Kit & Herman Year 2

[Kitsafari]

311/SG133: Chestnut Munia, Satay by the Bay

 

Also known as the black-headed munia for obvious reasons, the species is found from India, to Nepal, Bangladesh, Southern China to Taiwan and down to Southeast Asia. Only the adults have the black heads and a deep chestnut body. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

312/SG134: Common Hill Myna, Hindhede Nature Park

 

The hill mynas are loud birds and were making a racket above the car park in the nature park. Heavily poached for their voices for the caged bird trade, we try not to disclose where we see them but the mynas  sabotaged themselves with their loud calls. They prefer forested and wooded edges, and are much larger than the javan myna. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

313/SG135: Yellow-bellied prinia, Pasir Ris Park

 

Singapore has only one prinia - the yellow-bellied prinia which likes to forage on grasslands. Found in sub-continental India down to southeast Asia. 

 

[Kitsafari]

314/SG136: Slaty-breasted Rail, Jurong  Gateway Road

 

This rail is supposed to be common in Singapore but are hardly seen. This particular rail was seen along a nursery in the west of the island and apparently is not that shy. It walks around the car park and the nursery but decided to play it coy when we were there. It likes mangrove and wetlands and is native to southern India to southeast Asia. 

 

[Soukous]

5 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

 

@Galana

you could extend your Goa trip with @Soukous to Singapore....... 

 

@xelas is planning a trip to SE Asia which will include a few days in Singapore. Why not come along too @Galana

[Galana]

There's no answer to that!

[Soukous]

2 hours ago, Galana said:

There's no answer to that!

 

Don't panic, he's assured me it is a birding trip. 

[xelas]

And no camping using the ground or roof top tents 

Edited July 14, 2019 by xelas

[Kitsafari]

315/SG137: Yellow-fronted Canary, Marina East Drive

 

Also known as the green singing finch, the yellow-fronted canary is native to Africa but was introduced to Singapore as a caged songbird. A few escapees later in the early 2000s, and the songbird is now breeding in the wild and adapted to the island life. 

 

[Kitsafari]

244/SG138: Zitting Cisticola, Pasir Ris Park

 

Only one cisticola species is found in Singapore, and that is the mighty small cisticola. I already had this in my Botswana count, so am adding this to the SG count. it's fairly well distributed in southern Europe, Africa, South Asia, east Asia, Southeast Asia and down to Australia. 

 

[Kitsafari]

316/SG139: Common Tailorbird, Lorong Halus

 

Since I'm on the songbird list, I may as well mention the common tailorbird. There are four tailorbird species in Singapore of which the dark-necked and the rufous-tailed tailorbirds are a challenge as they are both forest birds. Common tailorbirds have a chestnut crown while ashy tailorbirds have a fuller chestnut head. Distributed in Southeast Asia and southern China, including HK. 

 

[Kitsafari]

317/SG140: Lesser Whistling Duck, Satay by the Bay

 

A whole drama evolved over the last few weeks over a pair of the lesser whistling ducks at SBTB. there are two duck species resident in Singapore - the less common wandering whistling duck which looks exactly like the more common lesser whistling duck, except for the yellow eye ring on the latter. 

The pair at SBTB lives cheek by jowl with large water monitor lizards in the ponds and sometimes smooth coated otters, although the otters much prefer the river to the ponds at the gardens. The ponds are full of aggressive toman or tilapia which eats almost anything. 

Photographers and birders were exhilarated by a brood of 11 ducklings and of course that proved to be a huge draw, especially in the down season between bird migrations. But, one by one the ducklings disappeared,  sometimes one a day, sometimes two. At first, rage was directed at the lizards until someone saw the chicks being pulled down under the water. The tomans were caught red-handed and the lizards proved innocent. the photographers at first demanded the lizards be culled (well, duh - no nature lovers obviously), but when the toman was found guilty, humans got the blame for abandoning/releasing the fish into the waters. calls were made to the authorities to do something, and finally a floating platform was put on the pond. and at last, the ducks and the four remaining ducklings were safe. 

End of story. 

 

[Kitsafari]

318/SG147: Grey-headed Eagle, Pandan River

 

This is an uncommon resident breeder, but a pair is regularly seen at the Pandan River - a good location to base their home at due to the abundance of fish. But they compete with a family of resident otters and brahminy kites have been seen stealing the otters' meals. Easily identifiable by its grey head and chestnut breast . 

 

[TonyQ]

A wonderful eagle, and the ducklings are gorgeous!

The Common Tailorbird also occurs in India.

[Galana]

Thanks for the information on the disappearing ducklings. Such introductions often have these 'sad' and un intended consequence.

Spread the word among Restauranteurs that Toman are good to eat. The problem may soon go away.

[Kitsafari]

3 hours ago, Galana said:

 

Spread the word among Restauranteurs that Toman are good to eat. The problem may soon go away.

 

That might just work since Singaporeans have food on their minds all day long. 

[Kitsafari]

319/SG148: Black-naped Tern, Pasir Ris Park

 

This is an uncommon resident but the terns appear to be breeding in Singapore. the chicks and parents were roosting on a rocky island off the coast of the main island and several photographers rented boats to get close to take photos. we weren't part of those groups. but the adults fly into the river mouths sometimes and it's quite a challenge to get BIFs of these quick flying birds. 

 

They are found in India, southern China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia and western pacific islands. 

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Soukous]

On 7/14/2019 at 7:56 PM, xelas said:

And no camping using the ground or roof top tents 

 

woo hoo 

[Peter Connan]

Stunning shots of the Tern, and beautiful ducklings!

[Dave Williams]

Playing catch up again, you are building an excellent home country score for the city in a garden!

[Kitsafari]

320/SG149: Baya Weaver, Sungei Buloh wetland Reserves

 

A common weaver species that be fairly easy to find in certain parks with their funnel-shaped nests. It is one of two native weavers, the other being streaked weavers which are rarely seen. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

321/SG150: Swinhoe's white-eye, Eastwood

 

there's been a whole re-categorisation of the white-eye family with the result that the oriental white-eye found in Singapore is now the Swinhoe's White-Eye, which has now a larger distribution area from CHina to Taiwan and HK, down to Indochina and Southeast Asia. Although fairly common, the white-eye is always a favourite target for poachers, who are becoming more blatant in SIngapore. we have reported two incidents to the park authorities but they seem quite slow in responding. 

 

[Kitsafari]

322/SG151: Pin-Tailed Whydah, Lorong Halus

 

The pin-tailed whydah is native to Africa and was likely to have been introduced to Singapore via the caged bird trade. We found the species at the same place as we saw them last year, and this time there were two males. But the area where they are is fast being cleared for industries, so we aren't sure if they can survive much longer when the grasslands are all cleared. 

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

323/SG152: Laced Woodpecker, Satay by the Bay

 

The weird thing about birding is how sometimes you see a species often, like we did with the laced woodpecker, but then this year, it was a challenge to find any of them in the parks. This is one of eight woodpecker species found in Singapore, and one of the dullest clothed in olive green throughout, except for the male which has a red cap while the female has a black cap.

 

 

[Kitsafari]

324/SG153: Black-winged Kite, Lorong Halus

 

A well distributed raptor that is found in Europe, Africa and Asia. There used to be more of these kites in Singapore but the widespread clearance of forests and secondary parks, as well as the loss of open space (replaced with tall  concrete buildings) have left the kite with increasing habitat loss. We failed to get good shots of the resident pair at Turut Track but there is a pair at Lorong Halus seen more regularly in the tall trees now, making us suspect they have a nest up there.