Hindhede 09Aug25

From KH

Danny and I went to Hindhede Nature Park today. A visit that will not be complete without seeing any Sunda Colugo, and we saw 4!

Immature Greater Racket-tailed Drongo put on quite a show for us.

Sleepy Brown Boobook enjoying the smell outside the toilet.

Hindhede, Dairy Farm 29May22

From KH

Danny and I started the day's birding at Hindhede Nature Park. Got the usual colugo and the not-usually-seen Brown Boobook.

Next, Dairy Farm Nature Park.

Immature male Crimson Sunbird starting to show some red on the throat.

Straw-headed Bulbul usually heard and can sometimes be seen.

Wagler Pit Viper securing itself with its tail for a good rest.

Insect life was in abundance.

Assassin bug Inara flavopicta. Common Blue Skimmer

Ant scavenging on cricket. Pygmy grasshopper

SBG, Hindhede 10Feb18

From KH

Con, Danny and I started off at SBG. The Band-bellied Crake is less skittish now.

The other star birds here were the White-rumped Munias and a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo.

The star fish here are the huge exotic African Walking Catfish (Clarias gariepinus).

SBG

1. 3 Mute Swan
2. 2 Red Junglefowl (Domestic type)
3. 1 Striated Heron
4. 1 Changeable Hawk-Eagle - Heard
5. 1 Red-legged Crake
6. 4 White-breasted Waterhen
7. 1 Band-bellied Crake
8. 6 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
9. 3 Spotted Dove
10. 10 Pink-necked Pigeon
11. 1 Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
12. 1 Asian Koel - Heard
13. 1 Banded Bay Cuckoo
14. 1 Oriental Pied-Hornbill
15. 1 Common Kingfisher
16. 1 White-throated Kingfisher
17. 2 Collared Kingfisher
18. 1 Lineated Barbet
19. 1 Banded Woodpecker
20. 1 Common Flameback
21. 9 Rainbow Lorikeet (Coconut)
22. 4 Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot
23. 2 Common Iora
24. 4 Black-naped Oriole
25. 2 Pacific Swallow
26. 5 Yellow-vented Bulbul
27. 1 Dark-necked Tailorbird - Heard
28. 1 White-crested Laughingthrush
29. 1 Orange-headed Thrush
30. 15 Asian Glossy Starling
31. 1 Common Hill Myna
32. 15 Javan Myna
33. 1 Orange-bellied Flowerpecker - Male
34. 3 Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
35. 2 Plain-throated Sunbird
36. 5 Olive-backed Sunbird
37. 1 Eurasian Tree Sparrow
38. 5 White-rumped Munia

In the afternoon, we went to Hindhede Nature Park. Only 1 Brown Boobook was seen today, but lower.

A dark morph Changeable Hawk-eagle was much higher.

Hindhede

1. 1 Red Junglefowl (Domestic type)
2. 1 Changeable Hawk-Eagle - Dark morph
3. 1 Brown Boobook
4. 30 dark swiftlet sp.
5. 2 Lineated Barbet
6. 1 Blue-winged Pitta - Heard
7. 1 Black-naped Oriole
8. 1 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
9. 1 Yellow-vented Bulbul - Heard
10. 1 Rufous-tailed Tailorbird - Heard
11. 3 Pin-striped Tit-Babbler
12. 10 Asian Glossy Starling
13. 1 Common Hill Myna
14. 2 Javan Myna
15. 1 Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
16. 2 Olive-backed Sunbird

Rifle Range, BTNR, Hindhede 03Feb18

From KH

Danny, JS and I started at Rifle Range today.

Dark-sided Flycatcher

Male Greater Green Leafbird

Red-crowned Barbet singing away

Male Thick-billed Pigeon with Asian Glossy Starling

Rifle Range
1. 7 Pink-necked Pigeon
2. 1 Thick-billed Pigeon
3. 1 Chestnut-bellied Malkoha
4. 1 Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo
5. 15 dark swiftlet sp.
6. 1 Gray-rumped Treeswift
7. 2 Blue-throated Bee-eater
8. 1 Dollarbird
9. 1 Red-crowned Barbet
10. 1 Banded Woodpecker
11. 7 Blue-rumped Parrot
12. 1 Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot
13. 3 Long-tailed Parakeet
14. 3 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
15. 1 Amur/Blyth's Paradise-Flycatcher
16. 1 Yellow-vented Bulbul
17. 3 Olive-winged Bulbul
18. 1 Red-eyed Bulbul
19. 1 Eastern Crowned Warbler
20. 1 Dark-necked Tailorbird
21. 1 Rufous-tailed Tailorbird
22. 6 Pin-striped Tit-Babbler
23. 1 Chestnut-winged Babbler - Heard
24. 1 Dark-sided Flycatcher
25. 2 Asian Brown Flycatcher
26. 1 Siberian Blue Robin - Female
27. 25 Asian Glossy Starling
28. 2 Common Hill Myna
29. 10 Javan Myna
30. 2 Greater Green Leafbird - A pair
31. 3 Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
32. 3 Van Hasselt's Sunbird
33. 2 Crimson Sunbird
34. 1 sunbird sp. - A female gathering nesting material

Next, we moved on to Bukit Timah Cave Trail and found a Spiny Terrapin feeding on jackfruit-like fruit, as well as a stingless bee Tetrigona apicalis Hive.

Bukit Timah Cave Trail
1. 1 Red Junglefowl - Heard
2. 1 Blue-tailed Bee-eater - Heard
3. 1 Lineated Barbet - Heard
4. 1 Banded Woodpecker - Heard
5. 2 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo - Heard
6. 1 Straw-headed Bulbul - Heard
7. 1 Arctic Warbler - Heard
8. 1 Dark-necked Tailorbird - Heard
9. 2 Rufous-tailed Tailorbird
10. 2 Pin-striped Tit-Babbler - Heard
11. 2 Asian Glossy Starling
12. 1 Common Hill Myna - Heard

Con joined us for lunch and we then adjourn to Hindhede Nature Park.

Sleepy pair of Brown Boobook

Straw-headed Bulbuls taking a bath in broad daylight

"Kiss me, mummy!" said the Red-eared Slider

Hindhede Nature Park
1. 1 Red Junglefowl - Heard
2. 1 Changeable Hawk-Eagle - Heard
3. 1 Red-legged Crake
4. 2 Brown Boobook - A pair
5. 20 dark swiftlet sp.
6. 2 Blue-tailed Bee-eater - Heard
7. 1 Dollarbird
8. 2 Lineated Barbet - Heard
9. 1 Common Iora - Heard
10. 1 Black-naped Oriole - Heard
11. 1 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo - Heard
12. 4 Straw-headed BulbulSensitive
13. 1 Pin-striped Tit-Babbler
14. 5 Asian Glossy Starling
15. 1 Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker - Heard

Marina Bay, Chinese Garden 01-02Mar14

From JS

Date: 1/3/14
Location: Marina Bay Sands
1) Oriental Honey-buzzard (1)

Date: 2/3/14
Location: Chinese Garden
1) Oriental Honey-buzzard (2, 1 dark morph male and 1 pale morph)
2) Brahminy Kite (2)

Brown Boobook at Chinese Garden ©Danny Lau

Sime Forest 15Nov07

From Con

Gim Cheong and I went to Sime Forest this morning after 2 previous attempts got rained out. Our mission was to photograph the Brown Hawk-Owl and the Short-tailed Babbler, photo and tape record for the record.

Brown Boobook showed up at the appointed hour 6:20 to 6:25am on the approved perch responding to playback. But very dark and hard to focus, so the picture is not very sharp.

Next the babbler. Starts calling at the correct time, 6:45am, but far away. Doesn't really respond to tape. Gim Cheong records a faint call as evidence. As time goes on, the babbler sounds nearer, so we walk further down the trail. Eventually we see movement in the bushes, and try to take pictures. Very difficult. Now it is starting to get lighter and lighter, and eventually the babbler sits on a perch for a few minutes preening itself, and we get plenty of pictures. Gim Cheong says hey this looks like a Short-tailed Babbler.

So there was a whole flock of about six or so Short-tailed Babblers, and they were very responsive to the correct MP3.

Brown Boobook

Short-tailed Babbler

Sime Forest 02Nov07

From Con

I arrived at Rifle Range car park at 6 am, and walked to the clearing with the stream and the PUB shed, arriving about 6:20 am. Along the way the Brown Boobooks and the Sunda Scops-owls were calling.

At the clearing I tried calling both owls. The scops-owl didn't respond, but the brown hawk flew in to check me out. Then a second one flew in. One was in the tree right over my head, and when I put the torch on him he flew off. The other one was high in a tree on the left, and let me take a couple of snap shots. But it was too far and the light no good so the picture isn't good (I tried to fix the eye shine, not very well), but anyway it was real interesting to see the owl again. Definitely these are the fellows we saw in the bird race. Photo taken at 6:22 am.

Then I went on to the babbler area. The Short-tailed Babbler started calling at 6:43 am and continued calling until 7:40 am when I left. I walked up and down the trail. Sometimes the babbler was deep inside and other times close to the trail. There were at least two babblers calling. At a point in the trail 170 paces before the intersection with the trail going left to Venus drive there is a white porcelain pile of rubbish on the left just off the trail. I built a cairn with a red brick and a couple of pieces of white porcelain. Looks like an old broken toilet or wash basin. It's not biodegradable so it remain there for a long time. Just here I flushed a babbler who was on the trail. Maybe the same fellow we flushed during the bird race. He was not calling.

The broken toilet spot seems to be the epicenter of the babbler calling area. But I could never see the fellow.