Belated BY - 6th year! Herman&Kit

[Kitsafari]

654. Pied Harrier

This handsome male provided some frenzied activity among the humans at the very end of the year.

 

 

 

 

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655. Osprey

Just passing through

 

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656. Peregrine Falcon

These fierce falcons stop over every year and strike terror in the feral pigeons. It helps to keep the pigeon number in check!

 the Japonensis race 

The Calidus race 

Edited January 7 by Kitsafari

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That is it for raptor watch in 2023.

Missed this one earlier.

657. Pacific Swift

 ALways in the skies, and I won't even make an attempt to strain my neck to try a shot.

 

[Kitsafari]

And for the Singapore list, I end with a rarity 

 

658. Asian Dowitcher 

On the Near Threatened List, it is distributed mainly in east Asia. It looks very similar to godwits and mixes in flocks of godwits making it difficult to see them sometimes. They are smaller than the godwits and their blackish brown bill sets them apart from the bicoloured bills of the larger species.

They are rarely seen in Singapore. 

[Kitsafari]

When I started a late BY thread, I thought we could hit, at most, 500 including species from Singapore. I did the BY count as I wanted to share the overseas species we saw on our short trips, particularly the ones from my part of the world as several of our good BY friends on ST are from Europe. I hope our thread whetted your appetite to come over to our neck of the woods for more birds!

 

Our last trip for the year was to Christmas Island. It name lends some mystic to the destination. The 135-km island is essentially a plateau summit of a volcanic mountain that sits more than 4,500m high, with some 4,200m underneath the sea. While some basalt is exposed in certain areas like the Dales and Dolly Beach, most of the surface is made up of limestone from coral growth. The limestone is very jagged and sharp especially at fringes of the coast. Forests are mainly of rainforest, 63% of which is national parkland, a blessing that has protected some of its endemic species.

The shimmering waters when the morning sun shone on it, the shades of turquioise and deep blue danced in the clear water and fishes were darting around the reefs. The crash of the Indian Ocean waves, the sudden sprays that shot out of the blowholes and the gliding of the frigatebirds and the booby species can lull you into a tranquil, relaxed state of mind.

It has a historical connection to Singapore. Briefly, when Singapore was under the UK rule, England took control of this little island which is located to the west of Java. Phosphate mining was a major industry and workers were all brought from Singapore so the island fell under colonial Singapore's administration. The mining proved profitable and the UK administration in Australia wanted full control of the island, which London approved. So Singapore sold Christmas Island for 2.8m sterling pounds in 1958. 

We like to think that was a fortuitous event because Australia has kept much of the forests intact, which has worked in the favour of several endemic birds found on the island. We flew on chartered flights via Jakarta to the island and these flights only fly at most once a week. There are more regular flights from Perth. 

 

659. Australian White Ibis

Not a lifer, but a rare appearance for Christmas Island, which is  2,600km from Perth (Java is only 350km away).

 

 

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660. Glossy Ibis

 

 

 

 

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395. Citrine Wagtail

Not a lifer for me, for everyone else - including Herman - in our 16-strong group, it was a much sought-after lifer for them. 

 

 

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178. Emerald Dove

Counted in the Sabah list, the emerald dove is included here as Australia treats it as an endemic sub-species of the Asian Emerald Dove. The Christmas Island emerald dove's latin name is halcophaps indica natalis 

 

[BRACQUENE]

Some lovely additions again ; inspires me to continue my BY 

[Kitsafari]

661. Abbott's Booby

 

Listed as Endangered, this is a lifer for us. The species breeds only in the rainforest canopy of Christmas Island, and forages in the adjacent ocean and with vagrants seen as far as western Indonesia and Australia. Its distribution used to be wider, covering much of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 

 

 

the parents and the chick (almost ready to fledge) on the nest

 

 

[Kitsafari]

662. Brown Booby

The most common among the booby species - a lifer. Note the delightful green feet. 

 

 

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663. Red-footed Booby

 

 

Juveniles taking turns to land on the branch. 

 

Juveniles harassed by frigatebirds

 

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664. Brown Noddy

Looks similar to the Brown booby. Lifer. 

catching jumping fish!

 

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665. Brown Goshawk

Lifer. The locally-named Christmas Island goshawk is currently categorised as a sub-species of Brown Goshawk, although there has been a debate over its status for many years. Some birding authorities said it was a sub-species of the Grey or Varied Goshawk, based on its call and plumage, while other experts declared it as one of the Brown Goshawk sub-species. But many also believe that it could also be re-categorised as a distinct species. Until that time, it remains as a sub-species of the brown goshawk.
As an endemic local species on the island, Australia agencies classify it as endangered based on an estimated population of around 100 breeding adults on the island. The goshawk's habitat is mainly rainforest but the rainforest has been fragmented by roads and phosphate mining, and is thought to have been adversely affected by the invasive crazy ants which are said to be changing the structure of the rainforest.

 

 

Defeathering a chick it caught - we missed the taking as it took place in the wooded areas

Edited January 7 by Kitsafari

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666. Nankeen Kestrel 

Also a lifer

 

Edited January 7 by Kitsafari

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667. Island Thrush

all the remaining species in the count are also lifers!

A friendly bird, very common and locally called the Christmas Island Thrush. a lot of species are just called christmas Island xxx but some of them aren't full species, like this thrush. 

 

 

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668. White-faced Heron

 

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669. Christmas Island Boobook 

Also called Christmas Island Hawk-Owl

Nailed it the first night. the Boobook was very accommodating, allowing most of us to go within 30m of it. An endemic to the island and the only resident owl here, the hawk owl is on the vulnerable status on the IUCN Redist with only an estimated 340 adults left.

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

670. Christmas island Imperial Pigeon

 

Endemic to the island with a least concern status. Variously known as the Christmas imperial pigeon, Black imperial pigeon, Dusky imperial pigeon, Wharton's imperial pigeon and Burong Pergam, the Christmas Island Imperial-pigeon (Ducula whartoni) is largely dull in a slate-grey coat. Its glossy green iridescence does shine through when seen in daylight, in the open and at certain angles. Together with the Christmas Island Flying Fox, they are the only true frugivores on the island.

 

 

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671. Christmas Island Swiftlet

The only swiftlet in the island so we can't go wrong naming all swiftlets this species. It is an endemic. 

 

 

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672. Christmas Island White-eye

The only white-eye species on the island, this is an endemic species to Christmas Island. 

 

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673. Christmas Island Frigatebird

It's my first sighting of a frigatebird ever, and it was exciting to see them. I didn't expect them to be quite imposing. There are three frigatebird species on Christmas Island and it gets pretty hairy trying to differentiate all three. The Christmas Island Frigatebird with an almost egg-shaped white-patch on its belly, is endemic to the island. I won't put up my shots as I haven't really checked which frigatebird is which ! But I'll put up a clip of a flock of frigatebirds gliding on the winds. I enjoyed watching them soaring on the winds. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7 by Kitsafari

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674. Great Frigatebird

male

 

Female

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675. Lesser Frigatebird

This is rarer than the other two, an estimated 10% of the frigatebirds on the island were of the lesser species