Turut Track, Tuas, Pulau Punggol 13Dec14

From KH

Danny, JS and I started the morning at Turut Track. Firstly, a Rusty-rumped Warbler welcomed us. It was pretty responsive to JS's "chacking".

Then a crake caught our attention. I turned out to be a rare migrant Baillon's Crake!

Also present was a pair of resident White-browed Crakes.

It was interesting to observe the interaction between the two species. The Baillon's Crake is smaller than the residents and whenever it gets too close to them, it will be chased off. At a point in time, they were busy minding their own business, foraging on the floating vegetation. Then the migrant and a resident locked eyes, and the latter began chasing the migrant off! On JS's intel, CH showed up and managed to get the rare migrant before the contractors started cutting the reeds.

In Kranji Marsh, JS spotted some Pygmy Halfbeaks.

Before we left, a Black-browed Reed Warbler made an appearance. Raptor-wise, we had 1 Black Baza, 1 Grey-headed Fish Eagle, 1 adult White-bellied Sea Eagle, 1 Brahminy Kite, 1 accipiter.

Moving on to Tuas, we met See Toh. He told us there was nothing in the woods. Sure enough, we found out the reason, a Japanese Sparrowhawk hiding in the woods. In the sky, we managed to count 3 Oriental Honey Buzzard, 1 Changeable Hawk Eagle, 4 Black-winged Kite, 2 Brahminy Kites (nesting), 1 White-bellied Sea Eagle.

After lunch, I headed to Pulau Punggol and found that there is now a new pond near the entrance. The old pond has been filled in and is now just a few shallow puddles. Initially, in the new pond, I found a couple of Little Ringed Plovers. Then one of the plovers flushed and together with it, three smaller waders trailed behind. These got to be stints. Scanning the pond further revealed nine more LRP and another stint. Now, I am able to observe it and confirm it's a Long-toed Stint.

There were also 2 Common Sandpipers and many Yellow Wagtails.