Coney Island, Tuas 10Nov15

From KH

I started at Coney Island myself and joined the rest later at Tuas.

Coney Island on 10 Nov 2015 7:45 - 11 am

• 1 Booted Eagle (juvenile dark morph)
• 1 Chinese Sparrowhawk (adult)
• 2 Black Bazas
• 2 Brahminy Kites (adult)
• 1 White-bellied Sea-eagle

Booted Eagle

Black Baza

Some of the other birds here.

Blyth's Paradise Flycatcher. Black-naped Oriole.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Common Flameback couple. Red-breasted Parakeet

Tiger Shrike

Olive-winged Bulbul

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Plus lots and lots of people, the whole 2.2 km main path and all the beaches!

Danny reported Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, Brown-chested Jungle-flycatcher and Arctic Warbler at Tuas before I reached, but no sign of Northern Boobook.

Japanese Garden 30Sep09

From GC

Saw a white morph Asian Paradise-flycatcher yesterday 300909 at the entrance of Jap Gardens. I found it interesting that this bird will dive into the water to get wet and then fly back to a branch to preen.

Also an Asian Brown Flycatcher was seen in the gardens, and a Common Kingfisher.

I've observed this juvenile Plaintive Cuckoo for 3 sessions, each time in the late morning, for about 1.5hrs. It looks for prey from a perch about 2m high and always procures its food (caterpillars) from the grass on the ground. When it sees something, it would usually tilt its head to one side and use the lower eye to have a good look before flying to the ground. Thereafter, it would fly to a perch too shake the caterpillar vigorously before swallowing it whole. The shaking is so fast we don't see what is happening. We may see a droplet of liquid at one end of the caterpillar, though. The body juices of the caterpillar are probably unpalatable, causing the cuckoo to squeeze them out and shake them off.

We can also see the zygodactyl feet of the cuckoo, a feature more often associated with woodpeckers.

Changi, Simpang 24Sep05

From KH

Another lovely day, this time Con, Danny and I were there. In the morning, we gathered at Changi Village and then headed towards Changi reclaimed land (accessed via lamp post 150 along Changi Coast Road). After we were done with that, we headed back to Changi Village for lunch. In the afternoon, we went recceing at Simpang.

While waiting at Changi Village, I recorded the usual birds there, including the Red-breasted Parakeets. As we entered the reclaimed land, Con went straight to the sandy beach, while Danny and I kept a lookout for the grassland birds. We saw a Lesser Coucal, a Black-winged Kite and some others. When we hit the beach, Con has already closed in on the birds. There were mainly Lesser Sand-plovers and Little Terns around. There were also a pair of Black-winged Stilts and a pair of Grey Plovers. As we were about to leave the beach, a Grey Heron flew in and there were a couple of small plovers among the rubbish. These turned out to be Malaysian Plovers. A rare gem in Singapore. Danny said :"cute little birds". Then we went to the cove proper and saw Whimbrels and Common Sandpipers.

Changi Cove:

Photos from Con:

Lesser Sand-plovers

Grey Plovers and Little Terns

Little Terns

Whimbrel. Paddyfield Pipit

After we were done with the coast, we headed to Changi Village for a break. While waiting for our fishball noodles and hor fun, 3 Tanimbar Corellas landed on a tree nearby and Con was off with his camera again. They were biting each others' beak and playing a fool, putting on quite a fun show for us.

Tanimbar Corellas

At Simpang, we were stunned by the variety of birds. These are mainly forest birds, like Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Forest Wagtail, Common Flameback, as well as others like Pied Fantail, Brown Shrike, Asian Paradise-flycatcher.

Asian Paradise-flycatcher. Forest Wagtail

Initially, we wanted to take the left path, but we were attracted by bird calls on the right. And it was a good choice! There are many forest birds flying around even when it was 1 pm in the hot afternoon.

When we reached Simpang, the first bird to greet us was a lone Little Egret. We entered Simpang through a treacherous path along the canal beside the fire station. But it was worth it because we found ourselves in a good birding site. Besides the bird mentioned so far, there were also a couple of birds that we could not ID. There was a kingfisher that Danny saw and he mentioned it was smaller than the typical kingfisher and doesn't look like the collared nor white-throated. Then there was the raptor in the sky that we couldn't ID. After Con left at 2 pm, we went on to recce the area. We walked along the stony path and were relieved that we didn't take it in the first place. The only new birds seen were a Brahminy Kite and the raptor mentioned above.

As per what Con mentioned, the star of the day is the pair of Malaysian Plovers. That's 44 birds for the day. Note: all bird photos by Con.

Malaysian Plovers - female left, male right

Changi Village
01. House crow
02. Javan myna
03. Black-naped oriole
04. Rock pigeon
05. Spotted dove
06. Olive-backed sunbird
07. Golden-bellied gerygone (heard)
08. Asian koel (heard)
09. Red-breasted parakeet
10. Collared kingfisher
11. Common myna

Changi Grassland
12. Yellow-vented bulbul
13. Black-winged kite
14. White-throated kingfisher
15. Lesser coucal
16. Zitting cisticola
17. Barn swallow
18. Paddyfield pipit
19. Eurasian tree sparrow
20. Red collared dove

Changi Cove
21. Grey plover (2)
22. Black-winged stilt (2)
23. Whimbrel
24. Little tern
25. Malaysian plover (2)
26. Lesser sand-plover
27. Common sandpiper
28. Striated heron
29. Grey heron

Changi Village
30. Tanimbar cockatoo

Simpang
31. Little egret
32. White-breasted waterhen
33. Plain-throated sunbird
34. Brown shrike
35. Forest wagtail
36. Asian paradise-flycatcher
37. Zebra dove
38. Blue-throated bee-eater
39. Asian glossy starling
40. Common flameback
41. Sunda woodpecker
42. Greater racket-tailed drongo
43. Pied fantail
44. Brahminy kite