A Lesser Big Year - for Kit&Herman 2020

[Kitsafari]

Everyone's got a head start! 

 

It's going to be a slow year for us, but may as well get started with our own home birds. I had mentioned to Herman that it's going to be very sad for us if and when we move to another home as we'll lose these birds in our current neighbourhood that I've come to see them as part of our family, and I'll miss all those singing and chirping, trilling and ko-eling that greet my every morning. 

 

01/SG01 : White-throated Kingfisher

 

Starting with one first - a kingfisher, just because it's a gorgeous bird and because it almost came into our home to take shelter from a heavy downpour but stopped short at the patio fence when it saw us moving at the back of the house. Poor bird sat drenched in the rain while it decided where to go to next. 

 

 

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful start!

[xelas]

Ahh, Joining the forces this year, nice. And your opening photo is a stunner. Was the bird behind a glass?

Edited January 29, 2020 by xelas

[TonyQ]

Excellent start, I am pleased you are both taking part this year.

[pedro maia]

Indeed a beautiful start, I wouldn’t mind seeing kingfishers at home.

[Kitsafari]

10 hours ago, xelas said:

Ahh, Joining the forces this year, nice. And your opening photo is a stunner. Was the bird behind a glass?

 

Not really, luckily the glass doors were slightly ajar and I shot through the gap. It was raining though, so that probably gave the noisy effects

[elefromoz]

@Kitsafari, what a terrific garden bird to have visit

[Zim Girl]

Great start with a beautiful kingfisher.

[Kitsafari]

02/SG02 : Yellow-vented Bulbul, Eastwood neighbourhood

 

The yellow-vented bulbuls have done very well in our neighbourhood and are often flying around the trees bordering our home. it's the most common species of bulbuls in Singapore, having adapted marvellously to the urban areas. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

03/SG03 : Oriental Honey Buzzard, Eastwood

 

The OHB has six sub-species of which orientalis is the common one that migrates to Singapore. The buzzard comes in many morphs and a dark morph returned to our vicinity late last year. We were surprised by a pale morph juvenile that turned up earlier this month and it seemed to be accompanied by a slight darker - thought less dark than the dark morphs - adult.

This morning, I was photographing a pupa-looking caterpillar on our border walls - this one here: 

 

when a ruckus broke out right above my head. I looked up and saw this: 

 

the mynas, orioles and the rose-ringed parakeets were going crazy shouting abuse at the pale morph OHB juvenile (the yellow cere marks it as a juvenile). It stared intently at the juvenile oriole but decided to shift to the next tree and stared into the thick mango tree behind our house where a pair of fantails have a nest.

 

 

But the mynas didn't let up their heckling and in the end the hungry buzzard flew off to a rooftop and called. A darker morph flew in and they flew off together. 

It's always great to have such drama at home!

 

 

[Kitsafari]

04/SG04 : Zebra Dove, Eastwood

 

Also known as the barred ground dove, but somehow I like the zebra dove name better. A delicate and pretty dove that's less common than the larger spotted dove and often seen in pairs. 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Great to have you both back in the Big Year! Wow, a Kingfisher on the balcony - much cooler than our Sparrows. 

[Peter Connan]

Your garden wins! Wow!

[Galana]

That's some garden you have.

And off at last to a good start.

[Kitsafari]

05/SG05: Oriental Dollarbird : 

 

The oriental dollarbird - our only version of a roller - visits our vicinity once in a while but it always perches on the antennae of the rooftops. I suppose they serve as great vantage points for the roller.

 

[Kitsafari]

06/SG06 : Spotted Dove, Eastwood garden

 

Still snapping photos from the garden is the spotted dove, although it has stayed away from my garden so far this year. and i think I know why - since my dog Jasper (in my avatar) fell ill and incapacitated since Christmas, a handful of my neighbours' cats have been visiting my garden. Just on Saturday, I saw this fluffy predator about to jump up my garden wall to get to a silly noisy juvenile javan myna which wasn't smart enough to fly away. I had to shoo the cat out. Wishing neighbours will keep their cats in the houses Please!!! anyway.....

 

we saw a male spotted dove courting a female, and just this morning, one of them checked out the abandoned nest on the eaves of our roof. cross fingers for nestlings.....

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

07/SG07: White-Bellied Sea Eagle, Eastwood vicinity

 

First time I'm seeing the white-bellied sea eagle circling the skies above our area. Generally the sea eagle tends to be closer to the sea and while we are not that far inland, still it was a surprise to see them flying above. I'm sure Herman will get better pictures later, but I wanted to record the species seen from our garden.

 

[Kitsafari]

08/SG08: Malaysian Pied Fantail, Eastwood garden

 

The pair of fantails have been very vocal in the morning, always calling after the Asian Koels awake the entire neighbourhood at 5.30am. I'm still surprised no one has thrown a shoe at the koels! The fantails have been busy, swooping through our garden, gathering cobweb-like stuff on the bottle brush tree to build its tiny cup-looking nest in the mango tree behind us. I'm planning to keep an eye on the nest and see if I can record the growing up of the babies without disturbing the fantails. It;'s going to be tricky!

 

we love the fantails - they have such great personalities but the cats have been eyeing them as well so I hope they will be streetsmart and watch out for those naughty felines. 

 

[Kitsafari]

09/SG09 : Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Eastwood garden

 

The scarlet-backed flowerpeckers have been thronging a flowering tembusu hutan in the evenings but it's dastardly tough to shoot these tiny and very restless birds. This species is among the smallest birds in Singapore and is the most common among the five flowerpecker species, adapting well to the urbanised areas. 

 

Male: 

 

Juve: 

 

[Galana]

4 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

I had to shoo(t) the cat out. Wishing neighbours will keep their cats in the houses Please!!! anyway.....

 

You  missed out the letter 't' at the end of the fourth word!

[Kitsafari]

1 minute ago, Galana said:

You  missed out the letter 't' at the end of the fourth word!

 

Hahahaaah. 

[Soukous]

31 minutes ago, Galana said:

You  missed out the letter 't' at the end of the fourth word!

 

I have to admit to being guilty of split personalities when it comes to domestic animals.

We have 2 dogs and a cat, that have managed to significantly reduce the attractiveness of our garden to birds. But they are part of the family.

However, when i am out trying to photograph birds I can be a little (sometimes very) intolerant of dog walkers who scare away my subject matter. 

 

I'm the same with cyclists; if I'm on a bike I rail against car drivers, if I'm in a car it is cyclists that provoke outbursts.

 

I don't know if counselling will help 

[Peter Connan]

5 hours ago, Soukous said:

 

I have to admit to being guilty of split personalities when it comes to domestic animals.

We have 2 dogs and a cat, that have managed to significantly reduce the attractiveness of our garden to birds. But they are part of the family.

However, when i am out trying to photograph birds I can be a little (sometimes very) intolerant of dog walkers who scare away my subject matter. 

 

I'm the same with cyclists; if I'm on a bike I rail against car drivers, if I'm in a car it is cyclists that provoke outbursts.

 

I don't know if counselling will help 

 

I don't know what to do about dog walkers, but the car/bike thing is easy to sort out.

Just sell the bike...

[Galana]

5 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

I don't know what to do about dog walkers,

Get a bigger dog. A nice Rottweiler should do. You will be surprised at the number of walkers who will scoop up their mutts and avoid you.

[Soukous]

12 hours ago, Galana said:

Get a bigger dog. A nice Rottweiler should do. You will be surprised at the number of walkers who will scoop up their mutts and avoid you.

Maybe, but equally likely to scare away the birds I am trying to photograph and something else to try and keep control of.