A Her-man BY with Kit 2021

[Peter Connan]

Wonderful birds and photos once again!

[elefromoz]

wow, they just keep on coming, you're quite the team.

[Kitsafari]

On 4/5/2021 at 12:34 AM, xelas said:

Why being upset? He has your beautiful photos to enjoy at !

 

With vaccination in progress there are good chances that later in the year we will be able to travel again. As of now, you have built a substantial list of birds, congratulations on your efforts.

 

Thanks @xelas

he has not seen the Japanese sparrowhawk at our place, and certainly not one that's perched and in close proximity. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

thanks @Peter Connan and @elefromoz

[TonyQ]

What an excellent collection of Sunbirds 

[michael-ibk]

Gorgeous Sunbirds indeed!

[Kitsafari]

Thank you @TonyQ and @michael-ibk. 

[Kitsafari]

Last Sunday, a very sharp-eyed birder spied a white fluffy ball high up in the tree in the morning. He took a shot and very kindly shared the news with the birding community. By the time we made our way there in the late afternoon, there were already over 40 photographers there, split into 3 groups as the window to the fluff-ed ball was very tight. 

 

It was a just-fledged chick of a pair of Barred Eagle Owls, which I say are the most beautiful owl species in Singapore. and of course the chick is the most enchanting owl chick!

Just had to share more than a couple of photos of the cutie.

 

Already in the count as 

#40 Barred Eagle Owl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Galana]

Brilliant. Almost worth getting the next flight to Singapore to see that cutie.

Worth another point in my book.

[Tdgraves]

What a cutie!

[xelas]

Warning: Cuteness overload !

[Soukous]

Cute indeed. I particularly like photo #2

[TonyQ]

Beautiful!

[PeterHG]

Agree with all the others: great sequence of this cute chick!

[Peter Connan]

Wonderful!

[mvecht]

cutest owl chick I have ever seen!

[Kitsafari]

Forgot to add this twin-barred tree snake that curled up a plant along the trail, taking away some attention from the owl chick, but only for a couple of minutes. 

This is a fairly venomous snake and I didn't realise the snake was that long until I looked carefully at the photo! the shy snake is a rarely seen species and is a glider! wow, i didn't know that till now. certainly not a snake I want to encounter in the night while it is gliding from tree to tree. 

 

see the background the reason for its name. 

 

a close up

 

[elefromoz]

On 4/15/2021 at 10:57 PM, Kitsafari said:

This is a fairly venomous snake

 

On 4/15/2021 at 10:57 PM, Kitsafari said:

and is a glider!

 a gliding, venemous snake....eyes down and up on that trail.

[Soukous]

a beautiful snake - as long as it comes nowhere near me that is

[Galana]

A golden rue with snakes is leave em alone and so will they. Basically if they cannot swallow you they won't waste good venom on you. It's for food first and defence second. The ones that give me cause to reflect are the ones you cannot see.

Some snakes are quite beautiful like the subject of Kit's photo.

[Kitsafari]

It's a good looking snake, but I don't know what possessed me to go close to take photos of the snake, given that I run a thousand miles from any snake and have nightmares of snakes chasing me. I shudder to think that I might have been too close to it. 

 

  

[Kitsafari]

Herman is far better at counting than I. I, who had failed mathematics in secondary school every year until when it counted most - at O levels (yes we use the British system). after that I abandoned all pretense at mathematics and arithmetic. 

So it was him who noticed in our BY thread, I had repeated numbers for different species, or skipped numbers once or twice. Net-net, though, it seemed the last species Grey Wagtail should have been #143. 

I'll start the next species at 144. 

Thank you for indulging me!  

[Kitsafari]

144. Barred Buttonquail, Jurong Lake Gardens

 

The more informed birder here knows that to catch this nervous skittish bird, he/she has to sit at a cross-intersect of 3 trails in the long grass of the park, and pray that the hordes of bridal couples, and chatting female friends or freshly graduates in their stuffy hot graduation coats will not come through any of those trails. Herman managed that one day on a weekday and saw the quails skulking in the open trail. but I failed on two attempts, despite sitting and waiting in the hot sun ( have to admit I gave up after 15-30mins).

A resident breeder, the quail is also known as a common bustard-quail, resident in India to south China, SEA (strangely skipping the island of Borneo) including Indonesia and the Philippines.

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

145. Rusty-breasted Cuckoo, Lorong Halus

 

 

[Kitsafari]

146. Black-winged Kite, Seletar

 

A nesting pair. The chicks have since fledged