Mandai Mudflat, LCK3, Neo Tiew 03Apr21

From KH

Danny, JS and I started the day's birding at Mandai Mudflat. Wader-wise only 36 Whimbrels and 6 Common Sandpipers.

Next, at Lim Chu Kang Lane 3, only 2 Wood Sandpipers.

At Turut Track, added 1 Red-wattled Lapwing.

Finally, at Neo Tiew Harvest Lane, we got the most waders: 49 Pacific Golden-Plovers, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Long-toed Stint and 3 Wood Sandpipers.

Mandai Mudflat, Tuas 11Oct14

Con, Danny and I started at Mandai Mudflat, but there were no rare waders. Nevertheless, Con managed to tick the Red-necked Stint for his BY.

Reaching Tuas at about 10 am, Ee Ling and See Toh were on site already.

Counters: Ee Ling/Con/See Toh (AM), Wing Chong (lunchtime), Jacky Soh (pm), Danny/Tan KH (1000-1545)

Cloudy with 90-100% cover. Ground wind 15 km/h from S generally. Hazy with PSI reading rising thru' the morning (0900 PSI 82 to 1500 PSI 106) - smoke stacks at Tg Pelepas could not be seen

Total count (0900-1545): 191 OHBs, 1 JSH, 4 unid raptors, 2 Oriental Pratincoles, 1 flock of PGP, 4 Fork-tailed Swifts, 4 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, 1 Red-rumped Swallow.

0900-1200 No migrating raptor, 4 Fork-tailed Swift flying NE to SW, 2 Oriental Pratincole, 1 Red-rumped Swallow, 4 Blue-tailed BE, flock of PGP
1200-1300 3 unID raptor, 19 OHB
1300-1400 11 OHB
1400-1500 131 OHB, 1 JSH
1500-1545 30 OHB, 1 unid dark raptor

Mandai Mudflat, SBWR, Tuas 27Sep14

Last Sat, Danny, JS and I started at Mandai Mudflat and saw 4 juvenile Great Knots, 43 Red-necked Stints, 1 Broad-billed Sandpiper, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, some Marsh Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers, lots of LSPs, PGPs, Greenshanks, Redshanks, Whimbrels, as well as 1 breeding Whiskered Tern, many Little Terns, Great Egrets, Little Egrets, Grey Herons, Little Herons.

Juvenile Great Knot (front), Terek Sandpiper (middle) and Common Redshank (back) ©Lau JS

JS tried very hard to turn one of these Red-necked Stints into Little Stint, but to no avail. ©Lau JS

There were also 1 Tiger Shrike and 1 Asian Paradise-flycatcher in the trees.

Moving on to SBWR, there were still 4 Black-tailed Godwits, plus many Whimbrels, Redshanks, Greenshanks, PGPs, Marsh Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers, but no LSP, stint or knot.

Next stop, Tuas. 2 Chinese Sparrowhawks (including 1 adult male), 1 female Japanese Sparrowhawk, 6 unid accipiters, 1 unid raptor, plus the usual residents WBSE (1), BK (>4), BWK (1). The migrants were moving eastward. The clouds were not moving!

Turut Track, SBWR, Mandai Mudflat, Seletar Dam 6Sep14

From KH

Thanks to Danny's good suggestion, we started at Turut Track and managed to reach Kranji Marsh from there. It is a great place for almost all the breeding resident raptors - GHFE (1), BWK (1), WBSE (1), Brahminy Kites (2) and CHE (1 heard).

Other notables were Cinnamon Bitterns (4), Common Moorhens (2), Red-wattled Lapwings (>5) and Common Kingfishers (2).

Also present were common birds like Laced WP (1 male), Common Goldenback (1), Sunda WP (1 heard), bee-eaters, Banded Bay Cuckoo (1 heard), Lesser Coucals, Long-tailed Parakeets, Purple Herons (4), waterhens, Large-billed Crows (1), Oriental Magpie Robin (1 female), laughingthrushes, fantails, ioras, Ashy Tailorbird (1), Common Tailorbirds.

The greatest surprise was a Malayan Box Terrapin! ©Danny Lau

A quick check at NSRCC yielded Little Ringed Plovers (2) and Yellow Wagtail (1).

Soon it was high tide and we reached SBWR in time to catch Black-tailed Godwits (5 juveniles), Grey-tailed Tattler (1 in partial breeding plumage), Whimbrels (>25), Common Sandpipers and lots of Redshanks.

Grey-tailed Tattler molting out of breeding plumage ©Danny Lau

At the sluice gate opposite Platform 1, we saw Marsh Sandpiper (1), Greenshanks and more Redshanks. There was also a Saltwater Crocodile (~2.5m) sunning itself with mouth agape. ©Danny Lau

A loop round the mangrove boardwalk near the entrance yielded nothing much except for Violet Vinegar Crab's diet - one was feeding on fallen leaf, the other on moss.

After lunch, tide was still high, but receding. A scan of Mandai Mudflat revealed Red-necked Stint (1) and lots of Lesser Sand Plovers. A scan in another direction revealed another Grey-tailed Tattler - this time a juvenile. Soon more and more waders came - PGPs, Whimbrels, Greenshanks, Redshanks, Common Sandpipers and more LSPs. No GSP, but another croc!

Estuarine Crocodile with Whimbrels, Redshanks, PGP and Grey Heron ©Danny Lau

There were also Little Terns (5), Great Egret (1), Little Egrets, Grey Herons, Little Herons.

Next up: Seletar Dam. There were not many waders around - Curlew Sandpiper (1 juvenile), PGPs, LSPs, Common Sandpipers. Again no GSP.

A quick check on P. Punggol revealed busy construction work and guarded entrance. Many trees have been felled. Now we worry about shelter and Booted Eagle during raptor watch!

Mandai Mudflat 24-25Jan11

From Con

There has been a single Caspian Tern at Mandai mudflats for the last three mornings, Sun, Mon and Tue.  I wasn't there on Sunday, but I went on Monday and today Tuesday, 25 January 2011.

On Sunday the Caspian Tern was reportedly present in the morning from ?? until it flew away by about 10:30am.

On Monday the Caspian Tern was present perching in the same spot from about 10:15 to 11:00am after which it fly East towards the Causeway and across to the Johor side.

On Tuesday the Caspian Tern was present perching in the same spot from about 9:00am to 10:30am after which it fly West away from the Causeway and across to the Johor side.

On Tuesday the other birds present were approximately:-

1 x Caspian Tern
1 x Osprey
1 x White-bellied Sea Eagle
2 x Striated Heron
15 x Grey Heron
12 x Little Egret
1 x Intermediate Egret
2 x Great Egret
2 x Great Cormorant
6 x Common Greenshank
10 x Lesser Sand Plover
6 x Common Sandpiper
5 x Marsh Sandpiper
50 x Whimbrel
1 x Bar-tailed Godwit
4 x Collard Kingfisher

Intermediate Egret with Little Egret

Little Egret

Mandai Mudflat, SBWR, Tuas 06Sep08

From Danny

The Red-necked Stint is the smallest in the pic, behind the Whimbrels. Pic taken at Mandai Mudflat this morning. Note the relative size of the stint with that of the Lesser Sand-plovers on the left.

This was the bi-coloured bill Common Greenshank which kept us engaged for hours at SBWR. The typical Common Greenshank at top right corner. According to David Li, the legs (tibia) are too long as Nordmann's Greenshank is relatively shorter.

Refer 2nd pic, the bi-coloured bill bird has what Waders of the World descibed as "Dark brown lesser coverts contrast with more uniform grey upperparts, fringed white". The difference as shown with the Common Greenshank in the pic. However, agree the legs, tibia section are obviously lengthy.

Other than the Savanna Nightjar, Kok Hui counted 26 RW Lapwings at Tuas. There were also a few Pintail Snipes in the field.

Changi, SBWR, Mandai Mudflat 30Aug08

From KH

Following reports of Asian Dowitcher, Chinese Egret and Great Knot, we made our way to SBWR in the afternoon. However, none of these mega birds made our day. Instead, we had to settle for 3 Ruddy Turnstones. Earlier in the morning, there were only the usual waders in CC.

Stagmont, Mandai Mudflat, Kranji, Warren, Little Guilin 2Aug08

Today's birding as below.

Main Highlights are:
1. Brahminy kite feeding on an eel/snake at Mandai Mudflat, and bird in talon at Warren.
2. Great Cormorant sunning itself with wings wide open at Mandai Mudflat.
3. Indian Silverbills at Kranji Nature Trail.
4. Early waders (2 Common Sandpipers) at SBWR.
5. 1 Smooth Otter at SBWR.
6. 4 Wild Pigs are Warren.
7. 5 species of raptors today, including the GHFEs at Little Guilin.

CCK (Stagmont Camp)
1. Sunda Woodpecker
2. Common Goldenback 2
3. Lineated Barbet 1
4. Asian Koel
5. Greater Coucal 1
6. Long-tailed Parakeet
7. Red-breasted Parakeet
8. Swiftlet spp.
9. Golden-bellied Gerygone heard
10. House Crow
11. Black-naped Oriole
12. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo 1
13. Common Iora
14. Asian Glossy Starling
15. Common Myna
16. Javan Myna
17. Pacific Swallow
18. Yellow-vented Bulbul
19. Oriental White-eye >5
20. Common Tailorbird
21. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
22. Plain-throated Sunbird
23. Olive-backed Sunbird
24. Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Sungei Buloh
25. Common Sandpiper 2

Mandai Mudflat
26. Collared Kingfisher
27. Rock Pigeon
28. Brahminy Kite 2
29. Great Cormorant 1
30. Little Egret 1
31. Grey Heron
32. Striated Heron
33. Pied Fantail 1

Kranji Dam/Transmission Towers
34. Little Tern 2
35. White-bellied Sea-eagle 1 adult, 1 juv
36. Cattle Egret 1

Kranji Nature Trail
37. Dollarbird
38. White-throated Kingfisher
39. Blue-throated Bee-eater
40. Pink-necked Green-pigeon
41. Pied Triller
42. Ashy Tailorbird
43. Rufous-tailed Tailorbird 1
44. Indian Silverbill >10

Warren
45. Coppersmith Barbet 1
46. Lesser Coucal 1
47. Spotted Dove
48. Zebra Dove
49. White-breasted Waterhen
50. Red-wattled Lapwing 4
51. Changeable Hawk-eagle 1 dark
52. Zitting Cisticola heard
53. Yellow-bellied Prinia heard
54. Baya Weaver with nests
55. Javan Munia 2
56. Scaly-breasted Munia

Little Guilin
57. House Swift
58. Oriental Honey-buzzard 1 pale
59. Grey-headed Fish-eagle 1 adult, 1 juv
60. White-crested Laughingthrush heard

Photos from Danny

The Great Cormorant, non breeding, was sunning itself, very critical to keep dry before the next dive, dry plumages trapped air to maintain buoyancy. Look at the web feet, like giant paddles.

The prey of the Brahminy Kite looks like an eel. Maximum zoom.

Don't you dare laugh at my hairdo! Try posing at this height. I need stronger gel. (Grey-headed Fish-eagle)

Jurong Lake, SBWR, Tuas, Mandai Mudflat 10Nov07

From KH

Danny, JS and I went to Jurong Lake in the morning. The rain stopped at about 0730, giving us some time to chill out at Mac prior to that. The Tang Dynasty was pretty quiet. No Schrenck's bittern or Indian cuckoo like a year ago. But it was nice to see 4 coppersmith barbets and 1 lineated barbet, considering we had not a single barbet during the race! A flock of BCN herons were roosting on the island in Japanese Garden but was disturb by the staff on bumboat clearing the rubbish in the lake.

It was nice to see a SB kf and a common kf, as well as a sleeping grey nightjar on a tree beside the pagoda. A Chinese goshawk was also a nice sighting. As we were saying that we didn't see a single bittern during the race, a yellow bittern flew right across a lily pond!

We proceeded to SBWR for the 1045 high tide and saw a host of birders/photographers hopeful for one day wonders. 1 bar-tailed godwit, 1 ruddy turnstone, 1 terek sp and 2 grey plovers were the treats. The tiny BB sp was nowhere to be seen...

After lunch, we headed to Tuas. Just as during the race, the grassland has nothing much to offer. However, the grassfields along the coast did give us some good birds. Firstly, among the sparse tall trees, we got a black drongo, an AP & an AB fc. Then, in the Johor Strait, a mixed flock of lesser crested and swift terns gave us good view of their wing patterns and feeding style. Also in the straits was a buoy and on it were 9 black-naped terns. Now we know where they go to after the nesting period at Changi Beach.

Finally, back to Mandai Mudflat for the low tide. A single bar-tailed godwit was feeding among the whimbrels, most definitely the one we saw earlier at SBWR. The usual osprey was also here. The greatest surprise here, was a black bittern that flew right over us into the trees on the opposite bank. In addition to the one that my brother sighted at Lor Halus, this is our second record of this uncommon bird for this season.

Jurong Lake
1 Laced woodpecker, 1 female
2 Common goldenback, 1
3 Lineated barbet, 1
4 Coppersmith barbet, 4
5 Common kingfisher, 1
6 Stork-billed kingfisher, 1
7 Collared kingfisher
8 Asian koel
9 Swiftlet spp.
10 Grey nightjar, 1 sleeping
11 Common pigeon
12 Spotted dove
13 Pink-necked green pigeon
14 White-breasted waterhen
15 Brahminy kite, 1
16 Chinese goshawk, 1
17 Purple heron, 1
18 Black-crowned night heron, >10
19 Yellow bittern, 1
20 Golden-bellied gerygone, heard
21 Brown shrike
22 House crow
23 Black-naped oriole
24 Asian brown flycatcher
25 Asian glossy starling
26 Javan myna
27 Common myna
28 Barn swallow
29 Yellow-vented bulbul
30 Arctic warbler
31 Scarlet-backed flowerpecker

SBWR
32 Red junglefowl, 2 male
33 Bar-tailed godwit, 1
34 Whimbrel
35 Common sandpiper
36 Marsh sandpiper
37 Curlew sandpiper
38 Terek sandpiper, 1
39 Common redshank
40 Common greenshank
41 Ruddy turnstone, 1
42 Pacific golden plover
43 Grey plover, 2
44 Lesser sand plover
45 Striated heron
46 Little egret
47 Pacific swallow
48 Yellow-bellied prinia, heard
49 Ashy tailorbird

Tuas
50 Sunda pygmy woodpecker, 1
51 White-throated kingfisher
52 Blue-tailed bee-eater
53 Lesser coucal, 1
54 Zebra dove
55 Red-wattled lapwing, 1
56 Lesser crested tern, feeding
57 Great crested tern, feeding
58 Black-naped tern, 9 on buoy
59 Cattle egret
60 Long-tailed shrike, 1
61 Black drongo, 1
62 Asian paradise flycatcher, 1
63 Common iora, 1
64 Paddyfield pipit

Mandai Mudflat
65 Long-tailed parakeet
66 House swift
67 Osprey, 1
68 White-bellied sea eagle, 2 adult & 2 juv
69 Grey heron
70 Great egret
71 Black bittern, 1

Mandai Mudflat 2, 6Jan07

From Danny

Black-headed Gulls and Lesser Crested Terns at the kelong off Mandai Mudflat on 2 Jan.

More shots from 6 Jan. Black-headed Gull and Common Greenshank.

Hindhede, Mandai Mudflat, SBWR 16Sep06

From JS

At the look-out of Hindhede, a female yellow-rumped flycatcher was sighted at 8 am by my father. Apparently, 8 am is also the start of a small bird activity, consisting of a family of pied fantails, 3 duetting straw-headed bulbuls, 3 striped tit babblers, a pair of olive-winged bulbuls, a pair of orange-bellied flowerpeckers, a dark-necked tailorbird, a yellow-vented bulbul and of course, the female yellow-rumped flycatcher. As we were heading back to the carpark, a red-eyed bulbul, emerald dove and the call of the chestnut-winged babbler slowed us down. Nevertheless, we still reached the cars after a half-and-hour delay.

Hoping for an encore of last Sunday's hundreds of terns, my father, me and Robert, took a detour to Mandai Mudflat. From afar, we sighted two kingfishers, collared and a lonely common which later, we discovered that two photographers were seeking the bird at SBWR for few hours. In addition, there were three ospreys present, a flock of whimbrels, two marsh sandpipers, pgp, little herons, redshanks, greenshanks, grey herons and 4 terns. The photo attached shows two of the terns and a larger whimbrel. After some vigorous scanning, there was no beach thick-knee but only a coast littered with white standing tissue papers.

Whimbrels and Little Terns ©Lau JS

On our way to Mandai Mudflat, I saw an ashy minivet hopping on a low hanging tree trunk. At SBWR, we were surprised to find the Asian dowitcher still around, otherwise the thrilling trip ended with suspense and a sighting of a rare birder, Bing Wen. Sadly, he wasn't rare enough to create any huge sighting.

Common Redshanks and Marsh Sandpipers ©Con Foley

Hindhede
1) Pink-necked Green-pigeon (>5)
2) Emerald Dove (1)
3) Glossy Starling (>10)
4) Red-eyed Bulbul (1)
5) Olive-winged Bulbul (2)
6) Yellow-vented Bulbul (>2)
7) Straw-headed bulbul (3)
8) Banded Woodpecker (1h)
9) Common Flameback (h)
10) Laced Woodpecker (1)
11) Stork-billed Kingfisher
12) Collared Kingfisher (1)
13) Chestnut-winged Babbler (h)
14) Striped Tit-babbler (3)
15) Greater Green Leafbird (h)
16) Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (2 and 1h)
17) Plain-throated Sunbird (1)
18) Rufous-tailed Tailorbird (1)
19) Dark-necked Tailorbird (1)
20) Pied Fantail (3)
21) Pacific Swallow (3)
22) White-bellied Sea Eagle (2 juvenile)
23) Yellow-rumped Flycatcher (1 female)
24) Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (2)

On the way to Mandai Mudflat
25) Ashy Minivet

Mandai Mudflat
26) Whimbrel (>10)
27) Marsh Sandpiper (2)
28) Common Sandpiper (>2)
29) Pacific Golden Plover (>10)
30) Common Redshank (>5)
31) Common Greenshank (>5)
32) Striated Heron (>3)
33) Grey Heron (>5)
34) Osprey (3)
35) Javan Myna (>7)
36) House Crow (>2)
37) Common Kingfisher (1)
38) Little Tern (4)

SBWR
39) White-breasted Waterhen (>5)
40) Oriental Magpie Robin (3)
41) Curlew Sandpiper (2)
42) Asian Dowitcher (1)
43) Brahminy Kite (1)
44) Mongolian Plover (2)
45) Ashy Tailorbird (>4)
46) Little Bronze Cuckoo (1)

From Sree

Actually I got to see the flycatcher there that morning as he seems to like to make a late appearance, 9.30 am onwards. As it turned out I just missed the rest as I had come along the side trail and not the main path that they took to go down. Alan OwYong told me he met them as he was coming up.

There were a lot of activities with orange-bellied and scarlet-backed flowerpeckers, crimson sunbird, common and dark-necked tailorbirds, pied fantail, straw-headed, olive-winged and red-eyed bulbuls and the star yellow-rumped flycatcher. Alan mentioned that there were two white-rumped shamas further down (closer to the first hut) but I preferred to get a better view of the flycatcher.

My call at 12.10 was in relation to the possible spotted redshank as I thought all of you were at SB. Bing Wen was there at Hindhede Quarry with me and we proceeded to SB but it looks like there was no spotted redshank, at least among the birds I got to see.

Mandai Mudflat 10Sep06

Danny and JS went to SBWR but the condition was not right for the Asian Dowitcher, hence they went to Mandai Mudflat. They saw terns and gulls there.

NTL2, Mandai Mudflat 01Apr06

From Danny (photos from Con unless otherwise stated)

It was meant to be another routine Sat birding event but it turned out to be a memorable weekend. Peck Chan did lead us to spot two Black-backed Swamphens which she counted during the last ABC (credit to her & her CNY cashew nuts).

One of the high-lite of the day was the display of the hunting skills of a "immature" WBSE (an understatement in relation to its fishing skill) right in front of us. It circled gradually down just off the Bund, about the last round, you could see it tilted its body like the F1 motorcyclist went round the bend, with both talons stretched, scooped out a big fish just below the turbid water surface. Just like what you see on N. Geographic channel (Sree did you manage to snap any precious moments?).

We thought it was a watercock (at least I thought so) but it turned out to be a White-browed Crake, lifer for most of us.

Yes it was a juvenile Common Moorhen, as I was able to track it on the scope with the typical cone shape upright tail and white fringes on both sides (back view) & the white markings on the flanks, other than its pale bill (after the event comments based on the video I had of the Common Moorhen I took at Marina South).

The sighting of the Rusty-breasted Cuckoo was sheer teamwork as we tracked it from tree to tree - it was nice to have someone who kept a perspective view on the bird movement while we try to view it thru' the cameras, binos/scope.

After the cuckoo on the way out, a WBSE was spotted hovering and suddenly a relatively smaller bird flew past with a distinct "kee" note call. The flying adult male Japanese Sparrowhawk picture Con took was wonderful (digiscope could never do it).

Further down the road where there was a side track, we came across a flock of about 25 to 30 mysterious long-tailed birds flying in big loop around a cluster of tall trees. The calls were like tri.tri...sisi... (sorry unable to reporduce in text) but definitely not parakeets or starlings.

Back to where we parked our cars, the faithful BSK was there on the same tree to wish us farewell and come back soon.

As Con left us to run some late errands for Marisol (welcome back, your breads were timely as most of us had little or no breakfast), we adjourned to the usual hawker centre at Kranji Loop for Pork ribs, Pork knuckers and Pig tails - Kok Hui not meant to make you homesick.

After lunch, both Sree and myself were to take a quick look at the Mandai mudflat track next to the Railway line (Yamane remember the canal bridge where the railway tracks cross over S. Mandai). While Sree waited along Kranji Loop as I send both Benjamin & Pat to Kranji MRT, he spotted a Large-tailed Nightjar perched on the roadside. We had wonderful time snapping pictures of the bird.

Lesser Whistling-ducks

Scaly-breasted Munia

Yellow-bellied Prinia

Large-tailed Nightjar from Danny

Tuas, BBNP, Mandai Mudflat 31Dec05

There were eight of us, Con, Danny, JS, Yamane, Geoffrey, Sree & his wife and I. Our rendezvous today was at the Tuas grassland. After a coffee session at the Raffles Marina, Danny, JS and I adjourned to BBNP and saw Sree and his friend there. When it started to rain, we parted with Sree and went on to Mandai mudflat, but were disappointed as no rare birds were seen.

For some of us, this was the first time we were in the Tuas area. Only Sree and Geoffrey have been here before. The first birds to show themselves were the typical grassland bird like the White-headed Munia, Black-winged Kite and the common birds like that Brown Shrike, White-breasted Waterhen and Paddyfield Pipit.

After we make a left turn into the grassland, we saw some sandpipers in the short grass on the right. These turned out to be the Wood Sandpipers.

Wood Sandpiper ©Con Foley

Just a short distance away, a whole flock of PG Plovers were seen. They were so well camouflaged against the sand that we weren't aware of them even though they were pretty near.

On the left was a wet grassland and JS flushed out some birds. Snipes! There were more than 10 birds in the tall grass. Once they landed, there was no way for us to see them. JS decided to take a closer look and by so doing flushed out some nightjars. Prominent white spots on the wings and the size tells us that these are Savanna Nightjars. Then two birds flew off with a teu-hu-hu call. These must be Common Redshanks. Con and Sree pointed into the sky and there were three Great Cormorants flying above us. There were also Black-headed Munias in the grass. As Con, Geoffrey, Sree and his wife moved on, the rest of us stayed awhile longer hoping to get clearer views of the snipes and nightjars.

Next four photos from Yamane:

Pacific Golden-plover

Paddyfield Pipit

Pitcher Plant

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Disappointed, we moved on and caught up with Con and company. At a distance, we could see Red-wattled Lapwings flying off making their characteristic noisy call. Too bad none stayed still for us to take photos. Then we startled a nightjar, which flew up and got caught in the branches... But it did manage to fly off shortly. As we bashed into the tall grass, we flushed out more snipes. There were Ashy Tailorbirds too. Seeing that the land was marshy ahead, we backtracked. And so we finished birding at Tuas and proceeded to Raffles Marina for a cup of coffee.

Raffles Marina is a nice place with a good view of the sea. While we had coffee, Marisol's Christmas goodies and Danny's kuehs, JS ate his nasi lemak and Con took his breakfast set. We talked about our 22 Jan Panti trip and birding in Malaysia in general. After we were done, the Srees bid us farewell. The rest of us took a walk around the yacht bay. It was now fish-watching instead. :) There were archerfish, rabbitfish, angelfish and many that we couldn't tell what they were, not to mention the soft coral and mussels. Then far away, Danny saw some terns flying around. We finished off Tuas with a Common Sandpiper, our 29^th bird.

Common Sandpiper ©Tan KH

After bidding the rest farewell, Danny, JS and I went on to BBNP for the afternoon birding session. Before that, we had wanton mee lunch at a coffee shop. When we reached BBNP, Sree and his friend were already there snapping away at a Jambu Fruit-dove.

Jambu Fruit-dove ©KH

The fruit-dove was nice, but our target here are the flowerpeckers. So we proceeded to the stairs and strained our neck looking up. After some effort, the Yellow-vented Flowerpecker was seen, with its diagnostic thick black stripes on the body and the prominent yellow vent. Then the Thick-billed Flowerpecker was also seen, a tiny bird swaying its tail sideways. Then Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers were abundant and JS saw the Orange-bellied Flowerpecker. Then there were the Mugimaki Flycatchers. While waiting for the rarities, the Lineated Barbet and Laced and Banded Woodpeckers kept us entertained.

Male Laced Woodpecker ©Tan KH

Having got all the tiny birds we needed, we took the road on the right of the stairs hoping to see some rare birds. Straw-headed and Olive-winged Bulbuls were there to welcome us. high up in the sky were some raptors - Oriental Honey Buzzards. Another bird high up in the sky was a Glossy Swiftlet. We went back to the stairs and Sree's friend showed us the Oriental White-eye that he just photographed. Soon, it started drizzling and we again bid Sree farewell.

Olive-winged Bulbul. Straw-headed Bulbul ©Tan KH

We headed to Mandai mudflat hoping to see the gulls. Upon reaching, it was still drizzling slightly. A Black-crowned Night Heron flew overhead. Scanning the water edge, we could only see the common birds - Whimbrel, Greenshanks, PGPs, Common Sandpipers, Little Egrets, Little Herons and Grey Herons. There was a Common Kingfisher and an Intermediate Egret though. And far away at the kelong was a White-bellied Sea Eagle. We started the day at about 8 am and ended at 6 pm with 61 birds. Not bad considering that when asked by JS how many birds we got today, I was pessimistic and guessed less than 50. It was a happy New Year Eve birding!

Tuas
01 House crow
02 Javan myna
03 Common myna
04 Pacific swallow
05 Zebra dove
06 Spotted dove
07 Pink-necked green-pigeon
08 Brahminy kite
09 Black-winged kite
10 Common sandpiper (at Raffles Marina)
11 Wood sandpiper
12 Common redshank
13 Pacific golden plover
14 Snipe (pintail or common)
15 Red-wattled lapwing
16 Blue-tailed bee-eater
17 Paddyfield pipit
18 Great cormorant
19 Yellow-vented bulbul
20 Ashy tailorbird
21 Yellow bittern
22 Brown shrike
23 White-breasted waterhen
24 Greater coucal
25 Savanna nightjar
26 White-headed munia
27 Black-headed munia
28 Terns at Raffles Marina (too far away to ID)
29 Asian koel (heard)

BBNP
30 Yellow-vented flowerpecker
31 Thick-billed flowerpecker
32 Scarlet-backed flowerpecker
33 Orange-bellied flowerpecker
34 Jambu fruit-dove
35 Straw-headed bulbul
36 Olive-winged bulbul
37 Lineated barbet
38 Oriental honey-buzzard
39 Mugimaki flycatcher
40 Asian brown flycatcher
41 Laced woodpecker
42 Banded woodpecker
43 Glossy swiftlet
44 Black-naped oriole
45 Crimson sunbird
46 Asian glossy starling
47 Oriental white-eye

Mandai Mudflat
48 Cattle egret
49 Little egret
50 Intermediate egret
51 Grey heron
52 Little heron
53 Black-crowned night-heron
54 Whimbrel
55 Lesser sand-plover
56 Common greenshank
57 Collared kingfisher
58 White-throated kingfisher
59 Common kingfisher
60 White-bellied sea eagle
61 Rock pigeon