Sungei Serangoon 21Mar10

From KH

While doing bird census at Sungei Serangoon, a jogger told me that there's a python in the canal. By the time I got to it, the snake has almost totally got out of the canal. The Reticulated Python slowly crawled into the grass and then into the undergrowth. It's estimated to be 2-3 m long.

All this while, the birds were really upset by the presence of the python. A few Striated Herons, a Pond Heron and a pair of White-breasted Waterhens took turn screaming at the python and even attempted to attack it. What an amazing encounter with this rare snake!

Bird-wise, this is the highest species count I've here - 50 in total. It has been a while since I last saw the introduced Sooty-headed Bulbul here. Common migrants were still present, 10 of them to be exact - Marsh Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Pacific Golden Plover, Pintail Snipe, Pond Heron, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Brown Shrike, ABFC and Arctic Warbler.

Danny did the census at Poyan as usual. Con had to give it a miss due to a sore foot. The count at Poyan was also high at 54. Both Blue-tailed and Blue-throated Bee-eaters were around. Migrant-wise, there were 7: Indian Cuckoo, Black Baza, Yellow Bittern, Cinnamon Bittern, Brown Shrike, Ashy Minivet and ABFC.