Goldhill Ave 1May12

From Danny

Following Alan's message, drop in this morning for my first visit to this birding location. Gregarious Long-tailed Parakeets and screeching Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots were flying across the open area over the "circle"( better views of the hanging parrots at shorter trees over at the children playground). A pair of OP Hornbills turned up before retreating to the Albizia trees along Malcolm Road by the nosiy Tanimbars. No sign of the Lorikeets but there was a pair of Rose-ringed Parakeets before a pair of African Grays flew in and chased away a single Tanimbar Corella. A few rally calls later, reinforcement arrived and the Grays had to retreat.

Heard the calls of the Crested Serpent Eagle in the distance but did not turn up. A round of alarm calls by the Yellow-crested Cockatoos alerted me to the presence of an adult Crested Goshawk who gamely tried to ignore the noisy cockatoos but quit and flew off after about 30 seconds. Too bad I don't have my scope with me.

Generally the open sky and crown level of the tall trees were dominated by the Long-tailed parakeets with the mid-level by the Tanimbars and Cockatoos. The residents are obvious nature lovers with a nearby community garden where they grow vegetables/flowers - litter free pavement with no sign of cleaners around. The friendly residents I spoke with were pretty upset by the recent felling of at least 4 mature trees where the Hornbills, Eagles and Kites used to perch (resident/regular birders please correct me) . The sawn trunks look pretty healthy to me. It takes 30 years to grow a mature tree, only half an hour to cut it down, sigh !

Anyway it's a nice place to bird, certainly an alternative to nearby Botanical Garden if time an issue in busy Singapore.