Pulau Ubin 22Jul06

From KH

This is the 2nd farewell for Yamane, who is returning to Japan for his new job posting. We wish him all the best. I was supposed to get busy with my renovation stuff, but fortunately my uncle settled it for me. Thus I made a surprised appearance at the Changi jetty just when everyone thought I'll not be there. At the carpark, I saw some Tanimbar Cockatoos flying high up in the sky. These big white birds are now a prominent inhabitant of Changi Village. And they are noisy! No wonder their keepers release them into the wild. :)

A Sunda Woodpecker was pecking away on a tree in the carpark, living up to its nickname of 'carpark woodpecker'. A Common Iora was singing away, allowing me to listen to its varied calls and melodious songs. Then I saw Yamane waiting at the jetty. I went to surprise him. Soon after, Robert arrived. Seeing that Danny was late, we gave him a call - he is usually punctual. He was on his way and he has fetched Marisol. Con could not join us as he had to be present at the meeting for nesting birds.

So Danny and Marisol arrived and they told us they saw a pair of Oriental Pied-hornbills being harassed by Tanimbar cockatoos right at the carpark at Changi beach. We were all envious as we did not see any hornbill on Pulau Ubin for the rest of the day...

We're going to Ubin!

Coconut, anyone?

Show me how to digiscope.

Once on the island we took a taxi towards Ubin West hoping to see the rare and elusive Mangrove Pitta. We were all geared up and ready with the recorded call of this bird in hand. Or so we thought... After more than one hour of persistent calling, no pitta was in sight or even heard, or maybe we did hear it call back once, or maybe it was just hallucination. Nevertheless, along the way we spotted some interesting birds. A Rufous Woodpecker was chipping away at the top of a tree.

Rufous Woodpecker

Yamane spotted a Common Flameback. Blue-throated Bee-eaters were doing their aerial display and feeding. Grey and Purple Herons were flying overhead. A seemingly abandoned or used sunbird nest was hanging on a stem by the side of the road. Robert spotted an Asian Koel in the tree.

Having ran out of luck, we called the taxi driver and headed back to the visitor centre. From here, we continued to explore Ubin East. White-bellied Sea Eagles, Brahminy Kites and 3 Changeable Hawk Eagles were circling in the sky. A Crimson Sunbird came close. Robert spotted a Straw-headed Bulbul flying off. Further down the trail were some Purple-throated Sunbirds calling away on the top of a bare tree.

Juvenile Purple-throated Sunbird

A male Brown-throated Sunbird was singing away at the top of a big palm leaf. It totally ignored us as it went about its own business, singing and preening.

Male Brown-throated Sunbird

Nearby a laborious Scaly-breasted Munia was busy fetching long strains of grass from a hedge to and from its nest high up on a coconut tree at the base of a bird's nest fern.

Scaly-breasted Munia under its nest

Further down the road, we heard noisy chirps and guess what, 5 juvenile scaly-breasted munias were begging for food from an adult! The juveniles have no scaly markings on the body, they were just plain brown.

1 adult and 5 juvenile Scaly-breasted Munias

Finally, while Danny was busy snapping away at a nonchalant Olive-winged Bulbul which simply perched right in front of him ignoring him, I spotted a male Laced Woodpecker.

By this time it was too hot to bird and it was lunch time! Kong suddenly appeared in his gears - he was here in the morning for his departmental cycling event. The six of us took a seat in this nice countryside restaurant with many nature photos on the wall. We had a sumptuous meal of prawn, veg., fish, with fried rice and noodles. And Yamane pulled out his personal laptop and showed us all the photos he had taken in our last 1 year of birding together. It was great to reminisce the fun and laughter we had since last year's National Day. Today is not about the birds but it is about the enjoyable time we had together that is ours to keep and we will see you again, some day, Yamane!

Pulau Ubin
(1) Rufous woodpecker
(2) Common flameback
(3) Laced woodpecker
(4) White-throated kingfisher
(5) Collared kingfisher
(6) Blue-throated bee-eater
(7) Asian koel
(8) Long-tailed parakeet
(9) House swift
(10) Nest swiftlet
(11) Zebra dove
(12) Spotted dove
(13) Pink-necked green pigeon
(14) Black-naped tern
(15) White-bellied sea eagle
(16) Changeable hawk eagle
(17) Brahminy kite
(18) Grey heron
(19) Purple heron
(20) Striated heron
(21) Black-naped oriole
(22) Oriental magpie robin
(23) Asian glossy starling
(24) Common myna
(25) Javan myna
(26) Pacific swallow
(27) Straw-headed bulbul
(28) Olive-winged bulbul
(29) Yellow-vented bulbul
(30) Oriental white-eye
(31) Common tailorbird
(32) Ashy tailorbird
(33) Rufous-tailed tailorbird
(34) Scarlet-backed flowerpecker
(35) Crimson sunbird
(36) Purple-throated sunbird
(37) Plain-throated sunbird
(38) Olive-backed sunbird
(39) Eurasian tree sparrow
(40) Scaly-breasted munia

Changi jetty
(41) Sunda woodpecker
(42) Oriental pied hornbill
(43) Tanimbar cockatoo
(44) Rock pigeon
(45) House crow
(46) Common iora