Marina East 17Dec22

From KH

I went with Danny to Marina East today. The breakwater is good habitat for plovers and Pacific Reef-Heron.

White-faced Plovers

Kentish Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Smooth Otter also prowled the breakwater.

The flooded field here was full of Neptunia plena making it good habitat for many birds, such as this Common Moorhen.

Japanese Sparrowhawk and House Crow taking turns chasing each other.

Birds of the same colour flock together: Yellow Bittern and Yellow-vented Bulbul.

There were many Oriental Reed Warblers, but just this single Black-browed Reed Warbler.

Chestnut Munia eating what else but grass seed. Scaly-breasted Munia also eating grass seed.

Marina East, Gardens by the Bay 02Jul22

From KH

Danny and I went to Marina East today. The waterlogged grassland was full of Neptunia plena.

A female Greater Painted-Snipe flushed as we walked along the fringe.

While a Purple Heron hid.

Little Egret and Medium Egret also performed their flight show; Medium Egret in front of the Flyer!

At the coast, Pacific Reef-Egret flushed as we walked along the elevated breakwater.

Unfazed, this female Malaysian Plover stood her ground!

Chestnut Munia: Should I eat from this green grass or should I eat from that white grass??

At Gardens by the Bay, we got a pair of Sunda Woodpecker and other common birds.

Also got alien species: Brown Anole from the Carribean and Zebra Tilapias from Africa.

Marina East 12Nov21

From KH

Today's birding at Marina East is for the egrets and herons.

Medium Egret (left) and Eastern Cattle Egret - both with yellow bills, but observe the difference in form and structure, particularly of the neck and head.

Little Egret - black bill.

Pacific Reef-Heron, white morph with some dark feathers showing - bill colour is yellow to greyish or dusky, this one is more greyish.

Pond-heron, in non-breeding plumage.

Common Myna is rather common here.

Halus, Marina Barrage 07Jul12

From KH

Danny and I went to Halus hoping to see the Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo and Streaked Weaver. We dipped at the cuckoo, but got the weaver.

Male Streaked Weaver feeding juvenile in the foreground.

Female Streaked Weaver on the right appears smaller than the female Baya Weavers.

Other birds of note at Halus are the escapees: Yellow-fronted Canary, Bronze Munia, Golden-backed Weaver, Sooty-headed Bulbul and the residents: Little Tern, Little Bronze Cuckoo, Little Grebe, Greater Coucal, Long-tailed Shrike, Pied Triller, Changeable Hawk Eagle (2 pale, 1 dark).

After lunch, we went to Marina Barrage and Bay East Garden. Barn Owl was nowhere to be found. But there were tons of Olive-backed Sunbirds. Then we came to a tree bustling with activities.

Besides the ever-present sunbirds, there were also three Javan Munias

and a family of Common Ioras. The female is feeding the juvenile, while the male was minding its own business.

Other birds of note at Marina are Oriental White-eye, Little Bronze-cuckoo (heard), Long-tailed Shrike. We ended the walk with a surprising dark morph Pacific Reef-egret at the Barrage.

Siglap Canal 13Mar10

From KH

Today, I happened be in Siglap area during chauffeur duty and got a chance to visit the dark morph Pacific Reef-egret at the canal.   

It was very tamed and easy to get close for photography. It is the tyrant of the canal, chasing the Little Egret away

and the Striated Herons had to make way for it.

Incidentally, happened to spot an Asian House Rat making a run from drain hole to drain hole.

West Coast 15Feb09

From Danny

Took this pic at West Coast Park, sandy patch next to shipyard. The Pacific Reef-egret flew in from the sea during low tide when there was no fisherman around. Could anyone comment on the pale grey bill instead of the usual yellow.

Siglap Canal 20Aug07

From SY

A dark morph Pacific Reef-egret is found at the canal that run through Kembangan MRT station on the side that is nearer to east coast. You may have to cross the road down further to catch it. According to some Ah Pek, it appear everyday usually when the tide is low and subsiding.

Pulau Hantu 04Feb06

From KH

Today's trip is to the Southern Island of Pulau Hantu. There were supposed to be 13 of us but due to some hiccups, two couldn't make it at the last minute - Simon got a punctured tyre and Graeme forgot to bring his passport. We didn't know that foreigners got to show their passports and locals got to show their ICs to go through the custom here. Yamane also forgot his passport, but he quickly took a cab back to collect it. Peck Chan didn't have her IC with her, but after some persuasion and discussion with the custom officer, she was allowed to pass provided we wrote down our names on a list. While waiting for Yamane to come back, we had our morning coffee.

Chee Wai stood at the jetty shooting an adult Brahminy Kite.

Brahminy Kite ©Fong CW

At 9 am, we were all ready to depart. The boat trip took less than 30 mins and cost $140 two-ways. Yamane took the following shots of the West Coast Pier and the scenery of Hantu.

Upon reaching Pulau Hantu, we realized that Pulau Hantu is actually made up of two islands - Pulau Hantu Besar and Pulau Hantu Kechil. The former being the bigger island. We were the only people on this island today. We had the whole island to ourselves! Sree's dream of owning an island was realized today! At least for the three hrs we were there, that is. The first birds to greet us were Pacific Swallows right at the jetty.

Pacific Swallow. Pulau Hantu Map ©Yamane Yoshio

Then there was a Brown Shrike in the bushes. Collared Kingfishers and Black-naped Orioles were calling everywhere. Large-billed Crows were chased by orioles. Then Dr Ho recognized the call of the Mangrove Whistler. We tried very hard to spot it, but we could only see an Asian Brown Flycatcher. Giving up, we proceeded to the centre of the island where there was a little hill with a water tank on top.

Collared Kingfisher with crab ©Fong CW

There were Spotted Doves, Pink-necked Green-pigeons, Yellow-vented Bulbuls and Olive-winged Bulbuls here. Later on, the Mangrove Whistler was spotted here. Brahminy Kites were flying over Pulau Hantu Kechil and Ben saw a Black-winged Kite. Yamane took the following three bird photos as well as a shot of the Blue Pansy.

Blue Pansy

Pacific Swallow

Pacific Reef-egret: left white, right dark

Having fully traversed the perimeter of the island, we headed back to the jetty and looked at an island far away. Later, we learnt from Dr Ho that it was Semakau. Not surprising as we could see a Great-billed Heron there. A White-bellied Sea-eagle was also fishing at the shallows of the Semakau shore. As we diverted our attention back to Hantu, Danny spotted a black-colored egret on Hantu Kechil. It was a dark morph Pacific Reef-egret. A lifer for some of us. Then, a white morph Pacific Reef Egret was spotted on the Hantu Besar side of the lagoon. We watched the two birds as they went about their forage. As the white egret walked closer and closer to the dark egret, suddenly the former took off and chased after the latter! They flew to the other end of the island and then later reappeared with the same antic. They seem more like friends then enemies as they were later seen perching on the same signboard.

Ben saw a monitor lizard as it sneaked into a crevice. The three shots below are from Chee Wai showcasing the antics of the 2 uncommon egrets of Singapore. We came to the end of the trip at 12 noon and proceeded to Pasir Panjang Hawker Center for lunch. All of us went except Robert, we had to leave early. That is 25 birds for the day if we count the Whimbrel sighted at the West Coast Pier when we came back at noon. For the record, those present were: Dr Ho, Yap Chung Kui, Ben Ho, Danny, Yamane, Peck Chan, Chee Wai and daughter, Robert, Sree and me.

Three shots from Chee Wai:

White morph Pacific Reef-egret

Dark morph Pacific Reef-egret

Chasing each other

01 Pacific reef-egret - 1 dark morph; 1 white morph feeding very actively in the lagoon btw Hantu Besar & Kechil
02 Great-billed heron - 1 at the mudflat of Pulau Semakau
03 Striated heron
04 Collared kingfisher
05 White-bellied sea-eagle
06 Brahminy kite
07 Black-winged kite
08 Asian brown flycatcher (migrant) - 1
09 Mangrove whistler - 2
10 Large-billed crow
11 House crow
12 Common myna
13 Black-naped oriole
14 Yellow-vented bulbul
15 Olive-winged bulbul
16 Spotted dove
17 Pink-necked green pigeon
18 Pacific swallow
19 Brown shrike
20 Ashy tailorbird
21 Barn swallow (migrant)
22 Pied fantail
23 Oriental Magpie robin
24 Rufous-tailed tailorbird (heard)

More shots from Sree:

White morph Pacific Reef-egret

Dark morph Pacific Reef-egret

The chase

Collared Kingfisher. Olive-winged Bulbul

Fiddler Crab

Pulau Hantu Besar jetty

Farewell my friend! :)