Mt Faber 11-18May08

Danny 11May Sun

This morning, I took a walk along the new bridges spanning Mt. Faber and Telok Blangah Hill - what a crowd! Other than the noise, there was space for everyone.

Spotted an adult pale morph changeable hawk eagle perched one legged on a open bare branch - exactly like in Robson book - dark mesial streak, whitish with bold dark streaks on breast/belly, rufous barring on thigh (one legged stand). Did not have my scope with me so no pic. Getting closer found it was guarding a nest. There were two birds guarding the nest, beside the adult CHE, there was a white throated Kingfisher (other than the collared King, the most vocalisd alarm bell).

The nest sits squarely on the nip of the Y joint of the main trunk of this tall tree, the nest is well hidden. Nearby is the bare tree where the adult CHE perched in the open until the noise form the crowd forced it to perch on same tree as the nest but partially hidden.

Con did a follow up check

I stopped over for a look. No adults were perched on bare tree or nearby, but I could see one bird on the nest, which is heavily blocked by branches. From its movements, it seemed to be moving the way a juvenile would, fluttering wings, etc. It was very dark color, I don't know what juvenile color should be. The nest is not great to photo, but if you come often enough I'm sure you will see the adult perching somewhere open.

GC 14May Wed

I visited the place on Wed, after rain, gloomy evening of a weekday, not a lot of people, so managed to take some pics without drawing attention to the nest. The juvenile seems to be growing into a dark morph. I thought the adult would be nearby, true enough it was, but heavy blockage, only can be seen from 2 spots - a light morph adult. I also saw some White-eyes and 2 Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots from the bridge.

KH 18May Sun

I was doing my chauffeur duties in the Southwest and had a chance to drop by the CHE nest site. Sure enough the chick was home, but the parents were no where to be found within the 1/2 hr I was there (2:45-3:15 pm). There was also a supporting cast of 1 magpie robin, 2 png pigeons, striped tit-babblers, sb flowerpeckers, tailorbirds, sunbirds, kingfishers, bee-eaters, orioles, ioras, yv bulbuls, Ag starlings, J mynas, swiftlets. There were also a pair of wbse 'quacking' at a distance.

I also dropped by the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre to check on the House Sparrows and counted about 8 of them. Not only are they larger, they also have a different plumage. The females are very pale in colour, while the males have a grey crown and black throat and upper breast. There were also ET sparrows around in another shed for comparison. Other supporting cast include a Sunda wp, rock pigeons.