Mt Faber 20Mar16
From Danny
Male Crested Goshawk after mating with female, full of energy busy building up new nest alone at Earth Trail.
Friday, March 25, 2016
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Rifle Range, SBWR, NTL2 19Mar16
From KH
Danny and I spent the day chasing phantoms, namely Little green-pigeon at Jelutong Tower and Lesser adjutant at Sungei Buloh and Neo Tiew.
Nicholas and See Toh were also at the tower. There were the usual resident flowerpeckers (Orange-bellied, Scarlet-backed), sunbirds (Crimson, Van Hasselt's, Brown-throated), bulbuls (Cream-vented, Olive-winged), mynas (Hill, Javan), Asian fairy-bluebirds, Blue-winged leafbirds, Greater racket-tailed drongos, Asian glossy starlings, Dark-necked tailorbirds, Dollarbirds, Plaintive cuckoo, Banded woodpecker, Long-tailed parakeets and lots of Pink-necked green-pigeons, but no Little green pigeon. Migrant-wise, we had an Asian brown flycatcher, an Oriental honey-buzzard and the migrant breeders, Blue-throated bee-eaters.
Left: Male Orange-bellied flowerpecker. Right: Male Pink-necked green-pigeon
The "bird" of the day was a 1.5-m-long Oriental whip snake, near Dillenia Hut.
Its lunch - a succulent Common house gecko - was hiding at Dillenia Hut!
Soon it was getting hot. See Toh, Danny and I headed for Sungei Buloh Eagle Point. There were not much bird activities at this time of the day, except for some Olive-backed sunbirds, Common ioras, Ashy tailorbirds, Spotted doves, Collared kingfishers, Sunda woodpeckers, egrets (Little, Great), Common sandpipers and one Common greenshank. We ran into Francis, who was also looking for the adjutant.
Many Little egrets waiting for low tide to start feeding
Common sandpiper assuming breeding plumage
Spotted dove at Eagle Point with no eagle
Then, we had our minute of excitement as a faraway stork flew into view and raise our hope for the adjutant. Alas, it turned out to be a Painted stork or its hybrid.
The highlight at Kingfisher Pod was a young Estuarine crocodile.
An Arctic warbler kept us busy for awhile as we were trying to turn it into something else.
Near the visitor centre, a male Laced woodpecker was busy drumming way.
After lunch at the new visitor centre, we decided to check out the newly-reopened Kranji Marsh. The star here was of course the Black-backed swamphen. We saw a pair at the Swamphen Hide. <Updated on 19 Feb 2023: As fate would have it, this pair turned out to be two separate species! After the split of Purple Swamphen complex to various species, the subspecies in Singapore viridis was initially attributed to Black-backed Swamphen (Porphyrio indicus), but was later moved to Grey-headed Swamphen (P. poliocephalus). The former has a darker face, while the latter has a paler face.>
The Common moorhen seemed to prefer the Swamphen Hide rather than the Moorhen Hide.
This is the time of the year that both bee-eater species can be found in Singapore. Blue-tailed bee-eater (left) eating what else but a bee. "Don't steal my bee!" said the Blue-throated bee-eater (right).
Also showing was a Cinnmon bittern.
Its relative, Yellow bittern, was also around. The other birds here were Scaly-breasted munias, Baya weavers, Yellow-bellied prinias, Asian glossy starlings, tailorbirds (Ashy, Common), Spotted doves, cuckoos (Little bronze, Plaintive), and surprising a female Pin-tailed whydah. I hope NParks will control its population. We do not need another little Africa in Singapore!
Central Vietnam 26Feb-06Mar16
From JS
Grey-cheeked Warbler. Bach Ma, Central Annam, Vietnam. Taken on 4 Mar 2016.
From Con
Photos and bird lists:
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Pulau Punggol, Halus, Tampines 27Feb16
From KH
Started the day at Pulau Punggol. Nothing much here, although the African escapees (Common Waxbills and Pin-tailed Whydahs) were still around. The only raptor around was an immature pale Changeable Hawk-eagle.At Halus, the Baya Weavers were nesting by the roadside.
The immature Ashy Tailorbird (left) sat on a branch calling for its parents. The juvenile Common Tailorbirds (right), on the other hand, were more insistent, chasing their parents around, begging for food.
The male Common Iora was in breeding plumage.
A dark Changeable Hawk-eagle was chased by a Large-billed Crow.
At Tampines Eco Green, the star bird was the male Cinnamon-headed Green-pigeon (left); apparently there were two. On the right is a male Pink-necked Green-pigeon for comparison.
A male Oriental Magpie-robin was very cooperative, to the delight of some photographers.
Finally, a feeding female Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker to round up the day's birding.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
CCK Park 19Jan16
From Danny
This evening around 7.15 pm spotted an owl flew onto the flame of forest tree while I was chatting with a fellow park user at CCK carpark, it was too dark to id but definitely a large owl. Went back home to take my camera, torchlight and bins from my car but Jia Sheng yet to be home. By the time (more than 5 mins) I got back could not locate at its previous location. However after a short thorough check, found it on another branch. With torchlight and struggling with my bins on another hand managed to confirm a Buffy. It had a rat and was feasting on it. Struggling to take shot with torchlight on one hand, almost ridiculous. Finally manage to get a passer by help but owl flew off while I search for torch bearer.
First time Buffy at CCK, guess it got tired of fish, need to get some meat. Time to look for a headlight like the one with Con.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Satay by the Bay 15Jan16
From KH
A pair of Cotton Pygmy-geese were sighted at Satay by the Bay and each of us made our own trips to tick off this rarity. This pair was apparently a one-day-wonder as they were not seen again the next day. They were not always on the pond, but when they were, they feed eagerly, perhaps in preparation for the onward migration.
Immature male ©Danny Lau
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