Rifle Range, SBWR, NTL2 19Mar16

From KH

Danny and I spent the day chasing phantoms, namely Little green-pigeon at Jelutong Tower and Lesser adjutant at Sungei Buloh and Neo Tiew.

Nicholas and See Toh were also at the tower. There were the usual resident flowerpeckers (Orange-bellied, Scarlet-backed), sunbirds (Crimson, Van Hasselt's, Brown-throated), bulbuls (Cream-vented, Olive-winged), mynas (Hill, Javan), Asian fairy-bluebirds, Blue-winged leafbirds, Greater racket-tailed drongos, Asian glossy starlings, Dark-necked tailorbirds, Dollarbirds, Plaintive cuckoo, Banded woodpecker, Long-tailed parakeets and lots of Pink-necked green-pigeons, but no Little green pigeon. Migrant-wise, we had an Asian brown flycatcher, an Oriental honey-buzzard and the migrant breeders, Blue-throated bee-eaters.

Left: Male Orange-bellied flowerpecker. Right: Male Pink-necked green-pigeon

The "bird" of the day was a 1.5-m-long Oriental whip snake, near Dillenia Hut.

Its lunch - a succulent Common house gecko - was hiding at Dillenia Hut!

Soon it was getting hot. See Toh, Danny and I headed for Sungei Buloh Eagle Point. There were not much bird activities at this time of the day, except for some Olive-backed sunbirds, Common ioras, Ashy tailorbirds, Spotted doves, Collared kingfishers, Sunda woodpeckers, egrets (Little, Great), Common sandpipers and one Common greenshank. We ran into Francis, who was also looking for the adjutant.

Many Little egrets waiting for low tide to start feeding

Common sandpiper assuming breeding plumage

Spotted dove at Eagle Point with no eagle

Then, we had our minute of excitement as a faraway stork flew into view and raise our hope for the adjutant. Alas, it turned out to be a Painted stork or its hybrid.

The highlight at Kingfisher Pod was a young Estuarine crocodile.

An Arctic warbler kept us busy for awhile as we were trying to turn it into something else.

Near the visitor centre, a male Laced woodpecker was busy drumming way.

After lunch at the new visitor centre, we decided to check out the newly-reopened Kranji Marsh. The star here was of course the Black-backed swamphen. We saw a pair at the Swamphen Hide. <Updated on 19 Feb 2023: As fate would have it, this pair turned out to be two separate species! After the split of Purple Swamphen complex to various species, the subspecies in Singapore viridis was initially attributed to Black-backed Swamphen (Porphyrio indicus), but was later moved to Grey-headed Swamphen (P. poliocephalus). The former has a darker face, while the latter has a paler face.>

The Common moorhen seemed to prefer the Swamphen Hide rather than the Moorhen Hide.

This is the time of the year that both bee-eater species can be found in Singapore. Blue-tailed bee-eater (left) eating what else but a bee. "Don't steal my bee!" said the Blue-throated bee-eater (right).

Also showing was a Cinnmon bittern.

Its relative, Yellow bittern, was also around. The other birds here were Scaly-breasted munias, Baya weavers, Yellow-bellied prinias, Asian glossy starlings, tailorbirds (Ashy, Common), Spotted doves, cuckoos (Little bronze, Plaintive), and surprising a female Pin-tailed whydah. I hope NParks will control its population. We do not need another little Africa in Singapore!