Neo Tiew 04Dec22

From KH

Danny and I started the day's birding at Bollywood Veggies. Best bird today: Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, albeit far and not so cooperative.

Some raptors today: adult Brahminy Kite and a couple of Oriental Honey-Buzzards.

Good that ebird allows white egret sp. option.

No price for guessing male or female Wild Pig.

Common tree here: African Tulip.

Next 2 stops at Neo Tiew Harvest Lane and Turut Track didn't give much returns too.

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

Changi 02Feb13

From KH

Started the day at Changi Cove. Highlights were a pair of Rosy Starlings and a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo.

There were not many raptors around, but glad the Black Bazas and some accipiters were still there. There were no other birders/photographers in the cove today!

After the cove, went searching for old Changi Hospital, but ended up at Hendon Road. Love was in the air - Coppersmith Barbets were digging a tree hole and Brown-throated Sunbirds were nesting already.

However, a pair of Pacific Swallows were not talking to each other.

A very confiding male Oriental Pied-hornbill perched for full frame shot.

After a while, he spit out a 2-3 cm seed. Wonder what fruit it belongs to.

As the weather was rather hot, we went to Changi Beach Club for a drink. Some Great Crested Terns could be seen from the boardwalk, but no Black-naped Tern.

Finally, at the old Changi Hospital entrance, there were only an Asian Brown Flycatcher, three Brahminy Kites and a pair of courting Spotted Doves.

From Danny

Rosy Starling

SBWR, NTL2, Bidadari 05Nov11

From Con

We entered SBWR early looking for the stilt, but no show, so we started walking towards 1C. That’s when we saw a very brown looking kingfisher. I only had my bins, so I left the group and went back to the car to get my camera. Upon return I took this first photo.

It does look rather like a Brown-winged Kingfisher. Then the bird turned and I took another photo.
Oops, just a very wet Stork-billed Kingfisher.

From Danny

Record shot of size comparison between Grey-headed Lapwing with the smaller PGP and the larger Little Egret.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo at SBWR.

Another record shot of the nape differences between the Whiskered Tern on the left and the White-winged Tern on the right.

The next two are front and back views of the most popular flycatcher (Brown-chested Jungle-flycatcher) at Casperland.

From JS

I found this odd-looking swiftlet in a flock of swiftlets at the sluice gate between Main Hide and Hide 1C. Seeing that the flock of swiftlets (including this leucistic individual) had distinctly forked tail and dark rumped, I spared some time to photograph the swiftlets while Con, Kok Hui and my father went ahead. Unlike the usual notched-tail and white-rumped swiftlets which I am accustomed to, these swiftlets were different, even for the non-leucistic variant.

Leucistic Swiftlet.

Typical Swiftlets.

From KH

Con, Danny, JS and I started off at SBWR before heading to NTL2. JS left before lunch and the rest headed to Bidadari.

Highlights:
1) Grey-headed Lapwing at SBWR
2) Whiskered Terns at Kranji Reservoir
3) Brown-chested Jungle-flycatchers at Bidadari

SBWR:
1) Grey-headed Lapwing 1 immature
2) Red-necked Stint 1
3) Broad-billed Sandpiper 1
4) Stork-billed KF 1 wet individual
5) Oriental Pied Hornbill 1
6) Emerald Dove 1
7) Chestnut-winged Cuckoo 1
8) Black Baza 1
9) Brahminy Kite 1
10) WBSE 1 juv
and storks, the other usual waders, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Arctic Warbler, Common Ioras, tailorbirds, sunbirds, etc.

NTL2:
1) Whiskered Tern >5
2) White-winged Tern >2
3) Little Tern >4
4) Yellow Bittern 1 juv
5) CHE 1 heard
6) WBSE 2 immature
7) BWK 1
8) Yellow Wagtail 2
and the usual Common Sandpiper, egrets (Intermediate, Cattle, Little), swallows, pipits

Bidadari:
1) Emerald Dove 1
2) Indian Cuckoo 2
3) Black Baza 10
4) Sparrowhawk sp. 1
5) Ferruginous Flycatcher 1
6) Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher 2
and Tanimbar Corella, Asian Koels, Dollarbirds, White-throated Kingfisher, Tiger Shrike, the other usual flycatchers (Yellow-rumped, Asian Brown), Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Arctic Warblers, Common Ioras, Oriental White-eyes, tailorbirds, sunbirds, flowerpeckers, etc.

Whiskered Terns at NTL2. Adult non-breeding

and immature.

Orange Mud Crab at SBWR.

Poyan 01Jan10

From Danny

Today, no Jerdon's Baza or Duck. The highlite was a GHFE being mobbed by 2 WBSE over at Poyan's Temple Hill. No migrant raptor just the local raptors namely 1 GHFE, 2 WBSE, 3 CHE & 2 Brahminy Kites. Another hi-lite was a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo feeding on a large thorny caterpillar.

Thx to inputs from Ben, Prof. Wee and Dr Leong Tze Ming, the caterpillar has been id as Privet Hawk Moth (Psilogramma menephron). I have updated the text in the video to reflect the fact that the caterpillar is not spiny as mentioned. The squeezing and banging actions by the cuckoo were to remove the unpalatable gut contents/faeces thru the posterior end before consumption. Smart Cuckoo!

Bidadari 02Dec09

From Con

Finally I got a bad record shot of the CWC (heavily cropped).  Even though the bird was far away, high in a tree and I didn't move, the bird still flew away higher and perched against the white sky briefly and then flew further away.  Same general area as it's been seen for the past week or so.

Poyan 01Jan09

From Danny

Went to Poyan and CCK this morning to look for Jerdon, anniversary of my first sighting in 2006. Construction was heavy going with never ending trucks rolling across the favorite pond, hence did not try to approach the area and remained to the finge areas. No luck with raptors, only noteworthy bird was a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo. This bird only active after 9.30 am around the footpath just beyond the entrance trail. When I left it was still around.

Raptor list:

1) Black Baza - 2 (only migrants)
2) Brahminy Kite, juv - 1
3) WBSE - 1
4) CHE, dark morph - 1
5) GHFE - 1

Poyan 23Mar08

Danny did the Annual Bird Census as usual at Poyan. The species count was 1 more than last year, but the abundance count was slightly lower. In place of the Indian, Plaintive and Violet Cuckoos is a single Chestnut-winged Cuckoo. However, Danny was there last Sat morning (15Mar) and the Violet and Little Bronze Cuckoos were around. Like Sungei Serangoon, the bee-eaters are missing from this year's count. Other birds of note are 1 Slaty-breasted Rail, 1 Common Snipe, 1 Changeable Hawk Eagle, 5 Ashy Minivets.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

1 Laced Woodpecker 3
2 Common Goldenback 5
3 Lineated Barbet 3
4 Coppersmith Barbet 1
5 Oriental Dollarbird 2
6 White-Throated Kingfisher 2
7 Collared Kingfisher 5
8 Chestnut-Winged Cuckoo 1
9 Asian Koel 4
10 Greater Coucal 1
11 Lesser Coucal 2
12 Rose-Ringed Parakeet 2
13 Red-Breasted Parakeet 8
14 Long-Tailed Parakeet 10
15 Swiftlet Spp 10
16 Spotted Dove 12
17 Zebra Dove 2
18 Pink-Necked Green Pigeon 11
19 Slaty-Breasted Rail 1
20 White-Breasted Waterhen 3
21 Common Snipe 1
22 Brahminy Kite 2
23 Changeable Hawk-Eagle 1
24 Striated Heron 1
25 Yellow Bittern 1
26 Golden-Bellied Gerygone 2
27 Brown Shrike 1
28 House Crow 3
29 Black-Naped Oriole 4
30 Pied Triller 1
31 Ashy Minivet 5
32 Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo 1
33 Common Iora 5
34 Oriental Magpie-Robin 2
35 Asian Glossy Starling 16
36 Common Myna 2
37 White-Vented Myna 22
38 Pacific Swallow 6
39 Straw-Headed Bulbul 1
40 Yellow-Vented Bulbul 20
41 Common Tailorbird 3
42 Dark-Necked Tailorbird 1
43 White-Crested Laughingthrush 1
44 Scarlet-Backed Flowerpecker 1
45 Brown-Throated Sunbird 1
46 Olive-Backed Sunbird 3
47 Eurasian Tree Sparrow 6
48 Scaly-Breasted Munia 6
Total No. 207

Changi, Pulau Punggol 01Mar08

From KH

The weather wasn't great, but the birds were - both at CC and PP (Pulau Punggol). Did not have a chance to check out the waders at CC due to the heavy rain. But had a great time chasing harriers. We had 3 Pied Harriers as well as 3 Eastern Marsh-harriers. Harrier photos by Lau JS.

Female Eastern Marsh-harrier

Male Eastern Marsh-harrier

Immature male Eastern Marsh-harrier

Female Pied Harrier

Juvenile Pied Harrier

The crakes and buttonquails did not make any appearance at PP, but a thermalling Booted Eagle and a beautiful Chestnut-winged Cuckoo were great company. Following three photos by Lau JS.

Pale morph Booted Eagle thermalling

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

CC
1 Grey Heron
2 Purple Heron (1)
3 Little Egret
4 Cattle Egret
5 Black-winged Kite (several pairs nesting)
6 Pied Harrier (2F, 1 juv)
7 Eastern Marsh-harrier (1M, 2F)
8 Lesser Sand-plover
9 Malaysian Plover
10 Pacific Golden-plover
11 Common Greenshank (1)
12 Zebra Dove
13 Spotted Dove
14 Red Collared-dove
15 Lesser Coucal
16 White-throated Kingfisher
17 Blue-tailed Bee-Eater
18 House Crow
19 Long-tailed Shrike (1)
20 Siberian Stonechat (h)
21 Javan Myna
22 Common Myna
23 Barn Swallow
24 Pacific Swallow
25 Yellow-vented Bulbul
26 Zitting Cisticola
27 Yellow Wagtail (5)
28 Paddyfield Pipit
29 White-headed Munia (hundreds)
30 Scaly-breasted Munia
31 Eurasian Tree Sparrow

PP
32 Striated Heron
33 Osprey (1)
34 Black Baza (3)
35 Brahminy Kite
36 Booted Eagle (1)
37 White-bellied Fish-eagle
38 White-breasted Waterhen
39 Long-tailed Parakeet
40 Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (1)
41 Asian Koel
42 Collared Kingfisher
43 Dollarbird
44 Common Flameback
45 Coppersmith Barbet (1)
46 Black-naped Oriole
47 Brown Shrike
48 Oriental Magpie-robin (1)
49 Common Tailorbird (1)
50 Yellow-bellied Prinia (h)