Simpang 01Oct05

From KH

It was again another good day. Danny picked Yamane and I up at Yishun MRT station. By time we reached the fire station, Kong is already there setting up his scope. So the four of us headed towards the beach by taking the narrow grassy path along the canal. As we walked along, we saw White-throated and Collared Kingfishers. Then some Common Sandpipers were seen in the canal. And there were quite a number of Pink-necked Green Pigeons on the park connector side of the canal. Later, we realized that the canal is Sungei Simpang Kiri.

There were also Scaly-breasted Munias, Brown Shrikes and an Asian Koel there. Then a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagles flew past. Later on, a Little Egret flew past too. As we continued on the trail, we saw a few waders, namely Little Ringed Plovers and Common Greenshanks. Yamane pointed out a large bird flying across, it turned out to be a Stork-billed Kingfisher, with its characteristically large bill. Later, we also saw a Common Kingfisher. That was four species of kingfishers in two hours! Three species of woodpeckers were also seen, namely Common Famebacks, Sunda Woodpeckers and a male Laced Woodpecker. Also seen was a Purple-backed Starling hanging out with a bunch of Asian Glossy Starlings.

Soon we reached the beach. Seeing that there was nothing at the beach except for some rubbish and dogs, we decided to follow a narrow trail into the Simpang open space. The first birds to catch our attention were some Black-winged Kites. As we tailed the bird, we saw one carrying nesting material later. Seeing that the open space is too hot for us to walk all the way to the forested area, we decided to back track along the canal instead. As we were walking through the bush, a Lesser Coucal flushed.

Bottle Tree Village and the Bottle Trees (Brachychiton Rupestris) themselves

Sungei Simpang

Common Greenshanks and a Marsh Sandpiper

Common Greenshanks flying off

As we backtracked, we saw a small flock of Common Greenshanks. Upon closer inspection, we found a smaller wader among them. It turned out to be a Marsh Sandpiper. Try to spot the sandpiper in the photo above. Every time we tried to get closer to them, they flew further away while making their teu-teu-teu call (as if scolding us in Cantonese). Then we flushed a Black-crowned Night Heron. Finally, we reached somewhere close to the starting point and saw a trail that we could bash through to get to the forested area. The Forest Wagtail was still there. So were Pied Trillers, Common Ioras, Common Flamebacks and Striped Tit-babblers. We were missing the Asian Paradise Flycatcher though. Then the fire station clock alarm went off, reminding us that it was lunchtime. So we left the area and head out to the closest coffeeshop.

After lunch, Danny and I bid Kong and Yamane farewell and we went in search of the elusive Simpang entrance. When we reached the road between Agilent and AMC, we hit jackpot because we saw an opened gate. It was just beside the heavy vehicle carpark. So we drove in and found the wide open space with many tracks. As we cruise along we saw open water. It turned out to be Sungei Simpang. The only new bird we saw in the afternoon was a Baya Weaver, making a total of 39 birds. The other reward from this after-lunch recce was a close-up shot of a Lesser Coucal just 2 m away from us. The white streaks can clearly be seen here.

Lesser Coucal

01. House crow
02. Javan myna
03. Barn swallow
04. Yellow-vented bulbul
05. House swift
06. Black-naped oriole
07. Olive-backed sunbird
08. Plain-throated sunbird
09. Asian koel
10. Pink-necked green pigeon
11. Zebra dove
12. Spotted dove
13. Black-crowned night heron
14. Little egret
15. Eurasian tree sparrow
16. Asian glossy starling
17. Purple-backed starling
18. Striped tit-babbler
19. Collared kingfisher
20. Stork-billed kingfisher
21. Common kingfisher
22. White-throated kingfisher
23. Laced woodpecker
24. Sunda woodpecker
25. Common flameback
26. White-bellied sea eagle
27. Black-winged kite
28. White-breasted waterhen
29. Brown shrike
30. Common iora
31. Pied triller
32. Forest wagtail
33. Scaly-breasted munia
34. Lesser coucal
35. Baya weaver
36. Marsh sandpiper
37. Little ringed plover
38. Common greenshank
39. Common sandpiper