Sg Serangoon 10Sep06

Today is the Fall Migration Bird Census (FMBC). Like the Mid Year Bird Census (MYBC) on 1Jul06, I covered Sungei Serangoon from Hougang to Sengkang. The difference is there were only 35 species and 280 birds counted during the MYBC, whereas there are 44 species and 433 birds today. 6 of these are due to the migrants: Common Kingfisher, Barn Swallow, 4 waders (PGP, c redshank, c greenshank, c sandpiper). Coincidentally, last night, Sree and I were asking when the common kingfisher are going to show up. And today I counted 4 of them.

Common Kingfisher

Also of note are the abundance of grey herons counted. They were all lining up by the canal edge feeding harmoniously with the ever present little egrets and striated herons.

Grey Herons are abundant today

Striated Herons are even more abundant

Also there are significantly more munias and weavers sighted today. There were 2 photographers at the junction of Sungei Pinang and Sungei Serangoon taking photos of birds.

MYBC06 FMBC06
1 Sunda woodpecker 6 5
2 Common kingfisher - 4
3 Stork-billed kingfisher 1 1
4 White-throated kingfisher 7 9
5 Collared kingfisher 4 7
6 Blue-throated bee-eater 2 -
7 Asian koel 3 5
8 House swift - 2
9 Rock pigeon 25 18
10 Spotted dove 11 12
11 Zebra dove - 2
12 Pink-necked green pigeon - 10
13 White-breasted waterhen 5 13
14 Common redshank - 4
15 Common greenshank - 4
16 Common sandpiper - 11
17 Pacific golden plover - 11
18 Little tern 15 4
19 Brahminy kite - 1
20 White-bellied sea eagle 2 -
21 Little egret 30 19
22 Grey-heron 7 20
23 Purple heron 1 2
24 Striated heron 30 39
25 Black-crowned night heron - 1
26 Golden-bellied gerygone 1 1
27 Long-tailed shrike 1 -
28 House crow 18 33
29 Black-naped oriole 6 8
30 Pied fantail - 3
31 Common iora 1 4
32 Asian glossy starling 6 3
33 Common myna 4 4
34 Javan myna 34 43
35 Barn swallow - 2
36 Pacific swallow 3 3
37 Red-whiskered bulbul 1 -
38 Yellow-vented bulbul 11 20
39 Yellow-bellied prinia 6 7
40 Common tailorbird 7 13
41 Ashy tailorbird 3 2
42 Scarlet-backed flowerpecker 3 -
43 Plain-throated sunbird 5 8
44 Olive-backed sunbird 12 15
45 Eurasian tree sparrow 2 25
46 Baya weaver - 9
47 Javan munia - 12
48 Scaly-breasted munia 3 3
49 White-headed munia 4 11
Total species 35 44
Total no. 280 433

Finally, here's an update on status of this place. The construction of a overhead bridge linking Old Tampines Road to Sengkang is underway. Hopefully, the rest of this place will be left intact..