A Lesser Big Year - for Kit&Herman 2020

[Kitsafari]

156: Pied Bushchat, Holland Green

 

a rather unusual sighting of a pied bushchat as they are not native to Singapore even though the species is distributed from the Middle East through India to Southeast Asia. It was a very skittish bird. The pied bushchat is a songbird, and is a target for the caged bird trade. 

 

[Kitsafari]

157: Grey-crowned Crane, Seletar aerospace park

 

There used to be a pair of grey-crowned cranes that was released or escaped from a pet farm in the vicinity many years ago. the two used to roam around the nearby golf course, and the story goes that one was unfortunately hit by a golf ball and died. The remaining one still hangs around the low commercial buildings in the aerospace park. It looks in good shape. Since we're not going to see one in Africa this year, we went in search of this beautiful bird that has adapted well to Singapore's skyline!

 

 

  

[PeterHG]

A beautiful flight shot of the crane!

[shazdwn]

Wow, I would not have expected a grey-crowned crane in Singapore (except at the bird park). 

[Dave Williams]

More excellent photos, I have just been looking at that Emerald Dove again, what a stunner it is.

[elefromoz]

@@Kitsafari, another vote for the Cuckoo collection, you're doing really well there with the numbers, obviously great teamwork.

[Kitsafari]

158: Lesser Sand Plover, Marina East/Yishun Dam

 

Migration has started again! the first few flew into our island over a month ago, and since then more of the shorebirds have arrived. We missed some of the specials like the single curlew sandpiper which we couldn't find among the tens of common redshanks at Sungei Buloh, but those that came in larger flocks were hard to miss. 

 

Sometimes we would see a greater sand plover among its almost similar looking lesser sand plovers, but not this season.  The lesser sand plovers fly from central Asia, Eastern Russia and northern China to winter in Southeast Asia. One of their favourite places is the Yishun Dam when the tides are low. This time round, the late morning haze made photography a challenge. 

 

This was in Marina east which was in better light. 

 

Yishun dam

Edited September 19, 2020 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

159 : Lesser Adjutant, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

 

A rare resident, the lesser adjutant is sometimes seen flying above the reserve, sometimes it lands to fish to the delight of some lucky birders, and sometimes a couple would fly over from Johore across the narrow straits. The lesser adjutant is listed as vulnerable in the IUCN redlist. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

160 : Greater green Leafbird, Dairy Farm Nature Reserve

 

a much-sought after bird to see and/or photograph, the endangered greater green leafbird is a tough one to spot but the Dairy Farm NP is one of the more reliable places to spot them. The species, found mainly in Southeast Asia, including Borneo, is in rapid decline due to poaching of the popular songbird,especially in Indonesia. In Java, one of these leafbirds caught in the wild could sell for US$99 in 2017. Recently, it's been seen along a quiet road in the Thomson Nature Park where we could only sight the female. 

 

Female

 

 

[Kitsafari]

161: Great-billed Heron : Chek Jawa/ Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserves

 

The great-billed heron is an uncommon resident in Singapore but is also native to Southeast Asia, Australia and PNG. It is much larger than the grey heron with a dark grey plumage and a thicker bill. At SBWR, two seemed to dance together to pair off although a third tried to break up the partnership. 

At another time, three of them were feeding at low tides at Chek Jawa in Pulau Ubin, but they were very far out and the morning haze made photography challenging. A couple of them were successfully catching prey just off the sandbar. As we were getting ready to leave, one of them caught a baby stingray (a long tail was noticed hanging from the prey in the mouth) but seemed to have problems swallowing it. that action caught unwanted attention from the hungry juvenile brahminy kites, who tried to steal the food from its mouth - watch the video clip below and ignore the voices!

 

It's not often we get a chance to watch these herons at close range, so here are a few choice photos from Herman

 

at Sungei Buloh

 

 

 

  

 

 

[PeterHG]

Great footage of the interaction between the Heron and the Kites! What voices.....? 

[Kitsafari]

162 : Common Redshanks, Sungei Buloh WR

 

A most reliable migrant bird to the reserves, the common redshanks fly in as early as July. They visit from Mongolia, eastern Russia and China. Veteran birders recall thousands of these birds on our shores many years ago and lament the sharp decline in the numbers visiting, due mainly to the loss of wetlands in the migratory areas as well as breeding habitat in their native homes. 

 

 

with a lesser sand plover

 

braving the young estuarine crocodile behind

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

163 : Whimbrel, Sungei Buloh WR

 

Another common migrant to our shores, the number of whimbrels that visit us has also fallen sharply. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

I thought I'll share some other stuff we saw during our visits to Sungei Buloh wetland reserve. 

 

Estuarine crocodile

 

Juve white-bellied sea eagle 

 

Common tailorbird

 

White-breasted Waterhen

 

 

Lesser dog-faced fruit bats - always found hanging in the wetlands centre at the old section

 

 

Water monitor lizard thinking it was a roof lizard - these guys grow into monstrous size and we used to see the larger ones a few years ago.  

Edited September 20, 2020 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

164: Copper-throated Sunbird, Sungei Buloh WR

 

A resident family of sunbirds with juveniles which made it easier to spot the adults! The uncommon sunbird likes dense and wooded areas. It's distributed in Southeast Asia to the Philippines and Borneo. 

 

female

 

 

[Peter Connan]

What a beauty! 

[Galana]

22 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

What a beauty! 

Ditto.

Some nice new photos there. How odd to see the Skyscrapers and Crocs together.

[shazdwn]

Those great-billed heron shots are fantastic 

[Kitsafari]

165 : Short-tailed Babbler, Rifle Range Link

 

This is a small (all of 13cm) but active bird that landed on the near threatened list due to the destruction of habitat. It is not widely seen, preferring the dense forests with thick foliage. The short-tailed babbler is distributed in the Thai-Malaysia Peninsula as well as Sumatra and Borneo. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

166 : Chestnut-winged Babbler, Rifle Range Link

 

Another uncommon resident, the chestnut-winged babbler is similar in size to the short-tailed but is less bright with greyish chest and underparts. It also likes dense foliage but it seems to do better than the short-tailed as it is on the least concern list. Also found in the same regions as the short-tailed. 

 

[Kitsafari]

167 : Cream-vented Bulbul, Rifle Range Link

 

A very distinctive bird with striking white eyes, the bulbul is not widely seen and prefers thick forest. It is distributed in the Thai-Malay peninsula down to Indonesia. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

168: White-browed Crake, Neo Tiew/Harvest Lane

 

The thick wild growing grassland of Neo Tiew have almost been entirely cleared to make way for modern vegetable farms as our country, which is almost 100% dependent on food imports, is trying to increase local food supplies. Sadly, that meant a lot of passerine migrant birds that used to be found there have lost their transit points. One of these farms has unused ponds, which during the covid 19 lockdown period started to house some interesting birds such as the Asian Openbills, whistling ducks and a very skittish and shy white-browed crake family. it's tough to see one of them, let alone all four of them!

Distributed in Southeast Asia and Australia, the crake is listed as least concern. 

Herman did well with a BIF. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

169: Red Turtle Dove, Yishun Dam

 

This is an introduced dove to Singapore but not seen widely here. It has adapted well and is breeding over the years. It is distributed in Indian sub-continuent, China, Taiwan, IndoChina and the Philippines.

 

[Kitsafari]

 

My backlog of birds has been building up. I had to hold off inputting them as a series of mishaps prevented me from typing too much - first an injured wrist, then a tennis elbow and most recently, a surgery from which I am slowly recovering from, enough to sit up longer and typing longer. the good thing about recovering from surgery was the long break from work (typing) which magically resolved my tennis elbow issue (at least until I return to work from Friday). 

 

During the first two mishaps, i only picked up the binos while Herman used his camera but Herman has been doubling up the past few weeks. while I was grounded at home, to catch the latest migratory birds which are now slowly flying in, including the returns of the two crested honey buzzards and the Asian brown flycatcher to our home grounds! Very pleased they made it through the long slog from the northern Asian grounds. And each time, I am impressed anew at how they know their favourite hunting grounds to return to. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

170: Pin-Striped Tit Babbler, Sentosa

 

In September, we decided to take a short weekend at a hotel on the holiday island of Sentosa (two-minute drive across a short bridge from the main island of Singapore). At the hotel grounds, we chalked up at least 12 species. not bad for a small piece of area!

Herman had searched all over for this babbler, and he found it on the hotel grounds, skulking outside hotel villas. 

This is a small and common resident bird of up to 14cm, which likes wooded areas. Also found in the Indian sub-continent to southern China and Southeast Asia.