Our birding trips

Singapore Bird Race 25-26Oct08

From KH

This year Danny, Con and I again formed the Drongo team to take on the 25^th Annual Bird Race. This is the first time we broke the 100 mark - coming in 4^th with 105 birds. To us, this is already an achievement since the top 3 teams' leaders have been doing serious bird-watching for more than 20 years, while our team only got serious 3 years ago.

The bird race consisted of 13 teams - 8 advanced and 5 novice. The winning team led by Subaraj had 142 birds and he got the Century Award as well. LKS's team snatched the 2^nd position with 123 birds, while his brother took the 3^rd with 120. The Bird of the Day was the Large Hawk Cuckoo sighted by the winning novice team led by Ju Lin.

Summary

Starting at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR) at 1600 on Sat, we ticked 15 birds in 15 mins. Our first bird on the list was none other than the friendly resident Stork-billed Kingfisher. We got all the 8 common waders of SBWR. Moving on to Krangi Nature Trail, we were right behind LKS's team (with Doreen & Chung Cheong). Next, we located the Peregrine Falcon at the Transmission Towers and the Osprey at the Mandai Mudflat. As we entered Murai, a family of 2 adult Slaty-breasted Rails and 3 chicks crossed the path. What a sight! We got 8 birds from here, but not a single munia that we came here for. We had to rush to Tuas before it gets too dark and guess who was already here? LKC's team (with Dingli & James). At night time, we dipped at all the owls... :( By the end of Sat, we had 59 birds on our list.

On Sun, the race continued, starting with Sime Forest which got us 21 birds. The best ones had to be the Emerald Dove, White-rumped Shama and the a flock of 10 Oriental Pratincoles - all sighted in consecutive order at the Jelutong Tower! At Lorong Halus, we ticked another 15 birds. The stars here got to be the 3 raptors (Japanese Sparrowhawk, Black Baza & Black-winged Kite), the Grebe and a Rusty-breasted Cuckoo. Thanks to SC's tipoff, we got the Little Ringed Plover at Pasir Ris Farmway. There were also Yellow Wagtails, Pacific Golden Plovers and Lesser Sand Plovers here! It was now lunch time and we decided to go Changi Village to tick the Tanimbar Corella. At Changi Point, the Black-naped Terns were not home, but 2 Lesser Crested Terns were sighted. At Punggol, we totally dipped at the Munias and Cisticolas! Fortunately, we picked up the Pied Fantail that we missed last year. It was also nice to see an Crested Honey Buzzard and a Japanese Sparrowhawk circling the sky although we already had them on our list. The rest of the afternoon was spent locating specific birds at specific locations. We never learnt our lesson - we went to Bukit Batok Nature Park again and there was not a single bird... again... And so we ended the race with 105 birds on our list, missing again the Yellow Bittern and a few other common birds.

The sites in order of productivity were Sime Forest (21), Lorong Halus (15), SBWR (15), Murai (8), Tuas (8).

Here's the reconstruction of our list:

1 Stork-billed Kingfisher SBWR 1601
2 Marsh Sandpiper " "
3 White-breasted Waterhen " "
4 Little Egret " "
5 Whimbrel " 1605
6 Pacific Golden Plover "/Pasir Ris Farmway "/1130
7 Lesser Sand Plover "/Pasir Ris Farmway "/1130
8 Common Redshank " "
9 Curlew Sandpiper " "
10 Collared Kingfisher " 1610
11 Common Sandpiper " "
12 White-vented Myna " "
13 Brahminy Kite " "
14 Pacific Swallow " "
15 Common Greenshank " "
16 Ashy Tailorbird KNT 1615
17 Black-naped Oriole " "
18 Asian Glossy Starling " 1620
19 Grey Heron " "
20 Lesser Crested Tern " "
21 Spotted Dove Kranji 1630
22 Pink-necked Green Pigeon " "
23 House Crow " "
24 Cattle Egret Transmission Tower 1640
25 Yellow-billed Egret " "
26 Peregrine Falcon " "
27 Barn Swallow " "
28 Striated Heron Mandai Mudflat 1650
29 Osprey " "
30 Common Myna " "
31 Purple Heron " "
32 Little Tern Kranji Dam 1700
33 Paddyfield Pipit NSRCC 1710
34 Yellow Wagtail "/Pasir Ris Farmway "/1130
35 White-bellied Sea Eagle Turut Track 1720
36 Large-billed Crow " "
37 Yellow-vented Bulbul " "
38 Brown Shrike " "
39 Common Goldenback NTL2 1730
40 Long-tailed Shrike " "
41 Slaty-breasted Rail Murai 1740
42 Red-rumped Swallow " 1745
43 Lineated Barbet " "
44 White-throated Kingfisher " "
45 Oriental Magpie Robin " 1750
46 Eurasian Tree Sparrow " "
47 Zebra Dove " "
48 Chinese Pond Heron "/Halus "/1120
49 Red-wattled Lapwing Tuas 1820
50 Savanna Nightjar " "
51 Pin-tailed Snipe " "
52 Oriental Dollarbird " 1830
53 Blue-tailed Bee-eater " "
54 Scaly-breasted Munia " "
55 Lesser Coucal " "
56 Asian Brown Flycatcher "/Halus 1840/1100
57 Large-tailed Nightjar Dover Road 1930
58 House Sparrow PP 2000
59 Black-crowned Night Heron Sungei Serangoon 2300
60 Brown Hawk Owl Rifle Range 0630
61 Collared Scops Owl " 0640
62 Common Hill Myna " 0650
63 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo " "
64 Striped Tit Babbler " 0700
65 Olive-winged Bulbul " "
66 Asian Fairy Bluebird " 0710
67 Brown-throated Sunbird " "
68 Asian Emerald Dove Jelutong Tower 0720
69 White-rumped Shama " "
70 Oriental Pratincole " "
71 Long-tailed Parakeet boardwalk 0730
72 Dark-necked Tailorbird " "
73 Chestnut-bellied Malkoha " 0740
74 Laced Woodpecker " 0750
75 Grey-rumped Treeswift " 0800
76 Blue-throated Bee-eater Jelutong Tower 0820
77 Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker " "
78 Crimson Sunbird " "
79 Crested Honey Buzzard Lornie Road/Punggol 0900/1330
80 Asian Koel Lornie Road 0905
81 Red-breasted Parakeet Lower Peirce/Changi V 0930/1200
82 Red Turtle Dove Halus 1030
83 Little Grebe " "
84 Common Kingfisher " "
85 Arctic Warbler " 1040
86 House Swift " "
87 Common Tailorbird " "
88 Yellow-bellied Prinia " "
89 Black Baza " 1050
90 Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker " "
91 Japanese Sparrowhawk "/Punggol 1100/1330
92 Black-winged Kite " 1110
93 Rusty-breasted Cuckoo " "
94 Sooty-headed Bulbul " "
95 Olive-backed Sunbird " 1120
96 Golden-bellied Gerygone " "
97 Little Ringed Plover Pasir Ris Farmway 1130
98 Common Iora " "
99 Tanimbar Corella Changi V 1230
100 Common Pigeon " "
101 Pied Fantail Punggol 1330
102 Little Spiderhunter MOG 1400
103 Lesser Whistling Duck SBG 1430
104 Straw-headed Bulbul HNP 1530
105 Changeable Hawk Eagle " 1540