Neo Tiew 24Dec22

From KH

Started off at Kranji Marsh with Danny. Pretty quiet for birds, but good for other animals.

Scarlet Grenadier, male and female.

Great Eggfly.

Lots of these reddish craneflies hiding under this concrete structure.

Chalcotropis sp. spider

This snail was previously named Helicarion perfragilis, but it was found that it may not even by in the right genus, hence it was swapped into Family Helicarionidae. Recently, it seems to be determined to be in genus Durgella instead according to inaturalist sightings. So what is it really?

Moluccan Albizia towering over African Tulips.

Throw in some moss for good measure.

Next, Neo Tiew Harvest Lane. Not just one, but two Sand Martins (aka Bank Swallows), shown here with an Eastern Red-rumped Swallow.

Lots of Eastern Red-rumped Swallows, gate-crashing every photo: "dark swiftlet sp., I'm faster than you!"

Another Eastern Red-rumped Swallow: "Hey, Javan Myna, where's the best hawker dish?"

Changi, Halus, Pulau Punggol 23Nov13

From JS

Today, we welcomed Con back from Down Under. However, the weather in the morning was not cooperative. With persistent drizzling, the only birds that showed well were the half a dozen of Ruddy-breasted Crakes and Slaty-breasted Rails. For inexplicable reasons, Changi was void of migratory raptors except the skittish sparrowhawks and 3 Common Buzzards! Feeling letdown by the weather, we decided to have an early lunch. By 11am, we were sitting at Loyang Canteen having lunch.

After a nice chat over lunch, Kok Hui, my dad and I headed over to Lr Halus to continue birding. Upon arriving, we immediately spotted some raptors (namely an OHB, 2 Brahminy Kites and a Japanese Sparrowhawk) thermalling in the sky. What a great start!

Next, an accipiter flew overhead and started circling above us. It appeared to have 6 fingers, but this is an artefact of moulting. It is a Japanese Sparrowhawk.

This time it was an immature Malayan Night-heron trying to cross the reservoir below our noses - but to no avail. It landed on one of the Sipoh Ayer that was lining the water edge. Since our interest was on raptors, we put off any attempt to find the heron.

Soon, we realised that the raptors were not going to come in, so we decided to search for the heron. Unfortunately, the bird was so skittish that it flew off when it saw us. There goes our heron... With interest in reed warblers, we decided to walk to the dam. Stopping us in our track was another fly-by Japanese Sparrowhawk.

Kok Hui decided to head back to the bridge to look out for more raptors while my father and I continued to the dam. Alas, all of us did not see any other noteworthy, identifiable bird. Seeing our not so good fortune with the raptors changing, we decided to go with the momentum and headed over to Pulau Punggol. As a result of the continuous disturbance to the casuarina forest, Pulau Punggol only hosted a flock of Black Bazas and a pair of Ospreys. The Booted Eagles seem to have stopped using the place as its wintering ground.

The only noteworthy bird at Pulau Punggol was a pale Sand Martin that was flying the swiftlets above the pond. Otherwise, the site has lost its charm.

In short, our choice of sites covered both the future and the past. Changi and Pulau Punggol are going to be histories while Lr Halus has much to offer in terms of raptor-watching in the future.

Here's the list of raptors seen:

Changi Cove
1) Common Buzzard (3, including one dark morph)
2) Black-winged Kite (2)
3) Accipiter (2)

Lr Halus
1) Japanese Sparrowhawk (3)
2) Peregrine Falcon (1)
3) White-bellied Fish-eagle (2)
4) Grey-headed Fish-eagle (2)
5) Changeable Hawk-eagle (1)
6) Oriental Honey-buzzard (1)
7) Black Baza (6)

Pulau Punggol
1) Black Baza (10)
2) Brahminy Kite (2)
3) White-bellied Sea-eagle (2)
4) Osprey (2)

NTL2, Pulau Punggol 30Jan10

From Danny

This was the Banded Bay Cuckoo singing in the open at NTL2. Digiscoped pic by JS.

Attached are my digiscoped pics of the White-rumped Munias.

Below is the summary of the photos:
The 1st pic is a single munia with our Sgp Fragrance Rice - too little and probably too expensive.
The 2nd the back view showing the dirty brownish vent - diagnostic feature.
The 3rd pic has 2 munias.
However for the 4th pic, there are possibly 3 white rumps, the bird at the right corner has the typical black lore, chin and forehead but the belly not as white as the other two??

From JS

For record sake, I have attached some photos of one of the 2 White-rumped Munias seen last Saturday, 30/1, at the Kranji farm resort. They were feeding on the ripening rice padi.

I have attached the photos of the Sand Martins taken at Kranji Bund. Although the subject size in the photos are rather small, they show the many views of the bird.

Below is the summary of the photos (clockwise from top left):
1: the view of the fanned out tail (very shallow fork, interesting...)
2: the view of the forehead, the frontal portion of breast band and some of its feet
3: the view of its flank, the underwing (lesser and median coverts are darker than the greater covert because of lighting?) and the side view of the breast band

Here's the photo of the Large Hawk-cuckoo seen at the migrating cuckoo's stopover point at Pulau Punggol. Last week's Indian Cuckoo has probably left the area. Its replacement is its larger cousin, the Large Hawk-cuckoo.

For record sake, the Large Hawk-cuckoo was sighted at Pulau Punggol last Saturday, 30/1. You may be wondering why I called the place, where the Large Hawk-cuckoo was sighted, the migrant cuckoos' stopover. Prior to this Large Hawk-cuckoo's sighting, we saw other species of migrant cuckoos that came in chronological order.

In a summary, here's the timeline of the known records:

November (2009): Hodgson's Hawk-cuckoo
5th Dec (2009): Chestnut-Winged Cuckoo
24th Jan (2010): Indian Cuckoo
30th Jan (2010): Large Hawk-cuckoo
1st Mar (2008): Chestnut-Winged Cuckoo

Here's the photos of one of the dark morph Booted Eagles (1st and 2nd photo) seen on last Saturday, 30/1. I have also attached a photo of the female dark morph Booted Eagle seen on 5/12 (3rd photo). In my opinion, I think they are 2 different birds.

Due to the moulting process, I don't think from the flight feathers' wear we can tell the birds apart.

Of concern is the white breast/throat patch. Comparing the photos, only last Saturday's bird has the white breast/throat patch. The white breast/throat patch may be an individual's distinct feature, very much like each zebra has a unique pattern of stripes. If this is true, two dark morph individuals have visited the island.

It sounds logical that 2 dark morph booted eagles have visited the island. However, we don't have any photos of them together. While I am convinced that more than 2 dark morph booted eagles are present and saw 2 birds together, I can't prove it, other than a verbal statement, so I am trying to identify as many individuals as possible. From my above explanation, it looks like there are 2 different birds.

From Danny

Finally we have a upperpart pic of a Booted Eagle (right). Notice the distinct white U on tail, though too fuzzy to claim full satisfactions. I have blown up both pics from JS. Refer to left pic, looking at the right under wing, there's a shortened or moulting feather within the pale "window" patch and another moulting feather just after the inner edge of the pale "window". Back to right pic, looking at the upperpart right wing, there's no moulting feather within the pale window or outside the inner edge. I think they are 2 different birds.

From KH

Here's a summary of the day's birding:

Kranji resort (Munia galore):
Cinnamon Bittern 1
Pond-heron >8
White-rumped Munia 2
Black-headed Munia 2
White-headed and Scaly-breasted Munia many

NTL2:
Banded Bay Cuckoo 1 (singing high up in the tree, but on open perch)
Purple Swamphen 4 (1 juv, 3 adults)
Watercock 1
Yellow Bittern >3
Common Snipe 2
Riparia Martin 2

Raptors:
Peregrine Falcon (japonensis) 1
Black Baza 7
Black-winged Kite 1
Changeable Hawk-eagle 1 pale adult
White-bellied Sea-eagle 1 immature
Grey-headed Fish-eagle 1 heard

Pulau Punggol (raptors galore, 11 species!):
Large Hawk-cuckoo 1
Barred Buttonquail 6
Red-wattled Lapwing 2
Yellow Wagtail 19

Raptors:
1. Booted Eagle 2 (1 pale, 1 dark), possibly 1 more dark morph was present
2. Black Kite 1
3. Peregrine Falcon (japonensis) 1
4. OHB 2 (1 pale, 1 dark)
5. Chinese Sparrowhawk (1 adult male)
6. Osprey 2
7. Black Baza 7
8. Black-winged Kite 1
9. Changeable Hawk-eagle 1 pale adult
10. White-bellied Sea-eagle 4
11. Brahminy Kite 15

Even at such a great height, the Black Kite (right) is readily distinguished from the Brahminy Kite (left).

This is the Osprey with the weird tail pattern.

Finally, courtesy of Jonathan, "Birders looking for goose":

 

Japan 23Sep09

From Yamane

In Japan, already the migration started. Today I saw 7 Chestnut-cheeked Starlings from my house. They move to Philippines And I saw some Sand Martins from here. Sand Martins breed in Hokkaido and North area of Honshu in Japan, not down here. Already some raptors are moving to South-east Asia.

Mandai, Seletar Dam, Pulau Punggol 17Jan09

From KH

After going thru all my photos and Con's photos, I've no doubt there were at least 2 Sand Martins at Seletar Dam (aka Yishun Dam). Finally, we nailed this bird!

Sand Martin

Today was a 'raptorful' day. The star raptor was of course our trusted Booted Eagle which always show up on Pulau Punggol.

Mandai

1) Black Baza 3
2) Japanese Sparrowhawk 1
3) Brahminy Kite 1
4) CHE 1 dark morph
5) WBSE 1 adult

Dark morph CHE

WBSE

P Punggol

1) Booted Eagle 1 pale morph
2) Chinese Sparrowhawk 1 adult male
3) Japanese Sparrowhawk 1
4) Osprey 1 perched on ground
5) WBSE >4
6) Brahminy Kite >2

Booted Eagle

Male Chinese Sparrowhawk

Other birds at Mandai includes: Coppersmith Barbet, Asian Drongo Cuckoo, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Pacific Swallow.

As well as a juvenile Tiger Shrike

and a Banded Woodpecker.

There were also large Nephila spiders at Mandai. This  is the typical morph Golden Web Spider (N. pilipes).

The Black Wood Spider (N. kuhlii) is smaller. It is a female. Its mate or meal was hanging precariously near it (not in photo).

Photos from Con

Sand Martin

Juvenile Barn Swallow

From Yamane

We can see Sand Martin in Hokkaido of Japan. In Japan, they breed in only Hokkaido. But we can see also around my place, only in migration seasons.

In Japan, we can see Barn Swallow anywhere in summer. Of course they breed here. They make nests also around my place. Many of them make them beside houses & buildings. Some of them make it in a subway entrance. :-)