Singapore Strait 16Jun12

Con and Danny were on this pelagic trip with Colin et al.

From Colin

On Sat 16th June an NParks sponsored boat went to the vicinity of Horsburgh lighthouse at the eastern end of the Singapore Strait primarily to assess the state of the tern populations.

We recorded the following:
Bridled Tern - c.50 around the lighthouse, an under-estimate as these were primarily birds in flight and many birds were sat on the rocks presumably nesting.
Crested (Swift) Tern - 108 (counted from photos), all in different states of non-breeding plumage and the majority roosting on the Malaysian rocks to the south of the lighthouse.
Lesser Crested Tern - 6 non-breeding plumage birds roosting with some of the above on the lighthouse jetty.
Black-naped Tern - 18
Swiftlet sp. - c.10 around the lighthouse buildings, including birds apparently entering the buildings.

Most surprising above was the numbers of large sternas, which as far as I can ascertain have never been recorded in such numbers in the summer months before around Singapore or the east coast of Pen. Malaysia.

Other than the above the seas were very quiet (with just Little Tern added to the above list), and the only other observation of note was a flock of 8 Pied Imperial-pigeons that flew south over Sisters Islands towards Indonesia soon after dawn. I wonder where they were from or going to?

Singapore Strait 20Aug11

From Colin

The NParks supported monthly Singapore Straits pelagic survey went out again on Saturday and this time we made it all the way to Horsburgh Lighthouse. Highlights were large numbers of Bridled Terns, an adult Long-tailed Jaeger, two different Lesser Frigatebirds and at least one 1st summer Aleutian Tern (which may be a previously undocumented plumage). Thanks as ever to Con Foley for his photos of all the best birds:

Long-tailed Jaeger:
http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/image/137396269
http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/image/137396272

Lesser Frigatebirds:
http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/frigatebird_my
http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/frigatebird_sg

Aleutian Tern:
http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/image/137420001
http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/image/137420002

Our route and the localities of the above are posted on this map link.

In terms of the Bridled Terns there were 80-100 on and around the rocks and buildings of Horsburgh Lighthouse including many birds of the year indicating evidence of successful breeding. There was then a separate feeding flock of about 40 birds comprising largely of young individuals foraging on flotsam along with the Aleutian and 2-3 Common Terns about 18 km west of Horsburgh. In addition throughout the day there were large numbers of predominantly adult birds passing east through the Straits with a final count of 148 birds involved in this movement. We had a day total of six tern species, and that didn't include Lesser Crested!

From Con

http://confoley.com/pelagic-outing-august-2011

From JS

1st Lesser Frigatebird

2nd Lesser Frigatebird

Breeding Common Tern

Immature Bridled Tern

1st Aleutian Tern

2nd Aleutian Tern

From KH

Bridled Tern

Long-tailed Skua

Johor Strait to Horsburgh Lighthouse 10Oct10

From Con

I went with Kim Seng, Alfred Chia and gang from Punggol all the way out to Horsburgh Lighthouse and back, it was a marathon day from 6am until 9pm.  We actually saw one and only one Swinhoe's Storm-petrel right off Changi Cove while waiting for the ICA boat. We also saw 10 or more Aleutian Terns in Malaysian waters on the way to Horsburgh; and we saw quite a few Bridled Terns at Horsburgh as there is a breeding colony there. Another notable bird was a Gull-billed Tern. Then the usual suspects, Great Crested Tern, White-winged Tern, etc.

Common Tern

Pacific Swift

I learned from LTK that the difficulty of getting into Changi Cove is worse than we knew. The bridge across the sandy canal has been removed. So even if you could enter via the KTC gate, you won't be able to cross the canal. So looks like we have to apply for a permit to feed the stray dogs.

Here is a picture of the Singapore skyline taken from at least 20 kilometers out from Singapore at 6:44pm yesterday. We didn't dock in Punggol Marina until 9pm. And also a Google route map of our long journey yesterday.

Attaching report from LKS:

Eleven of us (Alfred Chia, Con Foley, Willie Foo, Kenneth Kee, Lee Tiah Khee, Lim Kim Keang, Wing Chong, Wong Chung Cheong, Yang Pah Liang, Yong Ding Li and myself) spent an entire day on a pelagic trip on 10 October 2010. Our intent was to check out the presence of seabirds between eastern Johor Strait and the eastern end of Singapore Strait.

We started rather early and managed to record several species between Pulau Ubin and Changi Point:

Common Sandpiper - 1
Grey Plover - 6 birds seen off Ubin
Gull-billed Tern - 1 non-breeding bird
Swift Tern - 5
Little Tern - 6
White-winged Tern - 1
White-bellied Sea Eagle - 2
Grey Heron - 3
Barn Swallow - several
Pacific Swallow - a few

The highlight of the early morning was a lone Swinhoe's Storm-petrel seen flying betwen Pulau Tekong Besar and Changi South. It settled in the sea a few times before it was lost to view.

Between Pulau Tekong Besar and Hosrburgh Lighthouse (HL), we saw:

Pied Imperial Pigeon - a flock of 10 seen flying on the approach to HL, heading towards Batam
Pacific Swift - a few seen near HL
Swiftlet spp. - over 100 seen flying south
Gull-billed Tern - 1 non-breeding bird that came near the boat near HL
Swift Tern - estimated 40 birds
Lesser Crested Tern - 5, a few seen on flotsam
Bridled Tern - 20 counted at HL and 20 en-route
White-winged Tern - 20 birds in all, mostly near the Johor coast
Common Tern - 1 non-breeding at HL
Aleutian Tern - groups of 5 and 2 on way to HL and 1 and 8 birds on way back. All birds were believed to be in Malaysian waters between the extreme south-eastern tip of Johor and HL. Highlight of the trip. Some birds were within 50 metres of our boat!
Barn Swallow - hundreds seen flying close to sea in N-S direction

The weather was slightly hazy and very cloudy and the sea was rougher once we got to HL. There were no raptors seen on migration and no marine mammals but overall, the trip was very successful in gaining an insight into seabird presence in the Johor and Singapore Strait during the fall migration.