra Hill is essentially a private housing estate up on a hill. We didn't explore the place on foot, we just drove around. But it looks like a nice place to take a walk and there is a high vantage point to look out for raptors. Con was able to photograph the female Asian Koel finally. She was perching up on a tree right in front of us, preening away.

Female Asian Koel drying herself

As it was still early, we decided to go for a third birding site. We know that Lorong Halus is still a great birding site despite all the developments going on there (it offered the most species in the recent MYBC). We were also hoping to see the Little Grebe. We surveyed the Grebe Pond but there was no grebe in sight. However, there were some Sandpipers there, namely Common and Marsh. We took a walk around the little hill. Nothing much except for some swifts and swallows flying overheard, and a Black-winged Kite at a distance. We then headed back onto the little road we used to access the Grebe Pond and picked up some Baya Weavers and Scaly-breasted Munias.

Finally, we decided to leave. As Con was packing his camera, I took a last look at the pond and was rewarded with a Common Moorhen. I quickly signaled to Con and he was able to get a recognizable shot of the bird.

Common Moorhen

As we were about to leave the place, we saw some munias bathing in a puddle of water right in front of us. There was a Black-headed Munia in the flock of Scaly-breasted Munias. The Common Moorhen and the Black-headed Munia were respectively the number 101 and 102 Singapore birds photographed for Con.

We ended the morning with 33 birds. I happened to be training for my IPPT in the evening at Sungei Serangoon and managed to pick up some waders, herons and a Common Kingfisher, making a total of 42 birds for the day.

Black-headed Munia. Scaly-breasted Munia

Marina South
01 House crow
02 Javan myna
03 Pacific swallow
04 White-throated kingfisher
05 Spotted dove
06 Collared kingfisher
07 Golden-bellied gerygone
08 Common sandpiper
09 Little heron
10 Blue-tailed bee-eater
11 Common myna
12 Little egret
13 Asian glossy starlings
14 Black-naped oriole
15 Yellow-vented bulbul
16 Cattle egret
17 Chinese pond-heron
18 Common flameback (heard)

Alexandra Hill
19 Asian koel
20 Brahminy kite

Lorong Halus
21 Pink-necked green-pigeon
22 Common tailorbird
23 Scaly-breasted munia
24 Black-headed munia
25 Long-tailed parakeet
26 Common moorhen
27 Marsh sandpiper
28 Baya weaver
29 Black-winged kite
30 Red collared-dove
31 Barn swallow
32 Zebra dove
33 Yellow-bellied prinia (heard)

Sungei Serangoon
34 Common pigeon
35 White-breasted waterhen
36 Common kingfisher
37 Common greenshank
38 Pacific golden plover
39 Black-crowned night-heron
40 Eurasian tree sparrow
41 Grey heron
42 House swift