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.
