Venus Dr, Pulau Punggol 23Feb08

From JS

Today, we went to Sime forest and P. Punggol. The weather was great; no rain from morning to afternoon. Also, the rain came a day earlier, encouraging some ground activity from an Abbott's babbler and the white-rumped shama. For the former, we had some good views but photography in the thickets proved too great a task for me.

The day started with the sighting of two common snipes in the open grass patch beside Venus Dr Carpark. We approach one bird to less than 5 m. Interestingly, it just go lower, trying to hide behind the very short grasses.

Common Snipe

In Sime forest, we did better than in Panti by getting 4 migrants, more than the 3 we got in Panti. The migrants we saw in Sime are Arctic warblers, an asian brown flycatcher, a wingbar-less female yellow-rumped flycatcher and an Oriental honey-buzzard.

At P. Punggol, we had several surprises. First, we saw no rare raptor. Second, a ruddy-breasted crake came so close to me that I could only photograph its head! Third, a pair of barred buttonquails foraging by the road.

Female Barred Buttonquail

Oriental Reed Warbler

Ruddy-breasted Crake

Zitting Cisticola

Sime Forest
1) Pink-necked Green-pigeon
2) Thick-billed Green-pigeon (2)
3) Emerald Dove (1)
4) Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
5) Olive-backed Sunbird
6) Crimson Sunbird (1)
7) Purple-throated Sunbird (2)
8) Javan Myna
9) Hill Myna
10) Asian Glossy Starling
11) Red-crowned Barbet (h)
12) Coppersmith Barbet (1)
13) Pacific Swallow
14) Swiftlet spp.
15) Dollarbird
16) Common Flameback (2)
17) Banded Woodpecker (2)
18) Abbott’s Babbler (1)
19) Chestnut-winged Babbler (h)
20) Striped Tit-babbler
21) Arctic Warbler
22) Common Iora (h)
23) Black-naped Oriole
24) Blue-winged Leafbird (2)
25) Oriental Honey-buzzard (1)
26) White-bellied Sea-eagle (h)
27) Brahminy Kite (1)
28) White-rumped Shama
29) Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo
30) Common Snipe (2)
31) Asian Brown Flycatcher (1)
32) Yellow-rumped Flycatcher (1 female)
33) Large-tailed Nightjar (h)
34) Collared Kingfisher
35) White-throated Kingfisher
36) Blue-crowned Hanging-parrot (3)
37) Long-tailed Parakeet
38) Asian Fairy-bluebird (2)
39) House Crow
40) Ashy Minivet (>5)
41) Olive-winged Bulbul
42) Cream-vented Bulbul
43) Yellow-vented Bulbul
44) Common Tailorbird (h)
45) Dark-necked Tailorbird (h)
46) Rufous-tailed Tailorbird (h)

Pulau Punggol
47) Barred Buttonquail (2)
48) Ruddy-breasted Crake (>5)
49) White-breasted Waterhen (2)
50) Osprey (1)
51) Black-winged Kite (1)
52) Black Baza (3)
53) Common Kingfisher (1)
54) Common Sandpiper (2)
55) Grey Heron (>3)
56) Little Egret
57) Oriental Reed Warbler (>4)
58) Zitting Cisticola
59) Paddyfield Pipit
60) Yellow-bellied Prinia (h)
61) Spotted Dove
62) Zebra Dove
63) Blue-tailed Bee-eater
64) Black-headed Munia (2)
65) Scaly-breasted Munia
66) Baya Weaver
67) Yellow-fronted Canary
68) Asian Koel
69) Lesser Coucal (1)
70) Brown Shrike
71) Oriental Magpie-robin (h)