Punggol, Halus, Seletar 03Jun06

It is so great to be back in Singapore. After 3 months of absence from the local birding scene, I realized I have missed quite a bit of rare sightings. Among these were the various cuckoos, the buffy fish owl and the greater painted-snipes. Fortunately today, we have JS and his daddy to show us how to locate the gps (the painted-snipes, not the global positioning system!). Apparently, they take the cue from waterhen before coming out into the open. As Danny and JS said, they use the waterhen as indicator. And a good way to see the birds is to use the car as a hide. No camouflaged vehicle required, just park your car by the canal, off the engine, keep awfully quiet, and wait. That was how Con got his approx. half an hour of privacy with the gps.

Greater painted-snipe is atypical of birds in that the female is the more colourful one ©Lau JS

So, we met at Punggol and went on our gps hunt. After tackling the slope into the grassland, Danny spotted our first gps of the day. And on closer inspection, there were 2 chicks following the parent gps! We are really blessed and we bless the gps chicks that they can grow up before the PUB comes to dredge the drain again... Further down the drain more gps were sighted. There were 2 pairs. Seems like they are paired up for the breeding season and hopefully all works out well for them.

While JS continued to stalk the gps, Con took PC and I for a ride to the canal. Here, we saw many herons and egrets. An egret caught our attention. Upon consulting the guide book, it turns out to be a white morph Pacific reef-egret. And there were a few little terns flying around. We rounded up Punggol with 32 species. Next destination, Lorong Halus.

Changeable Hawk-eagle taking flight at Halus ©Lau JS

Con's car reach Halus first. We strolled past the moorhen pond and headed towards the grebe pond. There were 4 grebes in this pond. It has been reported that there were only 2 adults and 2 chicks here. But of the 4 grebes we saw, one was still in breeding plumage, while the other 3 were juveniles. The other interesting birds here were the changeable hawk eagle and the little bronze-cuckoo. There were also some crakes hidden in the reeds, but we did not get a good look to ID them. While we were looking hard for the crakes to reappear, a blue-throated bee-eater flew in and landed on a perch right in front of us, allowing Con to snap a few close-up shots of it. By this time, Con had to leave, while the rest of us carried on birding here till lunchtime.

Blue-throated Bee-eater ©Con Foley

Female Little Bronze-cuckoo ©Con Foley

Next stop was Seletar. Today, we checked out Seletar East, Lower Seletar and Upper Seletar. Seletar East was in the news recently. The golf course and residential area (colonial houses) were in danger of being leveled for the airbase expansion. Hopefully, the camp will not be affected, for otherwise, the grey heron rookery of 200-strong nests will be history... A few of the nests could be seen from outside the camp gate. Also, outside the gate is a canteen. We took shade under the Bodhi tree (fig) and were enjoying the cold drinks when suddenly there were much activity in the tree. Looking up, we saw coppersmith barbets, a common flameback, a black-naped oriole, a common iora and some Asian glossy starlings. And on a tall tree in the campground were 2 brahminy kites. A white-bellied sea eagle was also flying across the camp.

After bidding farewell to PC, we headed to Lower Seletar. There were rusty-breasted cuckoos calling in the trees. Danny has spotted a crake here before, but no luck today. Nevertheless, we managed to add 3 more birds to today's list. As it was too hot, we did not get out of the car to explore the wooded areas. After getting lost in Sembawang, we finally reached Upper Seletar. When we reached, we saw some people clustering in the forest edge. Curious, I approached them asking what is interesting. Reluctantly, they told us that there is a red-crowned barbet nest. The reluctance is warranted because as birders, we are not supposed to reveal nesting sites. However, they were relieved after knowing we are birders too.

Left: Adult barbet bringing back food. Right: Chick poking its head out ©Tan KH

The parent barbet made many trips to the other side of the road and initially kept returning every 10 minutes or so with food for the chick. After some time, the frequency decreased and it became like 30-minutes intervals. It was a really laborious task for the parent bird, but I sure with such dedication, the chick is going to grow up strong and healthy. The birders were very dedicated too - they were here since 9 am in the morning! Their friend returned around this time (apparently, he was here in the morning too!). So he took over the shift and soon Sree arrived as well. In the meantime, JS and I went into the little forest trail but did not see any bird. Right now, Con has arrived too. As it was getting dark, we bid Sree and Con farewell and headed for our final destination - Poyan. The buffy was not home this evening, but the mosquitoes were all over the place. Maybe the buffy has gone fishing leaving us to feed its blood-sucking companions.

All in all, a tiring but pleasant birding trip today with some surprises and 56 species on the list.

Punggol
1. Greater painted-snipe - 5 adults, 2 chicks
2. Common sandpiper
3. Little tern
4. Little egret
5. Pacific reef-egret - 1 white morph
6. Grey heron
7. Purple heron
8. Striated heron
9. Yellow bittern
10. White-breasted waterhen
11. Black-winged kite
12. Brahminy kite
13. House swift
14. White-throated kingfisher
15. Collared kingfisher
16. Blue-throated bee-eater
17. Spotted dove
18. Zebra dove
19. Pink-necked green-pigeon
20. Asian koel
21. Lesser coucal
22. Brown shrike
23. House crow
24. Common myna
25. Javan myna
26. Pacific swallow
27. Asian glossy starling
28. Yellow-vented bulbul
29. Olive-backed sunbird
30. Eurasian tree sparrow
31. Paddyfield pipit
32. Scaly-breasted munia

Halus
33. Little grebe - 4
34. Common moorhen
35. Changeable hawk-eagle - 1
36. Rock pigeon
37. Little bronze-cuckoo
38. Pied fantail
39. Yellow-bellied prinia
40. Common tailorbird - heard
41. Baya weaver
42. White-headed munia
43. Black-headed munia

Seletar
Seletar East
44. White-bellied sea-eagle
45. Common iora
46. Common flameback
47. Coppersmith barbet
48. Black-naped oriole

Lower Seletar
49. Dark-necked tailorbird
50. Striped tit-babbler
51. Pied triller
52. Rusty-breasted cuckoo - heard

Enroute to Upper Seletar
53. Sunda woodpecker

Upper Seletar
54. Red-crowned barbet - adult with chick
55. Greater racquet-tailed drongo
56. Hill myna - heard