Sime Forest 19Nov05

From Con

Rifle Range Trail, 7 am: Danny, Jia Sheng, Kong, Kok Hui, Con & Marisol: A rather cloudy morning, with not much good light for photography, but quite a chorus of drongos. Drongos everywhere, many Dollarbirds & Hill Mynas too. Walked to Jelutong Tower, not too many other species. On the way back, took the side trail to the reservoir where there was a bonanza of species on a fruiting tree. Everyone got a look at an Asian Fairy-bluebird, quite a sight.

Satisfied with our Asian Fairy-bluebird sighting!

From KH

We met at the Rifle Range carpark, where Long-tailed Macaques were doing their monkey business. One of them even ripped open a beer can! We took the trail to the drain, detoured to Jelutong Tower and then back to the drain to the reservoir. The first bird to greet us was a Banded Woodpecker. Followed by Blue-tailed Bee-eaters. Most of the time the Hill Mynas could only be heard, today we saw quite a few of them. JS spotted a female Emerald Dove along the trail. Then another one. Normally you wouldn't see them as they would be flushed out by joggers/cyclists. Apparently the early bird does catch the great stuffs!

At Jelutong Tower, only some female Pink-necked Green Pigeons and a Purple Heron flying pass to console us. The drain offered some actions: fruiting tree with Asian Paradise Flycatchers, an Asian Fairy Bluebird, Olive-winged Bulbuls, warbler and malkoha. As we were enjoying the sight of the beautiful fairy bluebird, a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo flew overhead calling away, as if commanding our attention! At the reservoir, no White-bellied Sea-eagle, but their nest was clearly visible. A Crimson Sunbird was feeding away, ignoring our presence. It was just 1 m away.

Female Emerald Dove ©Con Foley

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo ©Tan KH

Olive-winged Bulbul ©Con Foley

The last creature to captivate us was not a bird, but a caterpillar. It has some form of camouflage. It has a tail that looks like a leaf stalk. It put on a show for us, climbing down the tree from a thin strand of silk, landed on the ground and then went up again.

Checking out the caterpillar

Caterpillar ©Tan KH

We finished the day with lunch at Turf City. The Foleys and I left as we had our own appointments. Danny, JS and Kong continued birding.

From Danny

Last weekend weather relatively dull for birding. JS and myself reached the Kranji Loop shoreline around 5 pm, thinking we were late (low tide at 1836 hr) but were surprised by relatively low shore bird counts. With booties, we tried to get nearer to the waterline but the conditions were simply too soggy as we got further from the shoreline. Other than the usual Little Herons, egrets, Common Sandpipers, W/t Kingfishers ... no raptors or waders, nothing exciting. With the weather getting gloomy we tried to keep busy freeing a few out of many trapped horseshoe crabs - the nets stretched beyond 100 feet! Up till then only memorable moment was when a Great Egret standing next to a little one, truly no doubt who was Goliath. Just we were about to slog back, flocks of waders started to fly in from the direction of S. Mandai (no doubt likely to be roosting mudflats). Wonderful sights to behold as flocks of Whimbrels, sandpipers, PGP, & a few Bar-tailed Godwits (distinctive barred tails) landed at the mudflats. Fading lights and grey sky forced us to retreat as flocks of waders continue to stream in.

There must be a better ground to observe these waders! Looking over the left bank of the canal, we saw a forlorn jetty but there were two guys fishing. Next time we could get over there to have better view without getting muddy. Both Kong and Yamane-san's scopes will be handy.

Sime Forest
1 Banded woodpecker
2 Blue-tailed bee-eater
3 Hill myna
4 Greater racket-tailed drongo
5 Long-tailed parakeet
6 Dollarbird
7 Striped tit-babbler
8 Scarlet-backed flowerpecker
9 Asian glossy starling
10 White-bellied sea eagle (heard)
11 Emerald dove
12 Pink-necked green pigeon
13 White-throated kingfisher
14 Purple heron
15 White-breasted waterhen (heard)
16 Arctic warbler
17 Chestnut-bellied malkoha
18 Asian paradise flycatcher
19 Asian fairy bluebird
20 Olive-winged bulbul
21 Crimson sunbird
22 Common tailorbird
23 Brown-throated sunbird

En-route to Turf City
24 Paddyfield pipt
25 Javan myna
26 Eurasian tree sparrow
27 House crow

Mandai Mudflat
28 Striated heron
29 Little egret
30 Great egret
31 Common sandpiper
32 Whimbrel
33 Pacific golden plover
34 Bar-tailed godwit