Sungei Serangoon 25Mar23

From KH

It's Annual Bird Census and I covered Sungei Serangoon as usual.

Adult Black-crowned Night-Heron

Common Sandpiper

Grey Heron. Little Egret

Malaysian Pied-Fantail

Sungei Serangoon 08Oct22

From KH

It's Fall Migration Bird Census, and I covered Sungei Serangoon as usual. Just the usual: https://ebird.org/checklist/S120165112

Black-crowned Night-Heron: You can't see me, you can't see me!

Smooth Otter: Swim Forrest, swim!

Me to the late Asian House Shrew: Rest in peace, little one.

Serangoon Reservoir 17Oct20

From KH

Today is the Annual Bird Census. As usual, I covered Serangoon. First time seeing a Straw-headed Bulbul here!

A migrant Chinese Sparrowhawk.

A migrant Arctic Warbler.

A local Black-crowned Night-Heron.

A local Common Snakehead and an exotic Mayan Cichlid.

And a male White-cheeked Carpenter Bee.

1. Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 2
2. Spotted Dove 2
3. Zebra Dove 4
4. Pink-necked Green-Pigeon 20
5. Asian Koel 4 - Heard
6. dark swiftlet sp. 20
7. White-breasted Waterhen 3
8. Common Sandpiper 2
9. Striated Heron 3
10. Black-crowned Night-Heron 5 - Adults
11. Chinese Sparrowhawk 1
12. White-throated Kingfisher 2
13. Collared Kingfisher 1
14. bee-eater sp. 1 - Heard
15. Dollarbird 1
16. Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker 1 - Heard
17. Common Flameback 1 - Heard
18. Rose-ringed Parakeet 3
19. Red-breasted Parakeet 1
20. Black-naped Oriole 5
21. Malaysian Pied-Fantail 4
22. House Crow 1
23. Common Tailorbird 2
24. Ashy Tailorbird 2
25. Yellow-bellied Prinia 2 - Heard
26. Pacific Swallow 2
27. Straw-headed Bulbul 1 - First time seeing here
28. Yellow-vented Bulbul 5
29. Arctic Warbler 4
30. Swinhoe's White-eye 2
31. Asian Glossy Starling 20
32. Javan Myna 20
33. Asian Brown Flycatcher 1 - Heard
34. Oriental Magpie-Robin 1
35. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker 1
36. Brown-throated Sunbird 2
37. Olive-backed Sunbird 6
38. Eurasian Tree Sparrow 20

Pulau Ubin 24Jun17

From KH

Con, Danny, JS, BJ and I went to Pulau Ubin today.

Grey Heron with Black-crowned Night-herons (adult and juvenile) sharing Pekan Quarry

Dark morph Changeable Hawk-eagle standing guard

Can't resist taking photo of a Dollarbird in good lighting!

Oriental Pied-hornbill - male below shy female

Nesting female Pink-necked Green-pigeon

Pretty Cicada

Black Wood Spider

Sad end for a magnificent Banded Krait...

Recce before Bird Race 11-24Oct08

11Oct08 Sat

From KH

Danny and I did a recce:

MacRitchie: Too many people, too noisy
Lower Peirce (0830-0930): Very nice, 2 Chinese Goshawks, 3 OHB, 2 adult Brahminy, 2 WBSE (1 adult, 1 juv), 1 CHE calling, but no Buffy. Also, Purple Heron, Bee-eaters, Banded wp, Red-rumped Swallow and other common birds.
SBG: No parking! So we didn't stop here. Need another check to see if the Spotted Wood Owl and ducks are still there.
HNP: Red-rumped Swallow, female YRFC, Straw-headed Bulbul, Laced WP, Common Goldenback, SBKF
CG: BCNH (adults and juvs), juv Purple Heron, female YRFC, Common KF.
SBWR: Common KF, the usual waders (8 species)

From Danny

Purple Heron is less common than Grey Heron but it was great to see a juv. Purple Heron and juv. Black-crowned Night-heron on Heron island at Chinese Garden. Interestingly, House Crows were side by side to the the Herons enjoying the cool shade on Heron Island without mobbing them (including an out-of-place Cattle Egret).

Juvenile Purple Heron. Juvenile Black-crowned Night-heron

12Oct08 Sun

From Danny

I went to Fort Canning again to look for Ruddy KF but no luck. The hi-lite was a Crow-billed Drongo. The Dark-sided Flycatcher seen last week around the trash bin was gone as the place was turned into a wedding reception party.

1) yv bulbul 2) rock pigeon 3) collared kf 4) common iora 5) tiger shrike 6) common tailor bird 7) asian brown flycatcher 8) asian paradise flycatcher, female 9) olive backed sunbird 10) brown throated sunbird 11) gerygone 12) koel 13) bn oriole 14) wbse 15) purple backed starling 16) glossy starling 17) eurasian tree sparrow 18) common myna 19) javan myna 20) png pigeon 21) white throated kf 22) oriental white eye 23) scarlet backed flowerpecker 24) striped tit babbler 25) artic warbler 26) crow billed drongo 27) pacific swallow 28) house crow

Juvenile Crow-billed Drongo

Other than birds found a cluster of above bats at Palm valley last Sunday. 1st pic indicates the roosting palm - straight into the shades are the bats. The 2nd pic is another palm with about 4 bats. The main cluster of bats (counted 16) are shown in the 4th pic. There was a single bat hanging alone in another palm, total 21 in all. The last pic shows how it TAB.

18Oct08 Sat

From KH

Con, Danny and I started the day at Rifle Range. 0650 too late for owls. Fruiting tree at PUB pump station yielded Arctic Warblers, 1 APFC, female YRFCs. Ran into Subaraj, as well as his tip-offs - 1 White-rumped Shama and 1 Siberian Blue Robin. Nothing much at MacRitchie Reservoir, except had some fun taking Purple Heron flight shots.

2 adult WBSEs and 2 adult Brahminy Kites at Lower Peirce, but no migrant raptors. Nice to see a Brown Shrike here.

Mousedeer Trail yielded Arctic Warblers, female YRFC, Cream-vented Bulbul.

The 'White-headed Munia' at Punggol is actually a White-capped Munia.

Nice to see 2 Great Crested Terns and 1 LT Shrike.

Lower Seletar tree not fruiting so no point coming here for the race.
Owner of Nature's Niche at Orchidville mentioned Oriental Magpie Robins can be found there.
MOG offered good numbers of Little Spiderhunters (>5) and Crimson Sunbirds (>5)
SBG was quiet, except for 1 lonely LW Duck.
Other than the birds, also had fun shooting Green Crested Lizards and Slender Squirrel.

From Danny

After SBG, I stopped at Little Guilin around 4.15 pm, the adult grey headed fish eagle still around its favourite spot.

19Oct08 Sun

From Danny

Went to PP Wholesale Centre around 9.30 am, took a while to locate the House Sparrows but fairly easy to locate the nests once they were found. Follow a juvenile sparrow back to its nest. There are at least 3 nests around the above lorong of shop units. The nest was active while I was around, the nest is outside the unit premise, immaterial even when unit is close.

However, no luck at West Coast Park, no sign of the LW Ducks. The only interesting bird other than a common kf was an Oriental Reed Warbler that flew across the boardwalk from one reed patch to another, waited half an hour but no sign of it.

20Oct08 Mon

From Con

I went to Loewen Road yesterday morning around 9:00 am, and again yesterday evening around 6:30 pm. Both morning and evening the Hill Mynas were calling, and in the evening they were perched openly in plain sight, four of them.

Neither morning nor evening were the yellow crested cockatoo or the tanimbar corellas around. I drove all around Dempsey road area looking for the corellas but couldn't find any. Normally this should be an easy bird to find since they are very noisy, so perhaps they have moved elsewhere.

But it may be possible to tick the Hill Myna at this location.

21Oct08 Tue

From GC

The bird was still around today at high tide (4 pm).

The white rump further differentiates it from the very similar Far Eastern Curlew.

22Oct08 Wed morning

From KH

I was at the new Admiralty Park trail this morning and met one "Tou Ming". He's a resident of the area and he showed me a LTNJ roosting site, but no good for photography. He also mentioned that there was an Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher! I guess Admiralty Park is a little out of the way, but he did mention about common kf, YRFC. And I saw a few Blue-throated Bee-eaters. Shouldn't they be leaving and the Blue-tailed entering?

Non-avian creatures wise, he warned me of a Black Cobra and a 1-m-long Croc in the area.

22Oct08 Wed evening

From Con

I went to SBG arriving about 6pm. Light rain, the entire time I was there, I think many birds were hiding. No ducks, I walked around the pond looking for them twice, still no ducks. There were two hill mynas plainly visible in a tall tree near Symphony Lake and a white throated kingfisher flew by.

I stayed at the place behind the waterfall until 10 past 7 waiting for the crake. No crake, maybe he figured since it was already raining, no need for more water, I don't.

Walking back to the car at Taman Sari, several LTNJ were heard calling on the lawn near the gazebo on the small hill. I imagine you could walk up there, flush them, and tick them.

24Oct08 Fri

From KH

I checked out the Lesser Whistling-ducks at Yishun this morning and no one was in sight. Either they are still in cosy bed (drizzling) or they had moved house.

Tanjung Tuan Mar06

From Con

Many photos from Raptor Watch, first the birds, then the people ;-) Five pictures of the Oriental Honey-Buzzard, including a close up, and a war veteran.

One picture of a WBSE.

Bird of the trip, Blue-Eared Barbet, a lifer for all of us.

Now the people ... Boys trying Minox bins.

Sunset day one.

Day One score card.

Day Two, John Arifin at the light house.

Danny Lau at the light house.

Peck Chan & Jimmy Chew (behind the monster camera).

Lots of birding equipment poised for action.

Peak activity around 12:30PM on Sunday, there are about 50 raptors in this photo.

Retreating into the shadows in a lull in the action.

Yamane Yoshio on the lookout.

Just me.

A couple of Pigeon-Holes:- Ashley Ng.

Morten Strange & family.

A couple of MNS birders from Kuching, TT King & friend.

Dr Yap Lip Kee & John Arifin @ Yong Peng

Rice Wine Chicken & other goodies at Or Hwu restaraunt in Yong Peng

From Danny

Well only two photos to share but there were many exciting birding moments & apportunities to meet new friends. I had a lot of fun, enjoy the good company & wonderful memories.

Marisol,
Very thoughtful of you to prepare such delicious sandwiches, chicken salads, autumn grapes....... ....When we were almost roasted with no sign of the raptors, your cold chicken salads were godsend & b4 we could finish, the raptor waves swept in. If not for the big guns pointing skyward, I'm sure they would swoop down & join us. According to Yamane's thick book the Grey-faced Buzzards are in Philippines, so maybe you could spot a couple of hundreds - we didn't spot any over here.

Black-thighed falconet

Condensed version of Yamane's "brick" book of Raptors

From Yamane

Yong Pong: Colony of purple herons/black-crowned night herons

Brown shrike

Purple heron

Black-crowned night-heron

At the entrance of Ilham Resorts

At the entrance of the way to Light-house

MNS's festival for Raptor Watch

After dinner

Sunset

Common mynas

Dollarbird

At the Light-house (Thanks for MNS's courtesy)

Many Raptors are coming.

MNS members and others

Blue-eared barbet

Against the background of the Light-house

Raptors

At Yong Pong
1) Purple heron
2) Black-crowned night-heron
3) Yellow bittern
4) Brown shrike
5) House crow
6) Yellow-bellied prinia
7) Asian glossy starling
8) Common myna
9) Javan myna
10) Barn swallow
11) House sparrow

At Tanjung Tuan
1) Blue-eared barbet
2) Dollarbird
3) White-throated kingfisher
4) Collared kingfisher
5) Blue-tailed bee-eater
6) Fork-tailed swift
7) House swift
8) Spotted dove
9) Zebra dove
10) Oriental honey-buzzard
11) White-bellied sea eagle
12) Chinese goshawk
13) Black-thighed falconet
14) House crow
15) Black-naped oriole
16) Greated racket-tailed drongo
17) Oriental magpie robin
18) Asian glossy starling
19) Common myna
20) Javan myna
21) Barn swallow
22) Pacific swallow
23) Yellow-vented bulbul
24) Common tailorbird
25) Ashy tailorbird
26) Olive-backed sunbird
27) House sparrow