Halus, Pulau Punggol 14Dec13

From JS

Today, we continued with our search for the Pied cuckoo. Starting at the old Lr Halus moorhen pond, I was distracted by the calling reed warblers while the others went to search for any sign of the cuckoo. Without my recorder and playback, I was only able to phish out the Black-browed Reed Warblers (4 in total). There were several other skulkers calling and one appeared to be a darkish-crowned black-browed.. Without playback and recorder, I was unable to do more than what I have done. However, the site showed some promise as amongst the cattails, there are some phragmites, the preferred vegetation of the Manchurian Reed Warbler. Since neither of us had any success, we wanted to move on to another site but being temptingly close to the dam, we decided to give another go at the access road.

That decision turned out to be right. Upon arrival, my father spotted the Streaked Weaver amongst the Baya Weavers and I was duly rewarded with a back view of one streaky individual that stood out from the other weavers by its intensely streaky head and inobvious supercilium. (On hindsight, what I thought I saw was a yellow-fronted canary on last Saturday was in fact the Streaked Weaver...) That's going to be no. 300 for me... Then, the Pied Cuckoo was still not showing. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait much longer before Kok Hui and my father spotted the bird flying in, opposite of the bare tree. As usual, Con had to be away - to get his chair. Fortunately, being on the wrong side of the access road of its favorite bare tree, the bird couldn't resist the temptation and appeared again - much to our delight - on its favorite bare tree. Now, everybody was satisfied with both the views and the photos. Mission accomplished, time for early lunch or...

Pied Cuckoo at Serangoon Tidal Gates ©Tan KH

Just as the access road was temptingly close to Lr Halus old ponds, the bridge was temptingly close to us and we had to do some raptor-watching. Ever since development had started at Pulau Punggol and Changi Cove, the bridge at Lr Halus has become our next prime raptor-watching site. The odd-looking Jap Sparrowhawk that we saw three weeks ago was the starter. Last week, the appearance of 3 Jerdon's Bazas reminded us that Cove was not the only site to see this species on migration. This week, we were hoping was something nice to go along with our Pied Cuckoo. The first raptor that we saw was a sparrowhawk that Chaiyan later helped to identify as a Shikra. "Tail length longer than wing base, spotty streaks, hindneck much darker than headsides."

Shikra? ©Lau JS

As the bird had flown above the bridge, we gave up waiting at the toilet and proceeded to the bridge. About 10 minutes later, we spotted two sparrowhawks chasing one another. The victor stayed in the air while the loser went into hiding. Circling above the treeline, the victor showed us its underparts and upperparts. Based on the underparts, the bird appeared to be a typical juvenile Japanese Sparrowhawk - with an unusually long tail. However, when it showed us its upperparts, its uppertail stood out immediately - 5 dark bands! To make matter more complicated, the bird had an unusually long 6th outer primaries that gives it a "6-fingered" appearance. Hmmm...

Japanese Sparrowhawk ©Lau JS

But, before our minds could wander, 4 sparrowhawks took to the sky. Again, what appears to be the same bird chased the other sparrowhawks away in different directions. This is becoming more exciting. Alas, I was only able to photograph one bird... sigh...

After all the excitement, a lone Oriental Honey Buzzard, and a couple of Savanna Nightjars and snipes entertained us before we finally heeded Con's alarm and went for lunch. The failure to get a shot on all the 4 accipiters and reed warblers was a real party popper for me. Otherwise, all of us had our lifers in the form of the skittish Pied Cuckoo.

Due to trip preparation, Kok Hui did not join our afternoon birding. Just my father and I, we decided to do some car-birding at the cemeteries and Neo Tiew. Maybe it was due to the dark clouds or the drizzle, we did not see any migrant. The sole noteworthy bird was a pair of Asian House Martins seen near Gemala Rd. Unfortunately, just when I had identified the bird by its white underparts, all-dark head (excluding throat) and forked tail, there was a jam behind our car and we had to move on. The two birds did not appear again when we returned to look for it. What a miss... Seeing that the birds were less than willing to appear, we called it a day. The day ended just it began for me.

Summary of raptors seen pm 14/12/13:

Lr Halus
1) Black Baza (7)
2) Oriental Honey Buzzard (1)
3) Chinese Sparrowhawk (1)
4) Japanese Sparrowhawk (>3)
5) Shikra? (1 immature)
6) White-bellied Sea Eagle (2)
7) Brahminy Kite (>2)
8) Black-winged Kite (1)
9) Changeable Hawk Eagle (1)

Other noteworthy birds seen: Pied Cuckoo (1), Streaked Weaver (1), Black-browed Warbler (4), Savanna Nightjar (>4), Pintail/Swinhoe's Snipe (>4)

CCK Cemetery
1) Black Baza (9)
2) Changeable Hawk Eagle (1)
3) Brahminy Kite (>2)

Other noteworthy bird seen: Asian House Martin (2)