Stewart Island 15Jun19 am

From KH

Foveaux Strait

Birds seen in the strait

1. Silver Gull (Red-billed) 10
2. Kelp Gull 5
3. White-fronted Tern 10
4. Buller's Albatross 8
5. White-capped Albatross 2
6. Stewart Island Shag 5
7. Swamp Harrier 1

Swamp Harrier over Foveaux Strait.

White-capped and Buller's Albatrosses are common in the strait.

Buller's Albatross

White-capped Albatross

Birds seen in Oban, Stewart Island

1. Paradise Shelduck 2
2. Variable Oystercatcher 3
3. Silver Gull (Red-billed) 10
4. Kelp Gull 2
5. Buller's Albatross 1
6. Spotted Shag 1
7. Stewart Island Shag 1
8. Sacred Kingfisher 1
9. Tui 5
10. New Zealand Bellbird 5
11. New Zealand Fantail 5
12. Silvereye 8
13. European Starling 10
14. Eurasian Blackbird 2
15. Dunnock 2
16. House Sparrow

Red-billed and Kelp Gulls are also common here.

Red-billed Gull

Kelp Gull with pied morph Stewart Island Shags

Stewart Island Shags come in two morphs - pied and bronze.

Bronze morph Steward Island Shag

Spotted Shag and Pied Cormorant seem less common here.

Spotted Shag

Pied Cormorant

Variable Oystercatchers also come with different morphs. Here's a pair of the black morph.

Paradise Shelducks - female with white head, male black.

A couple of endemics: Tui and NZ Bellbird.

And a couple of introduced species: European Starling and Eurasian Blackbird.

Pulau Punggol, Tuas 22Oct16

From KH

Danny, JS and I planned to start the day's birding at Kranji Marsh, but upon reaching, we found the sky looked threatening and decided to head East. By the time we reach Lorong Halus, the rain clouds had caught up with us! So we adjourned to our favourite Punggol food court for breakfast.

Once the sky cleared, we headed to Pulau Punggol.

We didn't try very hard to turn the Paddyfield Pipits here into Angus pipits

A juvenile Sooty-headed Bulbul was begging for food

As nothing much else was going on here, we decided to head to Tuas for raptor watching. Although the sky was overcast, we saw 1 Common Buzzard and 1 immature male Eastern Marsh-harrier, on top of the usual OHBs and accipiters.

Common Buzzard

Immature male Eastern Marsh-harrier

There were also migrating Pacific Swifts.

Pacific Swift

NTL2, CCK Cemeteries 15Feb14

From KH

Con, Danny, JS and I went to NTL2 because we heard it is a good place for sniping. At the entrance, we were surprised to see a Blue-throated Bee-eater. Apparently, this migrant breeder have been found year round in Singapore, although the majority do migrate after breeding months.

Near the entrance, we also added two singing cuckoos to Con's Big Year list - Little Bronze and Plaintive.

The marsh was really dry, but Purple Swamphens, Common Moorhens and a non-breeding pond-heron were still making the best of what was there. Two Watercocks were spontaneously flushed from the reeds. Black-browed Reed-warblers, Yellow Bitterns and Ruddy-breasted Crakes were also around.

Then someone shouted "harrier!" It turned out to be a juvenile Eastern Marsh-harrier. By now, it was late morning and getting hot, but still no snipe.

Juvenile Eastern Marsh-harrier ©Lau JS

On the way out, in the drain, we saw a pair of Blue-eared Kingfishers, a Slaty-breasted Rail and two snipes! They appear to be a Swinhoe's/Pintail. Oh well...

Next stop, Bollywood drain. First, we unknowingly flushed a few snipes from the drain. Then, another singing cuckoo caught our attention. This time a Banded Bay.

After lunch at NTU, we headed to CCK Cemeteries. Our mission once again was to look for snipes. Sure enough, 4 individuals were spotted in a grass patch. We spent 2 hours observing them, hoping they would fan their distinctive tail. They turned out to be Pintail Snipes. This was a dry grass patch, so it seems Pintail Snipes do like dryer ground.

Pintail Snipe ©Con Foley

Also present were Slaty-breasted Rail, Cinnamon Bittern and Asian Palm-swift.

Asian Palm-swift ©Lau JS

Changi 02Nov13

From Con

Female Indian Cuckoo

Male Red Avadavat?

From JS

Female Pied Harrier flying high

Japan 02Mar13

From Yamane

I visited Kasai Rinkai Park with Keio University Bird Watching Club members as one of the alumni. It was fine, but very cold & strong wind all day. The place is near Tokyo Disney Land.

I report as follows:

1. Gadwall
2. Wigeon
3. Mallard
4. Spot-billed Duck
5. Northern Shoveler
6. Common Teal
7. Common Pochard
8. Tufted Duck
9. Greater Scaup
10. Little Grebe
11. Black-necked Grebe
12. Oriental Turtle Dove
13. Great Cormorant
14. Grey Heron
15. Great Egret
16. Little Egret
17. Eurasian Coot
18. Kentish Plover
19. Common Sandpiper
20. Dunlin
21. Black-headed Gull
22. Common Gull
23. Herring Gull
24. Slaty-backed Gull
25. Osprey
26. Eastern Marsh Harrier
27. Azure-winged Magpie
28. Carrion Crow
29. Jungle Crow
30. Goldcrest
31. Varied Tit
32. Coal Tit
33. Japanese Tit
34. Brown-eared Bulbul
35. Japanese Bush Warbler
36. Japanese White-eye
37. White-cheeked Starling
38. Pale Thrush
39. Dusky Thrush
40. Daurian Redstart
41. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
42. Japanese Pied Wagtail
43. Black-faced Bunting
44. Grey Bunting

We could not watch Red-flanked Bluetail, Bullfinch, & Common Kingfisher.

Batang Tiga 08-09Jan13

From Con

I arrived at about 7:45am yesterday and after some time bumped into a digiscoper from Melaka who helped point out some of the eagles. Later another couple of birders came. Finally found a hotel after the Melaka birders treated me to lunch. I stayed on the beach. Went back in the later afternoon but the eagles retreated soon to their roosting tree and the light was really bad anyway.

Had a nice dinner with the local birders and Ang and Ong joined as well.

In the morning I got to Batang Tiga just after 7am, walked into the paddy and set up hide by 7:30am. The eagles didn’t come until 8:30am but settled on a different tree than the one I was staking out. Oh well. I stayed until 9am hoping they would change to the tree I was aiming for but no such luck. Then I packed up and went back out.

By now there were 4 birders from KL and one from Ipoh. They pointed out the large flock of Asian Openbills which had arrived while I was in the hide. The openbills stayed around for about another hour before moving off down the coast towards Muar. I wonder if this is the same flock Graeme saw in Penang yesterday?

Anyway, it seems everyday the Malaysian birders are coming from Penang, Ipoh, KL, and other points to see these rare raptors. Especially for them, the Steppe Eagle is even more rare than the Imperial Eagle.

http://www.pbase.com/con_foley/batang_tiga

Tasmania 19-25Dec12

From KH

December is a summer month in Australia. At this time of the year, Tasmania is a cool 10-20 degrees Celsius. Daylight is 0530-2100. There wasn't much rain either.

The target of this trip is the 12 endemic birds of Tasmania. The first and last day were pretty much for settling in and out of Tasmania, so my wife and I only birded on 20-24 Dec. We sighted 61 bird species, 3 mammal species and 2 reptile species.

20 Dec

The first day of exploration started on Bruny Island. All 12 endemics can be found on this island that is about the land area of Singapore. If one is interested in the Little Penguin and the Short-tailed Shearwater, a night stay over is necessary as these birds will return to their burrows at dusk. We managed to see 6 of the 12 endemic species:

Tasmanian Native-hen
Green Rosella
Tasmanian Thornbill
Black-headed Honeyeater
Dusky Robin
Black Currawong

Left: Green Rosella. Right: Juvenile Dusky Robin.

4 lifers: Kelp Gull, Pallid Cuckoo, Forest Raven and European Goldfinch. The last bird is an introduced species.

Juvenile Pallid Cuckoo

Left: Adult Kelp Gull. Right: Forest Raven

As well as the following endemic subspecies:

Superb Fairy Wren cyaneus
Brown Thornbill diemensis
Yellow-rumped Thornbill leachi
New Holland Honeyeater canescens
Australian Magpie hypoleuca
Grey Fantail albiscapa

Male Superb Fairy Wren cyaneus subsp. singing

In total, we saw 39 species between 9:30 am - 5:30 pm. Here are some of the others:

Female Chestnut Teal	Great (left) & Black-faced (right) Cormorants
White-faced Heron	Pied Oystercatcher
Masked Lapwing	Crested Terns

We got a non-avain creature in the form of a skink.

Southern Grass Skink (Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii)

21 Dec

Today's birding is around Hobart, namely Peter-Murrell Reserve, Mt Wellington and Mt Field.

At Peter-Murrell Reserve, we added 2 endemic species - Yellow-throated Honeyeater and Yellow Wattlebird.

Left: Yellow-throated Honeyeater. Right: Yellow Wattlebird

Black-headed Honeyeater (bottom) and juvenile Welcome Swallows (top)

1 lifer - Horsefield's Bronze Cuckoo;

Horsefield's Bronze Cuckoo

and a few endemic subspecies - Grey Currawong arguta, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo xanthanotus, Eastern Rosella diemenensis and Little Wattlebird tasmanica.

Left: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo. Right: Eastern Rosella

Left: Little Wattlebird. Right: Dusky Woodswallow

Left: Great Cormorant. Right: Black-faced Cuckooshrike

At Mt Wellington, we did not get any new bird for the trip (in fact, no bird at all!). Mt Field was slightly better with 3 birds in total - Crescent Honeyeater, Black Currawong and Grey Fantail. Only the Crescent Honeyeater is a new bird for the trip.

Crescent Honeyeater singing

The other highlight today is a mammal, the Tasmanian Pademelon.

A friendly Tasmanian Pademelon at Russell Falls car park

22 Dec

Today we made our way to Deloraine via Great Lake. The new birds today are Australian Pipit bistriatus and Black Swan.

Left: Brown Falcon. Right: Australian Pipit.

The highlight, however, is a Short-beaked Echidna!

Short-beaked Echidna at road side

23 Dec

Today is Cradle Mountain day.

Added 2 endemic species - Scrubtit and Tasmanian Scrubwren.

Tasmanian Scrubwren

1 lifer, Pink Robin, which is also an endemic subspecies rodinogaster.

Male Pink Robin

Another endemic subspecies - Wedge-tailed Eagle fleayi.

A pair of Wedge-tailed Eagle

Tasmanian Native-hen with chicks	Tasmanian Thornbill
Black Currawong	Female Superb Fairy Wren

The non-avian highlights are an over-friendly Bennett's (Red-necked) Wallaby at Dove Lake and Metallic Skinks at Knyvet Falls boardwalk.

Left: Red-necked Wallaby. Right: Metallic Skink (Niveoscincus metallicus)

24 Dec

Final day of exploration starts from Queenstown back to Hobart via Lake St Clair, and I'm still missing Strong-billed Honeyeater and Forty-spotted Pardalote. Fortunately, we managed to see, not 1 but 3, of the honeyeater today. An evening dash to Peter-Murrell Reserve turned up a pardalote, but it is the endemic subspecies of Striated, not the Forty-spotted. So in total, we saw 11 endemic species and 14 endemic subspecies.

Left: Scrubtit. Right: Strong-billed Honeyeater.

Left: Male Swamp Harrier. Right: Striated Pardalote striatus subsp.

Bird list. 61 birds seen on this trip. 17 lifers (L) of which 11 are endemic (E) to Tasmania.

1. Black Swan
2. Pacific Black Duck
3. Chestnut Teal
4. Great Cormorant
5. Little Pied Cormorant
6. Little Black Cormorant
7. Black-faced Cormorant
8. White-faced Heron
9. Swamp Harrier
10. Wedge-tailed Eagle
11. Brown Falcon
12. Australian Kestrel
13. Tasmanian Native Hen (L)(E)
14. Masked Lapwing
15. Pied Oystercatcher
16. Silver Gull
17. Pacific Gull
18. Kelp Gull (L)
19. Crested Tern
20. bronzewing sp.
21. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
22. Galah
23. Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
24. Eastern Rosella
25. Green Rosella (L)(E)
26. Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo (L)
27. Pallid Cuckoo (L)
28. Superb Fairy Wren
29. Striated Pardalote
30. Little Wattlebird
31. Yellow Wattlebird (L)(E)
32. Yellow-throated Honeyeater (L)(E)
33. Black-headed Honeyeater (L)(E)
34. Strong-billed Honeyeater (L)(E)
35. New Holland Honeyeater
36. Crescent Honeyeater
37. Dusky Robin (L)(E)
38. Pink Robin (L)
39. Scarlet Robin
40. Grey Fantail
41. Bassian Thrush
42. Yellow-rumped Thornbill
43. Tasmanian Thornbill (L)(E)
44. Brown Thornbill
45. Tasmanian Scrubwren (L)(E)
46. Scrubtit (L)(E)
47. Black-faced Cuckooshrike
48. Dusky Woodswallow
49. Australian Magpie
50. Black Currawong (L)(E)
51. Grey Currawong
52. Forest Raven (L)
53. Australian Pipit
54. Tree Martin
55. Welcome Swallow
56. Spotted Dove - introduced
57. Laughing Kookaburra - introduced
58. Common Blackbird - introduced
59. European Goldfinch - introduced (L)
60. House Sparrow - introduced
61. Common Starling - introduced