Kit & Herman Year 2

[Kitsafari]

37/SG37: Olive-winged Bulbul, Dairy Farm Nature Park

 

A rather dull looking bird and quite common in our forested areas. 

 

[Kitsafari]

38/SG38: Red-whiskered Bulbul, Kent Ridge Park

 

A more attractive bulbul and a scarce bird to find in Singapore. My HK friend likes to joke that Singaporeans go crazy chasing the red-whiskered bulbul in Hong Kong as it is very common and found everywhere in that state. This bulbul has a larger crest and flashes of red on  both cheeks and its vent. They are found all over India, China and Southeast Asia. 

 

A tree full of red-whiskered bulbuls. Unfortunately, these bare tall trees were chopped off recently, so I lost a good vantage point of all those birds that liked to perch there. 

[Kitsafari]

39/SG39: Sooty-headed Bulbul, Lorong Halus

 

This is an uncommon visitor but many have stayed on and bred well. It has a sooty head with a red vent, although there are other sub-species with orange and yellow vents. 

It is native to China, India, Myanmar, Thailand and Java.

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

40/ SG40: Straw-headed Bulbul, Goldhill Avenue

 

The straw-headed bulbul is a globally critically endangered species, almost spilling into the extinct in the wild category, no thanks to the caged bird trade. it is poached for its singing abilities. Used to be well distributed in Southeast Asia, now its protected mainly in Malaysia and pockets in Singapore but with only 600-1000 estimated left in the wild and poachers still out to catch it, it's an uphill task to protect it effectively.

 

 

[Kitsafari]

34 minutes ago, PeterHG said:

More interesting and mainly unfamiliar ( at least to me) birds from another part of the world. You are showing us a great variety and the photography is excellent!

 

thanks @PeterHG - hubby has been getting better and better! 

[Galana]

Some great photos again.

[xelas]

2 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

the first EBC

 

@Kitsafari you will have to work harder if wanting to put the EBC title to a bird; even myself I can easily recognise that the bird in question is a barbet . More excellent photos and infos!

[Dave Williams]

What a fabulous diversity of different species you have captured. A Nightjar on a neighbours roof, that's just extracting the Michael!!

[Zim Girl]

Great to see you started @Kitsafari, and with a wonderful collection of neighbourhood birds.  I also love the background stories of the local birds.

Fantastic photos from you both!

[Kitsafari]

thanks @Galana, @Zim Girl and @Dave Williams but i didn't understand the comment on michael!

 

@xelas thanks. you haven't seen my other EBCs, which I think i'll leave in the rubbish bin. 

[Dave Williams]

It's a politer version of one that's commonly used. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taking_the_piss

 

In other words, a Nightjar, sat in open view on a neighbour's roof is quite simply having a laugh at us. They are so tricky to find and well camouflaged usually.

[Kitsafari]

aha! got it. in other words, take the mickey out of you  - a less genteel way of saying it....

[Kitsafari]

41/SG41: Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, Lorong Halus

 

I ended our BY 2018 with this beautiful bird as I hadn't thought it would still be around as it is an uncommon migrant from northern Asia. so we are surprised that  this cuckoo is still flitting around Lorong Halus and has a companion, to boot. Let's hope they take the time to breed. 

 

[Kitsafari]

42/SG42: Banded bay Cuckoo,  Pasir Ris Park

 

An uncommon resident. the recent breeding season of butterflies and moths brought out the cuckoos into the park as caterpillars were juicy morsels for the otherwise quiet predators.  the cuckoos look very similar to each other but the banded bay cuckoo has blackish bars with fine bars on a white underpart. It is native to southeast Asia. 

 

 

[Galana]

On 4/15/2019 at 6:00 PM, Dave Williams said:

A Nightjar on a neighbours roof, that's just extracting the Michael!!

Thanks Dave. At the time of that post I did wonder if some of 'the widespread membership' would understand the phrase so your later link widened even my understanding of its roots.

Big Year is SO educational it could exist without any photos at all1

[Kitsafari]

43/SG43: Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo, West Coast Park

 

Serendipity! Herman was out staking the black-capped kingfisher which was a no-show but the hodgson's hawk cuckoo was out feasting on caterpillars instead. a winter migrant from northern Asia,  the Hodgson's hawk cuckoo has greyish upperparts with a rufous-washed breast. 

 

[Kitsafari]

44/SG44: Little Bronze Cuckoo, Eastwood/ Lorong Halus

 

It is a native in Southeast Asia and Australia. it has greenish bronze upperparts and barred underparts with red eye rings. we found it busily feasting on the tree in front of our house but it came out only in the evening when the lighting was low and my shots were all rubbish. Herman's photo from Lorong halus is far better. 

 

[Galana]

For purely personal reasons I just have to love the Cuckoo-hawk! No relation but Bryan Houghton Hodgson is one ancestor I would have loved to have in my family tree.

[Kitsafari]

45/SG45: Large Hawk Cuckoo, Pasir Ris Park

 

This is a rare winter visitor from the Indian sub-continent and southern China. Its distribution skips Southeast Asia before appearing in Sumatra and Borneo. It is almost identical to the Hodgson's hawk-cuckoo except that it is bigger and has bars instead of streaks on its body. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

6 minutes ago, Galana said:

For purely personal reasons I just have to love the Cuckoo-hawk! No relation but Bryan Houghton Hodgson is one ancestor I would have loved to have in my family tree.

 

i had to read up about this would-be ancestor and an interesting tidbit from wikepedia is that he was against the introduction of the English language as a medium for education in India. If that hadn't happen, i think India wouldn't have been as successful globally as it is now. 

[Kitsafari]

46/SG46: Plaintive Cuckoo, Pasir Ris Park

 

the plaintive cuckoo is naturally distributed in Southeast Asia but is uncommonly seen,except in parks and forested areas. It has a grey head and grey breast with an orange belly and vent. It is almost identical to the rusty-breasted cuckoo but doesn't have the latter's yellow eye rings. 

 

[Tdgraves]

Lovely cuckoos

[Dave Williams]

Great shots! 

 

Nit picky I know but if you limit the size on the upload it helps reduce storage space  and it fits on the viewers screen .Restricting height to 800, width to 1024 is perfect and you don't need to scroll to see the whole shot and you can then better admire it!

[Kitsafari]

@Dave Williams i thought the uploads of any image is adjusted accordingly when it's uploaded so that the size won't bust the limit of 511mb on ST. But good tip on reducing the height n width for a better view. The snag is having to modify each photo which is a drag. 

[Dave Williams]

Open a Flickr account for free ( but your limit is 1000 pictures, then you pay) Uploading is simple and you can set the size you want to repost so it does it automatically for them all.