Kit's Fledgling BY

[Kitsafari]

097: Tiger Shrike, Pasir Ris Park/Tampines Eco Green, March 11/April 7

 

Adult

Juvenile

 

A pretty little uncommon winter visitor here, enjoying our warm climate from August to April. This bird is found in northern hemispheres in Eastern Russia, China, Japan and Korea. You can see the bold stripes on the adult very clearly that gives the bird its name. This is one of three species of shrikes seen so far in Singapore - the other two are the resident long-tailed shrike and winter migrant Brown shrike. 

[Kitsafari]

098: Purple Heron, Kranji Marshes, March 13

 

 

an EBC. the heron was in the distance and there was a haze worsened by the harsh sunlight (it was already 10am). This is a common resident breeder, but less common than the grey herons. both males and females look alike. 

[Kitsafari]

099: White-throated Kingfisher, Kranji Marshes, March 13

 

 

I was so excited to see this fella, who posed so obligingly on a clear branch right at the entrance to the marshes. It is quite widespread like the collared kingfisher and is one of eight species of kingfishers that have been seen in Singapore. we have seen it at Tampines Eco-Green as well. Feeds on fishes, lizards, insects and small amphibians. 

 

[Kitsafari]

100: Oriental Pied Hornbill, Pasir Ris Park, March 11

 

 

Because it's my 100th species, and because this is a special bird, i've put up a few more photos of the hornbill. There's a story behind this magnificent bird.

Oriental pied hornbill is a native species but became almost extinct locally as the government relentlessly cut down tall trees such that the hornbills lost their habitats and places to build their nests. Then in the 1990s a few started to fly across the Straits of Singapore from Johor to a small northern island of Singapore and a decision was taken by the wildlife authorities to help them breed here by building "homes" for the hornbills in the form of box nests. The box nests were installed in 2008 in the Istana (President's official home) with two birds introduced to the grounds. The two birds named Sada and Lily liked the home and produced chicks which then grew and made homes in other parts of Singapore. this is one of eight species of hornbills found in Southeast Asia. 

 

[TonyQ]

Congratulations on reaching 100, and with such a special bird. (99 is pretty special as well!)

[Peter Connan]

The hornbill and kingfisher are great, but the Tiger Shrike is a stunning little bird too!

 

Congratulations on the century!

[michael-ibk]

Congratulations on #100. Pretty exciting you have so many cool birds so close to home!

[Tdgraves]

Well done on 100

[lmSA84]

Congrats on 100. Really enjoying the diversity of your thread 

[Galana]

My congratulations on the magic century and best wishes for then next one. Its onlyApril.

Loved the Tailorbird and the story of the Pied Hornbill's return from the brink. Well done the 'authorities' and your President.

[Geoff]

On 27/03/2018 at 7:09 PM, Kitsafari said:

It seems the bird is a resident in the camp and is seen often. 

 

Nice shots of the Silverbird. Yep, I photographed probably the same individual in the grounds of KBC in Oct' 2016.

[xelas]

It is nice to hear about a positive story, and on top of it, a beautiful bird and the #100!!

[elefromoz]

@Kitsafari,  100, not bad for a non-birder, and the year is young. Love that Hornbill

[Dave Williams]

200 next. Keep them coming, excellent photos too.

[Zim Girl]

Very well done on reaching 100 already.

[Kitsafari]

 

Thanks Everyone! it was only due to the Mara trip that I managed to chalk up the century! but another century will be a hard mountain to climb.

 

101: Black Swan, Singapore Botanic Gardens, March 30

 

 

 

Black swans were introduced to Singapore from western Australia many many years ago. I cannot find when they were brought into our country but there aren't too many of them and they are found only in the Botanic Gardens and the zoo. The elegance of this bird often lingers in the minds of children, as it did in mine when I saw them many many years ago.

 

006: Oriental magpie-robin, Singapore Botanic Gardens

 

Herman did some nice captures of this songbird as mine didn't do it much justice earlier in the thread. 

 

 

Our foray into the gardens wasn't fruitful - it was very crowded, which surprised us early in the morning of a public holiday but didn't exactly made us want to stay any longer either. 

 

[Kitsafari]

102: Red junglefowl, Pasir Ris Park, March 11

 

 

There is no chicken and egg question to this little nugget : the red junglefowl is the ancestor of all chickens in the world. A handsome brute, it stood tall up in the tree, crowing as loudly as it mightily could to compete with a nearby speaker blasting music to which a group of ladies were doing their morning exercises. We found a second rooster accompanying its mate, a brown and less colourful female. 

Another nugget : A purebred junglefowl has grey legs (although the above had what it seemed greyish yellowish legs) while the female junglefowl don't have red combs but chickens have yellow legs and females have red combs. Unfortunately, some Singaporeans' aversion to anything natural had prompted the authorities to cull a small party of red junglefowls after the humans complained about the noise. that cull though raised a hue and cry among other Singaporeans who cried Foul very loudly. 

Puns ended. 

 

[Kitsafari]

103 : Red-whiskered bulbul, Tampines Eco-Green April 7

 

 

Both male and female red-whiskered bulbuls look alike. the bulbuls often are around as a pair and although I could see its mate among the leaves, i just couldnt get a photo of the pair together. Even this was a challenge trying to get a full view of this beautiful bird, with a black crest, its bright red splash on its cheek and the red undertail covert.  This is an uncommon resident bird in Singapore, introduced here in the early 1900s, although one report indicated 1910. It is a native in the stretch from India to Thailand and northern Peninsular Malaysia. 

 

[Kitsafari]

104: Laced woodpecker, female, Tampines Eco-Green April 7

 

 

An EBC photo. the light was awful that morning, no thanks to grey skies and a high degree of glare. I had thought this was the sunda pygmy woodpecker that had been hopping around, and only discovered it was a female laced woodpecker instead when I enlarged it on the PC. It's an uncommon resident in Singapore, a reason why I'm putting it up, despite the bad picture, just in case I won't find another specimen later in the year. The male has a red cap while the female has a black cap. 

[Kitsafari]

105: Baya weaver, Tampines Eco-Green, April 7

 

 

I wasnt sure whether to include this as the photos are awful. again I thought this was an oriole because of the flash of yellow but only found out it was a weaver after I cropped it on the PC to have a better look. and then regretted that I didn't try to take better pictures. On our first visit to the smallish park we could see a couple of baya weaver nests far in the marshes, but we didn't see any on the second visit. hopefully i get better pictures later .

 

 

[Kitsafari]

106: Brahminy Kite, Tampines Apr 7/ home skies 

 

This is quite a common raptor in our tiny country. Just yesterday I saw it gliding high above my residential area, searching for food. we were very fortunate to see it parked on a tree branch but it was just too far for my camera and in the awful dull light under the grey skies, the bird didn't come out as glorious as it should be. It is a medium-sized raptor and very well adapted to the urban environment. 

[Kitsafari]

107: Common flame-backed woodpecker, Tampines Eco-Green, April 7

 

 

also known as the common golden-backed woodpecker, but because of the low light and that the bird is facing us, the golden hues of its back are not seen. The red crest denotes a male. This is one of seven species of woodpeckers in Singapore - and we've only seen three. This flame-backed woodie used to visit the trees next to  my house but we haven't seen it lately.

 

[Kitsafari]

Just changing the locations for this moment from the parks to my back/frontyard, which surprised me by the number of species that are whistling, chirping and flying around us. 

 

108: Black-Naped Oriole, juvenile and parents, Eastwood vicinity

 

Taken at the tree right next to my bathroom window: 

 

 

 

Taken at Tampines Eco Green

 

It's baby season! we've been watching two oriole juveniles screaming and shouting for their respective parents to feed them in the past few weeks. I had been chasing the slightly older juvenile as it liked to flit between the mango tree in my neighbour's backyard and the tree next to our house. We've been sympathising with the parents as they took turns zooming past round our house to get to our backyard. I was very lucky that the hungry juvenile perched to the tree next to my bathroom window and gave a good view of the feeding, which BTW was just to fast for me to take pictures. i should have thought to use the video instead. This is one of the most common birds in Singapore. you'll find them everywhere, except the financial district, perhaps. they have a distinct call

 

Edited April 20, 2018 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

001: Asian glossy starling and babies: March 29-April 17, Eastwood vicinity

 

I started the thread with these starlings but soon after I did, we started noticing babies around our home. the pair of babies was always accompanied by the pair of parents which was so lovely to see. the parents didn't seem to be harassed as much as the oriole's parents were!

 

March 29

 

april 13

 

april 17: the stripes giving way to the glossy black and the eyes turning red. 

 

a palm tree-ful of starlings in the Botanic gardens

Edited April 20, 2018 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

109: Javan Myna, Eastwood vicinity

 

 

Mynas are part of the starling family. The Javan myna is not a native species; instead, this species introduced from Java and Sumatra has pushed the native species Common Myna out of its home habitat and is now the dominant myna species here. They are found everywhere in Singapore and are very smart and fierceless. THey used to scare the stray cat when we fed him, and used to take over our dogs' food. they've taken recently to steal the meats we leave out to thaw before cooking.

 

Edited April 20, 2018 by Kitsafari