A Lesser Big Year - for Kit&Herman 2020

[Kitsafari]

I have two cats but they only salivate at the birds behind barred windows. They stay indoors. 

 

wonder if i should get a robotic dog which will bark at any movement but that may scare away the birds that fly in for a drink or two at the water bowl and for the fresh seeds and worms in the garden.

 

10/SG10 : Asian Koel, Eastwood garden

 

courtship abounds as two noisy males chase a female around the neighbourhood. Perhaps that's why the resident one starts calling at 5.30am, and ends its calls sometimes at 7pm+ when it it is already dark! It's a cuckoo by the way, and they like the crows' nests to lay their eggs. 

 

male: 

 

 

female: 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

11/SG11: Javan Myna, Eastwood garden

 

Getting all the common ones out of the way first.... and I have to confess I didn't try harder to get better shots of this myna.

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

12/SG12 : Black-naped Oriole, Eastwood Garden

 

The pair of resident orioles have successfully bred not one but two juveniles this year! the four of them had been calling out regularly until the juvenile buzzard started staking out the trees around my garden over the past week.

 

 

 

[Soukous]

As always Kit, your birds are a delight as I've never seen most of them before

[Kitsafari]

Thank you @Soukous

 

13/SG13 : Red-breasted Parakeet

14/SG14 : Rose-ringed Parakeet

 

The fruits are ripening on the rose of India tree, and usually the noisy rose-ringed parakeets would start eating the ripening fruit, while the red-breasted parakeets would swarm the over-riped fruits. This season, a handful of red-breasted parakeets have come early in the morning for a few bites for about half an hour before flying off for juicier meals elsewhere. 

 

Red-breasted Parakeet

 

Rose-ringed Parakeet

 

 

[Kitsafari]

15/SG15: Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Eastwood Garden

 

fluffed up female

male

[Kitsafari]

16/SG16 : Asian Glossy Starling, Eastwood garden

 

Also known as Philippines starling, the glossy starlings look like minature Asian koels with tails and more greenish tone of the body. They are more gregarious as well. A flock of these starlings usually hang around my neighbour's bamboo thickets, and the last two years we saw young ones as well. So far no signs of juveniles. 

 

[Kitsafari]

17/SG17 : Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Eastwood vicinity

 

We hadn't seen the pink-necked green pigeons - fairly shy birds found mainly in forest and park - for a few months last year in our neighbourhood, but early in January we saw the buzzard buzzing around the mango tree behind us, and crouched very silently on a branch was a pair of very young pink-necked green pigeons. there had been three young ones, but one vanished, probably taken by the buzzard which returned with hopes for another snack. Since then, this pair has survived well, and are growing nicely and slowly into adulthood. 

 

Female feeding the young pair

 

warming up in the sun

 

with the male...

 

Male not looking so pink in the orange morning sunlight

 

female doesn't have the pink breast

[Kitsafari]

18/SG18 : Brown-throated Sunbird, Eastwood garden/Singapore Botanic Gardens

 

Female at SBG: 

 

Male at home: 

 

Male at SBG

[Kitsafari]

19/SG19: Swinhoe White-eye, Eastwood

 

one of the tiniest birds and very flighty, the white-eyes were milling around a flowering tree in the evenings. 

 

[Kitsafari]

20/SG20 : Common Flameback Woodpecker, Eastwood

 

This particular species visits the trees outside my home only once or twice a year, and this year I saw only the female. The flameback did something unusual - while checking the bark of a tall tree for grubs, the woodpecker sidled down, not up, the trunk! I was quite amused.

 

[Kitsafari]

21/SG21 : Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker,  Eastwood

 

The sunda woodpeckers still return to the tree where their nest was unceremoniously chopped off by an irresponsible sub-contractor hired by the national parks agency (the company lost the contract after I sent in a strongly worded complaint). You can hear their trilling whistles before you see them, which sure helps me pinpoint where they are!

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

22/SG22 : Asian Brown Flycatcher, Eastwood

 

The Asian brown flycatcher returned late last year with two more friends, but the area seemed to be too small for 3 flycatchers so only one remained - probably the same one that was here in the previous migration season. It's been catching a lot of insects, and is looking plump and in good health and soon it will be on its way back to northern Asia, and I wish it safe travels, and safe return here in November. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

23/SG23 : Black-Crowned Night Heron, Eastwood

 

The adults seemed to have avoided our tree and instead one and sometimes two juveniles had been roosting in the tree next to our house. But in late January, a storm blew down half the tree and the parks agency decided to chop off the other half as it was precariously unbalanced and would topple the entire tree in another storm. When the juvenile returned, it perched at the next tree, but the cover was not dense enough (but gave me an open shot!), so it has left my immediate area and gone to find another perfect cover. 

 

[Kitsafari]

24/SG24 : White-collared Kingfisher, Eastwood/ Changi Business Park

 

THe most commonly-seen kingfisher in many parks here, and a very territorial species. We had seen this fiesty kingfisher chase away cuckoos. 

Two evenings ago, a rather small white-collared kingfisher flew in and parked itself close to a trunk. It called rather softly, and was looking to the right and left. at first I saw a closed eye on its right, and we thought it was resting,but when it turned to look into my direction,  I realised it seemed either blind or injured in the right eye. it was using only the left eye to see its surroundings. It kept rather quiet, which was a good thing as the juvenile buzzard was then on my neighbour's roof hunting. and the larger white-throated kingfisher was still around. by the next morning, the one-eyed kingfisher was gone. I hope it survives. 

 

[Kitsafari]

25/SG25 : Oriental Magpie-Robin, Eastwood/ Changi Business Park

 

An uncommon resident found mainly in parks and gardens, I was surprised it appeared one morning with a pal. But only one stayed. Like the fantail, the magpie-robin has a distinct but lovely lilting song though it is far quieter than the fantail. It's been roosting in the mango tree and I think the fantails seemed to have accepted its presence near their nest as I've not heard them complaining the last couple of days. Like the fantail, it likes to hop on the ground with the tail raised. 

 

Eastwood: 

 

 

Changi : 

[Kitsafari]

26/SG26 : Scaly-breasted Munia, Eastwood

 

This is a common munia species in Singapore, but again I was surprised to see three of them in my neighbour's garden.They were around for two days, but have since left the building. 

easily found in the Himalayan foothills, Indian sub-continent,China and Southeast Asia. 

 

[Kitsafari]

27/SG27 : White-headed Munia, Eastwood

 

Less common is the White-headed munia species. A flock used to roost in one of my neighbours' bamboo thickets which used to be full of sunbirds and yellow-vented bulbuls and I wondered how the thicket managed to accommodate all of them. The neighbour had to severely trim back the thicket and the munias flew off to find another suitable habitat. Just last week, two of them returned to recce the place and stopped for some grass seeds in my garden. I guess the seeds were not juicy enough as they didn't return.

 

 

[Kitsafari]

28/SG28 : Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, Eastwood

 

A common resident, but they are tiny and so green and are always at the crown of the tall trees, so spotting them is a huge challenge, especially for old eyes like ours. Thank goodness for our spotter Judith, and thank goodness these birds make loud and shrill calls, a little like the sunda pgymy woodpecker.

The very cute species is found mainly in the Thai-Malaya peninsular as well as Sumatra and Borneo.

So our first sort-of EBCs - will not win any awards this time - for the parrot. 

 

[Kitsafari]

29/SG29 : Cinnamon Bittern, Eastwood 

 

I was using the binos on a koel when I noticed a brown bird clinging to a branch at the top of a dense tree. The winds were blowing the branches left and right, but the bittern hung on.This is the first time we've seen a bittern in our area - the cinnamon bittern is an uncommon resident  in Singapore, and there are also migrants but just as uncommon which fly to our shores. I was surprised to see it as the bittern is usually found near wetlands, but it suggests that the re-development of the canal - located two streets away - is almost done and the wetlands birds could return. The cinnamon bittern looks like the von schrenck's bittern - another rare species - except for the very rufous-cinnamon colour on its upper body and wings. 

Herman was sore about missing this species as it has become his nemesis, but he finally broke it when he sighted it recently at another park (which I don't recall;!).

 

[Kitsafari]

30/SG30 : Little Bronze Cuckoo,  Eastwood

 

A lovely melody floated to our garden as we were walking our dog. I saw a tiny bird high up on the tree, trilling away and I thought it was either a sunbird or a common iora. But I got all excited when I used the binos and saw the bars across the body. I hadn't expected the little bronze cuckoo to be so small. It was a female and it was singing its lungs out for a couple of weeks before we finally saw two male cuckoos arriving. Babies on the way? I wonder who'll be the unfortunate foster parents. 

The male bronze cuckoo has a distinct red eye-ring and a bright bronze-green mantle while the female's eye-ring is less prominent and its mantle is duller. Found in Southeast Asia and Australia. 

 

 

Female: 

 

 

Male: 

 

That's the list of species from my garden for the moment - I was surprised to get 30 species and I haven't counted the little egrets that I'd seen taking off behind the canal, or the tailorbird which I hear, or the common iora which is always around but I can never see it. 

Hopefully we get more as the migration season begins anew at the end of the year, and when the canal finally opens to the public. 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by Kitsafari

[TonyQ]

What an ay garden you have! You are taking full advantage of it with some beautiful photos 

[Kitsafari]

thank you @TonyQ ! I hope you and @Thursday's Child  have a great time!

[Kitsafari]

31/SG31 : Blue-throated Bee-eater, Singapore Botanic Gardens

 

A couple of bee-eaters came by our neighbourhood but they were always distant and too high on the antennae, and the glare was just terrible. Instead, Herman got better shots at the gardens. 

There are only two species of bee-eaters visit our shores during the winter up north. The blue-throated has a chestnut crown and a blue throat with a blueish tail and with streamers. 

 

[Kitsafari]

32/SG32: Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Changi Business Park

 

This bee-eater has a chestnut throat with a more greenish body. It still takes me a while to differentiate both species.