Our birding trips

Pulau Hantu 04Feb06

From KH

Today's trip is to the Southern Island of Pulau Hantu. There were supposed to be 13 of us but due to some hiccups, two couldn't make it at the last minute - Simon got a punctured tyre and Graeme forgot to bring his passport. We didn't know that foreigners got to show their passports and locals got to show their ICs to go through the custom here. Yamane also forgot his passport, but he quickly took a cab back to collect it. Peck Chan didn't have her IC with her, but after some persuasion and discussion with the custom officer, she was allowed to pass provided we wrote down our names on a list. While waiting for Yamane to come back, we had our morning coffee.

Chee Wai stood at the jetty shooting an adult Brahminy Kite.

Brahminy Kite ©Fong CW

At 9 am, we were all ready to depart. The boat trip took less than 30 mins and cost $140 two-ways. Yamane took the following shots of the West Coast Pier and the scenery of Hantu.

Upon reaching Pulau Hantu, we realized that Pulau Hantu is actually made up of two islands - Pulau Hantu Besar and Pulau Hantu Kechil. The former being the bigger island. We were the only people on this island today. We had the whole island to ourselves! Sree's dream of owning an island was realized today! At least for the three hrs we were there, that is. The first birds to greet us were Pacific Swallows right at the jetty.

Pacific Swallow. Pulau Hantu Map ©Yamane Yoshio

Then there was a Brown Shrike in the bushes. Collared Kingfishers and Black-naped Orioles were calling everywhere. Large-billed Crows were chased by orioles. Then Dr Ho recognized the call of the Mangrove Whistler. We tried very hard to spot it, but we could only see an Asian Brown Flycatcher. Giving up, we proceeded to the centre of the island where there was a little hill with a water tank on top.

Collared Kingfisher with crab ©Fong CW

There were Spotted Doves, Pink-necked Green-pigeons, Yellow-vented Bulbuls and Olive-winged Bulbuls here. Later on, the Mangrove Whistler was spotted here. Brahminy Kites were flying over Pulau Hantu Kechil and Ben saw a Black-winged Kite. Yamane took the following three bird photos as well as a shot of the Blue Pansy.

Blue Pansy

Pacific Swallow

Pacific Reef-egret: left white, right dark

Having fully traversed the perimeter of the island, we headed back to the jetty and looked at an island far away. Later, we learnt from Dr Ho that it was Semakau. Not surprising as we could see a Great-billed Heron there. A White-bellied Sea-eagle was also fishing at the shallows of the Semakau shore. As we diverted our attention back to Hantu, Danny spotted a black-colored egret on Hantu Kechil. It was a dark morph Pacific Reef-egret. A lifer for some of us. Then, a white morph Pacific Reef Egret was spotted on the Hantu Besar side of the lagoon. We watched the two birds as they went about their forage. As the white egret walked closer and closer to the dark egret, suddenly the former took off and chased after the latter! They flew to the other end of the island and then later reappeared with the same antic. They seem more like friends then enemies as they were later seen perching on the same signboard.

Ben saw a monitor lizard as it sneaked into a crevice. The three shots below are from Chee Wai showcasing the antics of the 2 uncommon egrets of Singapore. We came to the end of the trip at 12 noon and proceeded to Pasir Panjang Hawker Center for lunch. All of us went except Robert, we had to leave early. That is 25 birds for the day if we count the Whimbrel sighted at the West Coast Pier when we came back at noon. For the record, those present were: Dr Ho, Yap Chung Kui, Ben Ho, Danny, Yamane, Peck Chan, Chee Wai and daughter, Robert, Sree and me.

Three shots from Chee Wai:

White morph Pacific Reef-egret

Dark morph Pacific Reef-egret

Chasing each other

01 Pacific reef-egret - 1 dark morph; 1 white morph feeding very actively in the lagoon btw Hantu Besar & Kechil
02 Great-billed heron - 1 at the mudflat of Pulau Semakau
03 Striated heron
04 Collared kingfisher
05 White-bellied sea-eagle
06 Brahminy kite
07 Black-winged kite
08 Asian brown flycatcher (migrant) - 1
09 Mangrove whistler - 2
10 Large-billed crow
11 House crow
12 Common myna
13 Black-naped oriole
14 Yellow-vented bulbul
15 Olive-winged bulbul
16 Spotted dove
17 Pink-necked green pigeon
18 Pacific swallow
19 Brown shrike
20 Ashy tailorbird
21 Barn swallow (migrant)
22 Pied fantail
23 Oriental Magpie robin
24 Rufous-tailed tailorbird (heard)

More shots from Sree: