Fort Canning Park, Singapore

December 31, 2009

A few days back, while walking along Hill Street near the old Armenian Church, the corner of my eye caught the flight of a rather large bird circling the communication tower on Fort Canning Hill. While I couldn't identify the bird, I knew it to be a bird of prey, or in birding parlance, "raptor". 

Today, I made a trip to the hill top park to check these birds out. By the way, Fort Canning is one of the most significant sites of Singapore, as it was said to be the place where Malay chieftans ruled from here and where many ancient Chinese porcelain shards, coins, gold and precious stones jewellery have been unearthed. For more details on the park and what it offers the visitor today, please see: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=parks&id=16&Itemid=73

The trip rewarded me with the sighting of not one but a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagle, said to be the largest bird of prey around these parts. Their call was a mix of the call of geese, ducks and screams. One sat still high up on the communication tower while the other flew off in search of food. Mayhaps this a breeding pair and the female must be heavy with eggs as she waited to be fed without lifting a wing.

Here is the pair from the back:

And here's the patient waiting female.

 

And this is just to show how high a perch she was on.

 

Calls from Kingfishers, Koel and Sunbirds were heard as I strolled around the top of the hill. I didn't spot the Koel and the Sunbirds, as usual, could never sit still for me to photograph them. A White-collard Kingfisher obliged:

 

Even if one is not a fan of birds, this park is worth the short climb up. It is lush up there, the air sweetly scented by exotic flowers and leaves. And where the canopy parts you can see the busy town below. I guess that's why the rulers of old stationed themselves up here. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles had a house built for him here in 1823, but he was never around. He mostly busied himself in Bencoolen or Benkulen in Sumatra, Indonesia. Some of the flora in the park are new to me, like this one:

 

On the way down, you may pass the Spice Garden where a cocoa tree has begun to bear fruit.

 

I intend to revisit this park at a time where more birds can be spotted. So watch this space.

To be continued ... 

 

 


 

The Upper & Lower Peirce Reservoir Parks

Singapore - December 27, 2009

Tiny Singapore has several reservoirs, of which the largest, MacRitche, is perhaps the most well known. Peirce Reservoir is less visited being tucked away further away from the city centre. It used to be quite small but now with the creation of the Upper Peirce Reservoir, the original is now renamed Lower Peirce Reservoir. Each reservoir has its own park, and accessible from the winding, monkey-populated Old Upper Thomson Road.

This morning, visiting the Upper Peirce for the very first time was a thrill. I have always thought I have been to every square inch of our island state. Here was a quiet. leafy park that would calm any busy heart and mind.

As usual, I could never wake up early enough, so at 10 a.m. I was prepared to be disappointed as far as birding was concerned. But surprise, surprise, I spotted some movements in the lawn below where I was walking. Peering at name through my binoculars, I knew at once that this bird would be a lifer for me - Paddyfield Pipit.

Swift shadows on the field make me look up, and wow, there were a pair of raptors circling the air at a fairly low height. I managed to capture one of them in flight. If this is the White-bellied Sea Eagle. Rather far away from the sea, if you ask me.

And I believe this may be its nest.

Going down to the water's edge, hoping to spy some Kingfishers, I chanced upon some feeding Bee-eaters, which perched on the branches of a dead tree. These two must be friends. They are very likely to be the Blue-tailed Bee-eater.

And this bird, standing at a lower branch of the same tree may be a juvenile with its short tail.

 

In the afternoon, I drove a few kilometers to Lower Peirce, but other than a six Hill Mynahs and one Koel, whose calls echoed around the quiet park, there was not much bird life around. I did notice a few Scalet-backed Flower Peckers and a pair of Bee-eaters that flew overhead. Not wanting to waste the rest of my afternoon there, I headed for the carpark and then there was this large male Common Flamebacked Woodpecker having a feast in a tree.

End

The Environs of Sengkang and Punggol

January 10, 2010
5.30 p.m.

As my ears become more sensitised to bird calls, I notice that beyond the cackles of mynahs and cawings of crows, the sharp tweets of sunbirds are often heard. Trees with flowers are especially well visited by these sunbirds, most of them the olive-backed ones. Here's a male on a twig.

The Paddyfield Pipits are still fattening up in the open fields.

The Koel hasn't come to Sengkang to de-populate the House Crows yet, and the latter are now very much everywhere.

Sengkang Square

January 8, 2010
5.30 p.m.


While taking a stroll this evening, I spotted a flock of very hoppity birds in the large fields, foraging for their supper. They were Paddyfield Pipits.

 

Punggol End
January 1, 2010
5.30 to 6.30 p.m.


Owing to the current transformation of the seafront off Punggol End into marina, the previously lush secondary forests have largely being cleared off. But to the left side of Punggol Road, near the Outward Bound School building, there is a clump of tall trees. And it is here that there is still some bird life left.

The familiar bird calls of the Kingfisher, Koel, Mynah, Green Pigeon, Dove and Sparrow plus a couple of calls that I can't quite identify, were heard. Spotted Doves and Peaceful Doves feed on the ground and in the trees.

Pink-necked Green Pidgeon (Male)

Standing fairly still on the TV antennae of the residential homes were a collection of Starling, Mynah, Dove and a solitary Blue-tailed Bee-eater.

 

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

However, there was a treat in store for me. While trying to photograph the Green Pigeons, I spotted a black bird among the branches and it turned out to be the Koel, whose call I had been hearing all along.

End

  

Spied from my Window/Balcony in Sengkang

December 26, 2009

At 8 a.m. I was woken up by the piercingly-clear calls of the golden yellow Black-naped Oriole. It had been challenging trying to see this bird much less capture it with my camera. Having a bird's eye view from my mid-level flat gave me the opportunity to see it without giving it the frights.

Here's a photograph of the back of this lovely bird feeding on the nectar and pollen of this flowering tree.

 

Hopping about within the same tree was a small flock of Asian Glossy Starling, with its shimmering blackish-green feathers and intimidating red eyes. I have seen these at the Botanic Gardens and at Bukit Timah but they were too high up in the trees making it hard to view them. Here, a member of the flock was feasting on what the blossoms provided without knowing that I was photographing it breakfasting.

Watch this space ....

Singapore Nature Parks

 

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Having awakened to the thrills of birdwatching, I decided that I should look in my own backyard, right here in Singapore.

(Dec 8 -13, 2009)


Botanic Gardens

Having experienced the surprises seen in the Botanic Gardens of Taipei - they sure have a good variety and number of birds there - I headed for our very own world-renowned Botanic Gardens, which celebrates its 150th Anniversary this year. "The Gardens at its present site was founded in 1859 by an Agri-Horticultural Society. Planned as a leisure garden and ornamental park, the Society organised flower shows and horticultural fetes. In 1874, the Society handed over management and maintenance of the site to the government. The scientific mission of the Gardens evolved when the colonial government assumed management and deployed Kew-trained botanists and horticulturists to administer the Gardens." (http://www.sbg.org.sg/aboutus/ourhistory.asp)

And I was very well rewarded. A fellow birder notified me that there was an Oriental Pied Hornbill on top of a tree near the gazebo. Now, this was indeed a very rare sighting of this noble-looking bird in a park in the middle of town. The hornbill stayed around for a good half hour then flew off. I felt blessed. I always dreamed of seeing a hornbill in the wild and I was told I may try my luck in Pulau Ubin where there is a pair. This is a lifer for me (though I have seen them at the Bird Park in Jurong).

Oriental Pied Hornbill (upright pose)

Reading that Singapore doesn't actually have its own endemic bird species, and that we not only have many migratory birds passing through here but also a good number of escapees (I guess from careless owners and from the pet shops and the Bird Park). And wow, the Botanic Gardens did have a good number of these birds.

Orange-headed Thrush

This thrush (above), endemic to India, China and Southeast Asia, was observed to visit the pools to bath every evening. Be prepared to jostle with the legions of avid photographers (not birders) who are too generous with their use of their powerful flashguns. The poor bird must have felt like a pop star pursued by the paparazzi. 

Another migrant, the Hooded Pitta, was reportedly seen around the gardens. I only saw its blackish head through my binoculars and failed to capture it with my camera. One photographer showed his "catch" and it was indeed a very colourful bird. In Taiwan, they call this bird "ba shi niao" or eight-colours bird.

But for me, the kingfishers are a truly odd looking but beautiful bird, and there so many types. At the Botanic Gardens, I spied the following and they showed why they are "king of fishers":

Common Kingfisher (above and below)

Preening after a dip

White-throated Kingfisher (above and below)

Common Kingfisher 

Stork-billed Kingfisher

Then there are these tiny, almost un-noticeable colourful birds that flit among the flowers. Not unlike hummingbirds, these sunbirds and flower-peckers do hover around flowers while sticking their long beaks into flowers.

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

Crimson Sunbird

Olived-backed Sunbird

And then there are the doves and pigeons, in fairly large numbers and some are quite tame to boot.

Spotted Dove

Pink-necked Green Pigeon (male)

Pink-necked Green Pigeon (female)

As the Gardens have several ponds, waterfowls such as the White-breasted Waterhen, duck, Bitten and swan can be spotted.

Lesser Whistling Duck

Mute Swan

Bitten

In the high canopies of the rainforest trees, one could distinctly hear the calls of the Koel, Hill Mynah and the Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo ("The Mimic") - they all have this sinister black sheen to their feathers. The Koel even has red eyes.

Koel

At around 5 p.m. when the birds come to take their supper, noisy troops of parrots, lorikeets and parakeets circle the high tree tops. I managed to capture a colourful duo as they sat on a high branch of a Tembusu tree and another one hanging for its dear life on a frond of a palm tree while swaying in the wind.

Rainbow Lorikeet

Hanging Parrot (Unknown type)

There are Woodpecker, Bulbul, Mynah, Bee-eaters, Dollarbirds, Starlings, among others.

Yellow-Vented Bubul

Javan Mynahs keeping sentinel

Common Flameback Woodpecker
(above & below)
Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve: If you want to a good birding trip at this venue, don't go during the weekend - there are far too many people about and the noise they make do chase away the birds from easy viewing. However, my companion's sharp eyes picked out a pair of Roufous-bellied Malkoha. Upon being spied by human eyes, they quickly flew deeper into the forest and all I had were a couple of blurrish shots. The Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo was easier to spot and they seem to like posing for photographs. They are great mimics of other bird calls, too.

Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo

Down the hill, on the path leading from the Visitors' Centre, several fruit trees were magnet for numerous birds, including Starlings, Bulbuls, Mynahs, Asian Fairy Blue Bird, among others.

Asian Fairy Blue Bird (male)

Further up the path, a fellow birder chanced upon a juvenile female Emerald Dove and signalled for me to see it. This exquisite dove showed no fear of me and came as near as a metre to peck for grub on the ground.

Emerald Dove (juvenile)

A large brown Straw-headed Bulbul called loudly for the longest time ever, while a Crimson Sunbird flitted among the shrubbery looking for nectar.  And trying hard to camouflage itself on a tree trunk was a flying lemur. What a treat to have seen all three.

Flying Lemur

A further stroll along this path leads to a disused mining pool, where the air is noticeably cooler. On the branches of a dead tree in the pool were a Dollarbird, which dived into the water every so often, and Bee-eaters.

Dollarbird

HSBC Treetop Walk (MacRitche Reservoir)

The walk from the Venus Road car park to the HSBC Treetop Walk is a good half hour, but as a birder, you won't notice the distance as one has to frequently stop to admire the bird life in the secondary forest there.

Just as I entered the track by a little stream, a large woodpecker, Racquet-tailed Drongo and an assorted number of Bulbuls were merrily hopping among the vines hanging from the trees. I always thought woodpeckers belonged to North America, having been influenced by Woody Woodpecker cartoons at a young age. And here was one, looking larger than life and hungrily pecking away at the bark of an old tree trunk. Sharing the same tree was the Drongo, with a pair of long, undamaged racquet tails. Again, it loved being watched and photographed, showing this profile and that profile, then showing off its back, then front. It was a photographer's perfect model, all right. And on the same vine, was a Yellow-vented Bulbul, a bit shyer. But to see all three birds accepting each others' presence on the same tree was a moving experience.  

 Common Flamebacked Woodpecker (female)

Further up the track, near the Singapore Island Country Club, a flock of magnificent Hill Mynahs were calling in their steely melodic voices. I realised I was far happier seeing them in this state than in some cage.

  

Hill Mynahs

Just as I was nearing the Treetop Walk, a green blob was seen busily pecking in the grass. It was the beautiful Emerald Dove, this one was an adult. And it was all alone.

Emerald Dove

Sungei Buloh Revisited

This wetland reserve is always worth a revisit but go armed with some strong anti-mosquito spray!

The Egrets, Redshanks, Pacific Golden Plovers and Kingfishers are still around, though in slightly smaller numbers than when I last visited this place in October. This time, with my better binoculars, I noticed that the Egrets have feet of a greenish hue. Could it be the algae in the water?

New bird sightings included the Red-necked Phalarope, Collared Kingfisher and Grey Herons standing in a tree.

Gray Heron

The shimmering Pacific Golden Plover

 

Red-necked Phalarope

End