Chek Jawa 07May23

From KH

Others who reached Chek Jawa earlier got the Stripe-throated Bulbul, but Danny and I only got Olive-winged Bulbul...

Female White-crowned Hornbill showing upperwing and eating fruit while perched on Sea Almond.

This is the time of the year that the White-winged Tern wear their striking breeding plumage.

Lone Smooth Otter again. An outcast?

Lorong Halus 17Oct20

From KH

At Lorong Halus, got a migrant Chinese Sparrowhawk.

And a local Grey-headed Fish-Eagle.

As well as Whiskered Tern and White-winged Terns.

1. Zebra Dove 2
2. Asian Koel 1 - Heard
3. dark swiftlet sp. 20
4. Common Sandpiper 1 - Heard
5. White-winged Tern 3
6. Whiskered Tern 1 - molting out of breeding plumage
7. Gray Heron 8
8. Changeable Hawk-Eagle 1
9. Chinese Sparrowhawk 1
10. Brahminy Kite 1
11. White-bellied Sea-Eagle 1
12. Gray-headed Fish-Eagle 1
13. White-throated Kingfisher 1 - Heard
14. bee-eater sp. 2
15. Black-naped Oriole 1
16. Malaysian Pied-Fantail 1 - Heard
17. Ashy Tailorbird 2 - Heard
18. Pacific Swallow 5
19. Yellow-vented Bulbul 1
20. Asian Glossy Starling 2

At Serangoon Tidal Gates, I got Pied Triller.

This Crenate Swimming Crab Thranita crenata.

And this Short-winged Rice Grasshopper Pseudoxya diminuta.

1. Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 2
2. Spotted Dove 1
3. Zebra Dove 4
4. dark swiftlet sp. 2
5. Red-breasted Parakeet 5
6. Pied Triller 2
7. Black-naped Oriole 2
8. Common Iora 1
9. Brown Shrike 1
10. House Crow 1
11. Common Tailorbird 1
12. Ashy Tailorbird 1 - Heard
13. Yellow-bellied Prinia 1 - Heard
14. Barn Swallow 2
15. Pacific Swallow 3
16. Yellow-vented Bulbul 4
17. Swinhoe's White-eye 5
18. Javan Myna 10
19. Asian Brown Flycatcher 1
20. Baya Weaver 1

Singapore Strait 29Apr17

From JS

On 29 April 2017, we joined the pelagic trip (2x boats) organised by See Toh and Francis. Straits of Singapore is probably one of the last few frontiers for birdwatching in Singapore. There are still a lot of knowledge to discover concerning the movement of seabirds through this part of the world. With a bit of fortuity, a vagrant may appear - which is the case in other waters of the world. For birdwatchers seeking an additional tick for their Singapore list, the Straits of Singapore is the place to explore.

Setting off at 7am from Sister's islands where we had just cleared customs, we headed eastwards towards Horsburgh Lighthouse, our key destination for the day. For the first one and a half hour, we saw nothing. The weather was not favorable with dark clouds before us. Our first bird was a pair of Little Terns. Following which, we encountered an Arctic Skua in the distant. Thereafter, it was just Bridled Terns and Short-Tailed Shearwaters capturing our attention. To think that a couple of years ago, the latter was not even recorded and our count has exceeded 10 by the time we had reached Horsburgh Lighthouse!!!

Bridled Terns

Short-tailed Shearwaters

At Horsburgh Lighthouse, I was honored to finally record the Black-Nest Swiftlet for my Singapore list. To do so, I had to spot the birds on the black nest built below the window ledge of the buildings on the outcrop. Tough work!

Another interesting sighting at the lighthouse was a pod of three Indo-pacific Humpback Dolphins including one calf. To demonstrate our delight for the sighting, we actually spent additionally time circling the outcrop two times in search of them. Alas, they did not show again...

Indo-pacific Humpback Dolphin

Heading back, we stayed close to the Indonesian side of the International waters. This rewarded us with further sightings of Short-Tailed Shearwaters, Bridled Terns, three White-Winged Terns (including one individual moulting to breeding plumage) and an Aleutian Tern in breeding plumage. Great sightings, especially the birds in breeding plumages.

White-winged Tern

Aleutian Tern

Hoping to find something different, we checked the yellow buoys off the coastline of Indonesia and found resting Lesser Crested Terns, a new bird for the trip.

Just as we were leaving the last buoy to head back to Singapore, we saw an all-dark bird gliding at the surface of the waters. The flight of the bird resembled that of the Shearwaters. Thus, I was too quick to identify it as just another "Short-Tailed Shearwater". Thankfully, See Toh was quick to point out something unusual about the bird - it had pale upperwing coverts. This was no shearwater, it was a passing Bulwer's Petrel!!! Out of our excitement, we actually made a U-turn and attempted to look for the bird. The bird was probably long gone by then but we just wanted so much to re-find it. The significance of the sighting was simply the bird has yet to be recorded in our Singapore checklist. Any sighting of the species could mean a step closer to its inclusion...

Bulwer's Petrel

After seeing 10 species of seabirds, including a potentially new species for the Singapore checklist, all the participants were in fine spirit. All of us would like the birds to come closer to our boats but as with any pelagic outings, nothing is certain. The potential of finding new birds or the risk of going home empty handed makes pelagic outings so interesting. With eagerness, we await our next pelagic adventure...

1. Bulwer's Petrel (Bulweria bulwerii) 1
2. Short-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris) 27
3. Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) 1
4. Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) 1
5. White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) 1
6. Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus) 2
7. Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus) 2 - Species only seen by participants on another boat
8. Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) 26
9. Aleutian Tern (Onychoprion aleuticus) 2
10. Little Tern (Sternula albifrons) 2
11. White-winged Black Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) 3
12. Black-naped Tern (Sterna sumatrana) 4
13. Lesser Crested Tern (Thalasseus bengalensis) 22
14. tern sp. (Sterninae sp.) 36
15. Black-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus maximus) 100
16. Pacific Swift (Apus pacificus) 4
17. Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 3
18. Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica) 10

Pacific Swift

Batu Gajah, Sawah Ring, Sg Balang, Parit Jawa, Malacca Strait 22-23Sep12

From KH

Con, Danny and I joined Ang and his friends for birding at the padi fields and Malacca Strait.

We spent the first day in the padi fields and what a hot day it was. As the padi fields were pretty dry, there were not many waders, although we did find Wood Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers, Pacific Golden Plovers and Red-wattled Lapwings. Herons (Purple and Little), egrets (Cattle, Little, Intermediate and Great) and bitterns (Cinnamon and Yellow) were common in the fields. Other birds of note were a Watercock, Oriental Reed Warblers and Grey Wagtails. In one of the rivers, there were Common Moorhens, Purple Swamphens and Lesser Whistling Ducks.

At Sungei Balang, there were many grassland birds - munias (White-rumped, White-headed and Scaly-breasted), Baya Weavers, Zitting Cisticolas and a Paddyfield Pipit. We managed to locate two boxes with Barn Owls in them. As it was still too early for raptors, we only saw Black-winged and Brahminy Kites.

The second day, by contrast, was really wet! It rained on and off the whole morning. While having breakfast, a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbills on antenna were a welcoming sight. After breakfast, we took a boat trip from Parit Jawa to the Malacca Strait and spent about 4 hours out in the sea (around 9 am to 1 pm).

Lesser Adjutants - the iconic birds of Parit Jawa.

Lesser Adjutants

First, we encounter the commoner terns, like Little Terns, White-winged Terns and Great Crested Terns pretty near the coast and at the kelongs.

White-winged Tern

Great Crested Tern

As we went further out, we started seeing Bridled Terns heading south. We counted about 100 birds by the end of the boat trip.

Bridled Tern

The first star bird of the trip appeared around 9:45 am. It was an Aleutian Tern - a lifer for the Malaysian birders. The bird can be told apart from others by the white forehead, thin black bill, thin black trailing edge on the secondaries, white leading edge and pale rump.

Aleutian Tern

Before long, we encountered our first Swinhoe's Storm Petrel - another lifer for the Malaysian birders. We would see another two later. Finally, we spotted a pod of dolphins on the way back.

The final count of pelagic birds:
Swinhoe's Storm Petrel 3
Aleutian Tern 1
Common Tern 2
Bridled Tern ~100
Lesser Crested Tern 1
Great Crested Tern ~50
White-winged Tern ~10
Little Tern ~5

And water birds at Parit Jawa:
Lesser Adjutant 15
Grey Heron 5
Little Heron 3
Little Egret 5
Greater Sand Plover 1
Lesser Sand Plover >20
Common Greenshank 1
Common Redshank >20
Common Sandpiper 3
Terek Sandpiper >20
Whimbrel 1
Black-tailed Godwit 2
Red-necked Stint 5

From Con

http://confoley.com/parit-jawa-september-2012

Singapore Strait, Imbiah 15Sep12

From Colin

Swinhoe's Storm-petrel 470 W
Bridled Tern 296 E
Aleutian Tern 15-20
Common Tern 1-2
Great Crested Tern 22
Lesser Crested Tern 1
White-winged Tern 1

The numbers of all are remarkably similar to same weekend in 2011.

From Con

http://confoley.com/pelagic-outing-september-2012

Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins

Great Crested Tern

Bridled Tern

Aleutian Tern (front) and White-winged Tern (back)

Aleutian Tern

Swinhoe's Storm-petrel

From JS

Swinhoe's Storm-petrels

From KH

After the boat trip, Danny, JS and I went to Imbiah to look for the Hwamei, but none were found...

There were also not many birds, but we did see Coconut Lorikeet, bulbuls (Olive-winged, Yellow-vented) and other common birds.

Singapore Strait 19Nov11

From Con

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

From Colin

The final NParks supported marine bird survey of the year was quiet from an ornithological point of view, with no records of Swinhoe's Storm Petrel, Aleutian Tern or Bridled Tern. Ornithological highlights were 47 Lesser Crested Terns (probably the highest count we've had all year), a juvenile Great Crested Tern on a buoy just off Tanah Merah that was still actively begging for food (where had that come from?) and a total of 13 Oriental Honey Buzzards migrating south mid-strait.

However, the real highlight was a mixed pod of eight Bottle-nosed and two Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins that gave great views feeding around the boat of north-western Batam!

And a map here.

From JS

A White-winged Tern flying away.

NTL2, SBWR 26Oct11

From KH

Con, Danny and I spent Deepavali birding at NTL2 and SBWR. Here are the hightlights:

1) 2.5-m-long King Cobra at SBWR
2) Whiskered Terns at Kranji Reservoir
3) Black-tailed Godwit and GSP at SBWR

NTL2:
1) Black-winged Kite 1
2) CHE 1 heard
3) Osprey 1
4) Accipiter spp. 2
5) WBSE 2
6) Brahminy Kite 1
7) Whiskered Tern >6
8) White-winged Tern >3
9) Yellow Bittern 3
10) Lesser Coucal 3 including 1 hopping on ground
11) Common KF 3
12) Blue-throated BE >2 still around
13) Blue-tailed BE >2 have arrived
14) Brown Shrike >1
15) Yellow Wagtail 1
and the usual White-throated & Collared Kingfishers, Dollarbirds, Red-breasted Parakeets, crows, bulbuls, swallows, ioras, mynas, sunbirds, swiftlets.

NSRCC:
1) Yellow Wagtail 1

SBWR:
1) Black-tailed Godwit 1
2) Greater Sand-plover 1
3) Broad-billed Sandpiper >2
4) Red-necked Stint >16
5) Great Egret 2
6) Intermediate Egret 1
7) Cattle Egret 1
and the usual LSP, PGP, sandpipers (Marsh, Curlew, Common), whimbrels, redshanks, greenshanks, Little Egrets.

KNT:
1) Copper-throated Sunbird 1 pair

From Danny

Refer 1st pic - single Whiskered with two White-winged Terns. Thicker bill and larger gist for the Whiskered with eye-stripe extended to nape. Looking towards higher quality pic from Con.

Thx to Kok Hui's patience for spotting the only GSP among the hundreds of LSP, not once but twice. Attached pic showing the classic differences between the two species, namely head shapes, size/shape of eyes, yellow legs (snuggled below body of GSP) & most critical the size/thickness/shape of bill.

From Con

Thanks for spending the time to dig this Greater Sand-plover out of the sea of Lesser Sand-plovers and keeping it there while I went back to the car to get my camera.

Not the best of images, but at least something with a largish bill and yellowish legs .... although David Bakewell did say in his course that some Lesser Sand-plovers also have yellowish legs, but I forget if this was adult, juvenile or only on Halloween.

2.5-m-long King Cobra sighted at SBWR today at the Main Hide end of main bridge.

http://npss.org.sg/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9006&p=80958#p80953

Singapore Strait 16Apr11

From Con

Thanks all for another enjoyable outing and the continuing series of skuas :-)
I'm sure several folks got similar or better pictures, but here are a few to share in order of appearance ...

White-winged Tern

Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin

Arctic Skua
http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/image/133947190
http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/image/133947191

Where were those petrels :)

From Colin

Although we didn't record any phalaropes we did have another jaeger, this time a Parasitic. Google map.

Apart from that the day was surprisingly quiet with White-winged Terns being the most numerous with a total of 54, the only "crested-type" terns were two distant unidentified birds so most seem to have moved off, and there were also small numbers of returning Black-naped and Little Terns. The other highlight was a pod of five Bottle-nosed Dolphins, only the second record of cetaceans we've had in seven trips.

We've now had five jaeger records since October, and it seems what often happens is that they're sat on the sea unseen (somewhere east of Changi, south to northeastern Batam) and fly only to harass groups of terns when the terns are disturbed into the air, usually from one of the buoys. This time a large group of White-winged Terns were disturbed off a buoy by a White-bellied Sea-eagle bringing its catch to eat, this brought in the jaeger which then chose to harass the Sea-Eagle rather than the terns!

Birds that were noticeable by their absence were perhaps Bridled and Aleutian Terns, but also most interestingly Swinhoe's Storm-petrels. What little is known of the spring passage of Swinhoe's Storm-petrels seems to show that the previous records actually from the Straits have all been in May, so perhaps they all come through next month in a shorter period time than when they're around in the autumn?

From JS

Upper and under wing shots of the Arctic Skua.

WBSE with prey.

The skua in hot pursuit of WBSE with prey.

Unid bird

Singapore Strait 13Nov10

From KH

Danny organised this pelagic trip and 11 of us (Danny, Hwee Boon, Jean, Jia Sheng, Jonathan, Loong Tat, Martii, Poh Bee, SC, Sree and I) attended. We met at Republic of Singapore Yacht Club at West Coast at 0700. This is the rough map of our route:

Our first seabirds were Great Crested Terns. The first of which appeared at about 0900. Although we did see a far-away Bridled Tern and some White-winged and Lesser Crested Terns, for the next 3 hours, it seemed that all we were getting were Great Crested Terns...

The main action started after noon from 1210-1222. Our first Swinhoe's Storm-petrel appeared on the starboard side at 1210 and stayed with us for about 5 mins.

Swinhoe's Storm-petrel taking off ©Lau JS

About 1 min after the storm-petrel craze, our other star bird, an Aleutian Tern, showed up. It circled us for the next 5 mins.

Aleutian Tern in flight ©Tan KH

Then someone shouted "storm-petrel" on the port side. Unknowingly, we have got close to the bird while preoccupied with the Aleutian Tern!

There was a flock of more than 100 Little Terns in flight off Changi Naval Base.

Then we passed by a couple of fishing boats and they had snappers and groupers in their baskets.

Fisherman. Grouper in a basket ©Tan KH

At about 1410, we got close to a buoy and there were Great Crested, White-winged and Little Terns on it.

Little Tern in flight ©Jon Cheah


White-winged (background) and 3 Little Terns on a buoy ©Jon Cheah


White-winged (background) and Little Terns ©Lau JS


3 Great Crested Terns on the right with mostly White-winged Terns ©Tan KH

After that, the activities toned down and some of us even fell asleep!

1. Swinhoe's Storm-petrel 2
2. Aleutian Tern 1
3. Bridled Tern 1
4. Great Crested Tern
5. Lesser Crested Tern
6. White-winged Tern
7. Little Tern
8. White-bellied Sea-eagle 1 adult
9. Brahminy Kite 1 adult
10. Pacific Reef-egret (white morph on rocky bund when we left West Coast)
11. swallows
12. swifts