Bishan Park 12Apr26

From KH

Danny and I went to Bishan Park to see the pond-herons. Some were still unripe.

Some, like this Javan Pond-Heron, were ripening.

Chinese Pond-Herons were in various stages of ripening.

Nice to see a juvenile Crested Goshawk.

Nice to see Stork-billed Kingfisher too.

Bidadari, Pasir Ris Farmway 18Apr15

From KH

Following report of an Indian Pond-heron in breeding plumage at Bidadari yesterday, Danny and I went to Bidadari for the bird. When we reached, LKK and See Toh were already on site searching for the bird. Soon a few other birders/photographers started showing up. Still the bird was nowhere to be seen.

Nevertheless, 1 Chinese Pond-heron and 2 Tiger Shrikes in breeding plumage were showing, so were a male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Asian Paradise-flycatcher and Arctic Warblers. The local birds also keep us company - Oriental Pied Hornbill, Lineated Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, Common Hill Myna, etc. The only raptor seen today was an immature pale Oriental Honey-buzzard orientalis with very heavily moulted tail.

Then, after 10 am, a photographer spotted the Indian Pond-heron on a tree. Soon the news spread. Con and some birders/photographers started showing up.

In breeding plumage, the bird is unmistakable - pale buff head to breast, and maroon mantle to scapulars.

After 1 hour or so, the bird went into hiding and many of us broke for lunch. All the while, it was on the tree, not tame and on the grass as reported on the previous day. After lunch, Con got a message that the bird was back and on the grass. So back we went.

Not long after, the bird went into hiding on the trees again and it was time to part ways.

While driving home, I decided to check out Pasir Ris Farmway 3, where an Indian Pond-heron had been spotted three years ago. No Indian, but a breeding Javan, a breeding Chinese, and a non-breeding pond-heron were showing well.

The Javan Pond-heron in breeding plumage is also unmistakable - buff head to neck, orange breast, and slaty mantle to scapulars.

The Chinese Pond-heron in breeding plumage is also unmistakable - maroon head to breast, and slaty mantle to scapulars.

However, in non-breeding plumage, all three species look alike.

Also present at the farmway were 2 Little Egrets, 1 Common Sandpiper and 1 Pintail Snipe.

From these views above, it was only possible to narrow down to Pintail/Swinhoe's. Out of a few hundred shots, 1-2 showed signs of the outer pins, narrowing it down to Pintail Snipe. From the shot below, the outer pins could be seen in the water reflection.

This is also a great place to get close-up shots of Grey Herons.

Lastly, a Common Sandpiper and a Little Egret to round things up.

Pasir Ris Farmway 3 5Mar08

From Con

You can see these three types out there, only the cinnamon chest colored bird is definitely a Javan Pond Heron in breeding colors. There is only one, or perhaps two of these birds over there.

What we normally see is the streaked bird, but you can't tell whether this is Javan or Chinese. There are plenty of these fellows over there.

The bird that has some reddish streaks on its neck I believe is a Chinese Pond Heron moulting into breeding colors. I only saw this one fellow.

You need to go +/- 2 hours from low tide, and bring camo cloth or a hide. Stay behind the railing and put camo on your camera and on yourself so the birds will relax come onto the sand bar. Otherwise they are very skittish.

Chinese Pond Heron assuming breeding plumage

Javan Pond Heron in breeding plumage

Non-breeding Pond Heron

Halus, Pulau Punggol, Punggol, Changi 08Mar08

From KH

We started the day at Halus (actually Pasir Ris Farmway 3) for the Javan Pond-heron and sure enough, there were at least 2 of them in breeding plumage. Also present were more non-breeding pond-herons. As always, there's great difficulty to ID the species in non-breeding plumage, so we'll leave them at that. Besides the various species of herons and egrets, there were also waders and a handsome Common Kingfisher in the canal.

Javan Pond-heron ©Lau JS

Moving on to Halus proper, we were disappointed to see the polluted state of the Moorhen Pond... Fortunately, the Grebe Pond is holding out and still offered us 2 breeding Little Grebes. By 0830, we were ready to roll on for our Booted Eagle at where else but Punggol Island, however not before waving goodbye to a breeding Chinese Pond-heron by the side of the road.

At Punggol Island, the Booted Eagle made its appearance again! This time a dark/rufous morph. We saw it in the sky and quickly got off the cars to take a closer look. Immediately, the raptor got spooked and flew towards Johor. We thought we have lost it, but unexpectedly, it u-turned halfway in the straits and headed towards us! The cameras were back in action again. 2 Booted Eagles in a single season!! What more can we ask for? Also present were the 3 Black Bazas that had wintered here for the whole season. Of course, the resident raptors were also around. While checking out the Chestnut-winged Cuckoo location, we were being asked to leave the island, but we took a little longer to vacate.

Dark morph Booted Eagle ©Con Foley

Dark morph Booted Eagle ©Fang SC

Along the way to Changi, we dropped by Punggol Grassland but did not see much. A Changeable Hawk-eagle was calling though. The drain is overgrown. Hopefully, the Painted Snipes are back, although we did not see any.

At Changi, we had an exciting day - we got bogged down! Fortunately, we were able to save ourselves and achieve our target - the Oriental Plover, in breeding plumage. However, we dipped at the White-faced Plovers and Red-throated Pipits.

Oriental Plover dwarfing a Lesser Sand-plover ©Lau JS

Oriental Plover ©Lau JS

Female Eastern Marsh-harrier ©Lau JS

3 species of Munias quenching their thirst on a hot afternoon. 1 Scaly-breasted, 3 Black-headed amongst White-headed ©Lau JS

Sanderlings ©Lau JS

Pasir Ris Farmway 3
1 Striated Heron
2 Grey Heron
3 Purple Heron
4 Little Egret
5 Great Egret
6 Javan Pond-heron
7 Chinese Pond-heron
8 Common Sandpiper
9 Common Kingfisher

Halus
10 Yellow Bittern
11 Little Grebe
12 Zebra Dove
13 Spotted Dove
14 Lesser Coucal
15 Blue-tailed Bee-eater
16 House Crow
17 Common Iora
18 Javan Myna
19 Common Myna
20 Yellow-vented Bulbul
21 Baya Weaver

PP
22 Black-winged Kite
23 Black Baza
24 Brahminy Kite
25 Booted Eagle
26 White-bellied Sea-eagle
27 White-breasted Waterhen
28 Asian Koel
29 Collared Kingfisher
30 White-throated Kingfisher
31 Common Flameback
32 Large-billed Crow
33 Black-naped Oriole
34 Brown Shrike
35 Oriental Magpie-robin
36 Zitting Cisticola
37 Yellow-bellied Prinia
38 Oriental Reed Warbler
39 Common Tailorbird
40 Olive-backed Sunbird

Seletar Airport
41 Cattle Egret
42 Rock Pigeon
43 Long-tailed Parakeet
44 Dollarbird
45 Asian Brown Flycatcher
46 Asian Glossy Starling

Punggol
47 Changeable Hawk-eagle
48 Long-tailed Shrike

CC
49 Eastern Marsh-harrier
50 Common Greenshank
51 Ruddy Turnstone
52 Sanderling
53 Pacific Golden-plover
54 Grey Plover
55 Kentish Plover
56 Lesser Sand-plover
57 Malaysian Plover
58 Oriental Plover
59 Red Collared Dove
60 Barn Swallow
61 Pacific Swallow
62 Paddyfield Pipit
63 White-headed Munia
64 Scaly-breasted Munia
65 Black-headed Munia