Sarimbun, Changi 17Sep05

From KH

It was a lovely day as we started our day (just Danny and I). It has been nearly a month since I did a write-up. The last few trips were an NSS trip to Ubin on 28 Aug, Woodcutters' trail on 3 Sep, and Dairy Farm on 10 Sep.

The star on Ubin was a Blue-eared Kingfisher, which was too shy to show itself again after having been spotted by Sutari. I only had a split-second peep at it... All in all, it was a good trip with 40 species seen and heard (including at Changi jetty).

The Woodcutters' Trail offered a modest 28 species, with the Tiger Shrike and the Banded Woodpecker being the treats. Con, Robert, Peck Chan, Danny and I were there. Danny reminded me to post a shot of the small stick insect that we found blended into a long thin wire at Dairy Farm. On the same day in the afternoon, Danny and I (and later Jia Sheng) went round LCK to carry on the race, we managed another 12 birds, making a total of 40 for the day. The treats at LCK are the chickens in the chicken farm! Just kidding. Actually, we saw 3 species of Munias there (Javan, White-headed and Scaly-breasted). We were missing the Black-headed and the White-rumped to complete all 5 species of munias.

For the Black-headed Munias, I did not have to wait long. During my bridal shoot at Ubin on the 8 Sep, I saw them. The bird of the day though was the Red Junglefowl. 20 species for a bridal shoot (with only my naked eyes) was not too bad. The Chestnut-bellied Malkoha was taken by Jia Sheng when he and his daddy were exploring the Woodcutters' Trail earlier on.

Chestnut-bellied Malkoha ©Lau JS

Stick Insect (the head is on the right!) ©Tan KH

Kong, Danny, Peck Chan and I were at the Dairy Farm trip. PC brought along a friend, Benjamin Ho. Actually, I have met him 2 years ago at an NSS outing at BBNP led by Ding Li. Thanks to him for pointing out that the raptor we had so much problem identifying back then was actually confirmed to be a Rufous-bellied Eagle. Thanks Ben, that is another rare bird ticked! The Oriental Reed Warbler was the most priced bird today, although the Straw-headed Bulbul standing in full view, the Little Spiderhunter fretting around, and the Laced Woodpecker and Lineated Barbet offered us some real treats too.

Ok, so much for a 'short' recap. Back to the event of the day. We were not sure where to start, so we headed to the end of the road at Camp Christine. The first interesting birds to greet us were the Long-tailed Parakeets. We took the trails to the coast where we could see Pulau Sarimbun. The only waders we saw here were the Common Sandpipers and there were no raptors, probably got to wait till afternoon or evening time. Nothing interesting happened until we passed the MOE Adventure Centre. As we continue back on the trail, we hit into a forest and there were hungry mosquitoes everywhere. Fortunately, Danny had the trusted army insect repellent with him. After clearing the forest, we hit a deserted road and on the road were 2 reptiles, a Skink and a Changeable Lizard. They seemed to be fighting. Before I could take a shot, they split off. Then we heard some loud calls, which turned out to be from White-crested Laughing Thrushes. Looks like they have infiltrated many of our forested areas. Then there were more Long-tailed Parakeets and some Red-breasted Parakeets too.

Next, we reached an open gate. Before entering through the gate, we spotted something on the track. It turned out to be a Red-wattled Lapwing! This area is pretty close to Neo Tiew Lane, where it was last spotted by other NSS members. Another rare bird ticked! As we entered through the gate, we found that this area is really pristine. It was a pretty big area with a river running through it and some tall trees in a grassland habitat. Outside this area was a big pond. We saw Black-winged Kites and White-bellied Sea Eagles, as well as some 'black' raptors which zoomed pass too quickly for us to ID. There were ioras, prinias, weavers, munias and a Purple Heron. A Straw-headed Bulbul was heard singing in a distance.

This was the Sarimbun area. There was a pond, some tall trees and grassland.

The Black-winged Kite was taken at Changi, while the swallow was taken at Sarimbun. Finally, the Barn Swallows have arrived from their migratory flight.

Left: Black-winged Kite. Right: Barn Swallow ©Tan KH

After lunch, we headed towards Changi for the next round of birding. The area covered includes the TMFT, the SAF Yacht Club, the Changi coast between these two places and the reclaimed land accessed from lamp post 150 along Changi Coast Road. At TMFT itself, there wasn't anything interesting because it's all fenced up. So we decided to go to the Yacht Club to recce. Here the main attraction was a flock of (easily 50) Black-naped Terns feeding at the sea. There were some fishermen around, and one of them even walked into the sea to fish! Reminded us of the Fedex advertisement. Then we went to the Changi coast, nothing interesting here, except for some illegal immigrants. Fortunately, the men were not around, only 2 women there. After bashing through the thicket to get to the main road, we headed back to Danny's car, and there's where we spotted the Black-winged Kite which was very co-operative in letting me get some close-up shots. The last birding destination for the day was the reclaimed land. The most interesting bird we observed here were the Zitting Cisticolas. These birds are common but usually not seen as they like to hide in the bushes.

Fisherman standing at the centre of the sea!

Brown Shrike (left) & Yellow-vented Bulbul (right) at Changi

Besides the few birds listed below under Changi, there were others seen at Changi, like the Black-winged Kite, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Brown Shrike, White-throated Kingfisher, Collared Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper.

The best bird of the day was the lone Red-wattled Lapwing which caught us by surprise and gave us ample time to enjoy it and take a few snapshots. Too bad Con was not around to help us take a beautiful photo of this beautiful bird.

Red-wattled Lapwing ©Tan KH

Including the Cattle Egret seen en-route to Sarimbun, we have a total of 42 birds seen today. Alas, we did not go into SBWR when picking up Jia Sheng, else would have increase our count further.

Sarimbun
01. House crow
02. Javan myna
03. Barn swallow
04. Yellow-vented bulbul
05. Straw-headed bulbul (heard)
06. Spotted dove
07. Olive-backed sunbird
08. Golden-bellied gerygone (heard)
09. Asian koel
10. Rock pigeon
11. Zebra dove
12. Red-wattled lapwing
13. Common iora
14. Pink-necked green pigeon
15. Eurasian tree sparrow
16. Asian glossy starling
17. Black-naped oriole
18. Purple heron
19. Collared kingfisher
20. Red-breasted parakeet
21. Long-tailed parakeet
22. White-throated kingfisher
23. Yellow-bellied prinia
24. White-bellied sea eagle
25. Black-winged kite
26. Common myna
27. Common sandpiper
28. White-breasted waterhen
29. Plain-throated sunbird
30. Baya weaver
31. Scaly-breasted munia
32. White-crested laughing thrush
33. Brown shrike
34. Scarlet-backed flowerpecker
35. Swiftlet spp.

Changi
36. Little egret
37. Black-naped tern
38. Blue-throated bee-eater
39. Zitting cisticola
40. House swift
41. Pacific swallow