Changi, Pulau Punggol 17Nov12

From JS

Today, my father and I decided to do our "ritualised" annual one-day raptor species count. The plan did not really change much over the years. It was still the "morning at Changi (CC) and afternoon at Pulau Punggol (PP)". The main differences for this year's count are the absence of KH, Con and the Jerdon's Baza. While the weather played a part to disrupt the count, my father and I are clearly short-handed at Changi in spotting the birds, missing a couple of middle-storey skulkers that may have been a Jerdon's or two. Additionally, the "discovery" of a shallow freshwater pond (with water and freshwater waders) at Pulau Punggol distracted us from our intent.

The sole plus point at PP is seeing the white wagtail which I missed at Bishan last year.

Here's the summary of the raptor count:

1) Black-winged Kite (CC: >2, PP: 2)
2) Brahminy Kite (CC: 1)
3) Oriental Honey Buzzard (CC: 3, including 1 adult male pale morph, 1 juv rufous morph and 1 juv pale morph)
4) Common Buzzard (CC: 3, including 2 pale-morph and 1 dark-morph)
5) Black Baza (CC: >10, PP: 3)
6) White-bellied Sea Eagle (CC: 2, PP: 3)
7) Changeable Hawk Eagle (CC: 3)
8) Osprey (PP: 1)
9) Chinese Sparrowhawk (CC: 2, including 1 immature female)
10) Japanese Sparrowhawk (CC: 1 juv female)

Other noteworthy species:
CC - Juvenile Rosy Starling (Seen only by Kim Keang), Ruddy-breasted Crake (1)
PP - Little Ringed Plover (5), Wood Sandpiper (>7), Common Sandpiper (>4), Oriental Pratincole (5), White Wagtail (3)

Besra: Bottom, Side and Top views.