Poyan, CCK Cemeteries 26Jan08

Danny and I started the day at one of our favourite playground, Poyan, and ended up at Choa Chu Kang Cemeteries with our mega prize, a pair of Jerdon's bazas!

Poyan as usual is quite a good site with some good birds. Birds of note are

• Indian Cuckoo
• Violet Cuckoo
• Olive-backed Sunbird - nesting
• Changeable Hawk Eagle
• Lineated and Coppersmith Barbets - still looking for the possible Red-crowned Barbet in Poyan...
• Straw-headed Bulbul - a pair singing loudly away
• A possible albino myna which doesn't mixed with the typical Javan Mynas
• Ashy Minivets
• Asian Brown Flycatchers
• Black Bazas
• Common Snipe - 1 single disoriented bird flew in at CCK Cemeteries while we were all eyes on the Jerdon's Bazas

Common Snipe

Jerdon's Baza

This is the report we submitted to WildbirdSingapore on the Jerdon's baza:

"This morning (26Jan08 Sat) at 11am, we were birding along CCK Chinese Cemetery Path 21 when two Jerdon's Baza were spotted perched openly on an Albizia. Before we could take a shot of the pair, a Brahminy Kite came along and mobbed one of them which took off. The remaining baza didn't, until a few minutes later, when it also disappeared into the mid canopy.

Fortunately, several minutes later, it came out from hiding and landed on another Albizia. For the next half hour, it would continue to fly to nearby perches and remain there for minutes, always at mid canopy level.

At one point, it took a low flight and kind of clumsily crashed into a low leafy tree with yellow flowers. It shook up the tree before struggling free with something in its bill (notice the barely visible nictitating membrane in the last photo). Subsequently, it landed on a branch, secured and in its bill was a changeable lizard. It toyed with its lunch before swallowing it head-first. Guess it was yummy - held its lunch for a while with its long tail dangling out of the bill before gulping it down."

These are our records for this rare raptor which is newly added into the Singapore bird checklist.

1-2 Jan 07 - CCK cemetery - Danny/JS
30 Nov 07 - Chinese Garden - Con
26 Jan 08 - CCK cemetery - Kok Hui/Danny