vimeomontage

Thursday, December 27, 2012

milky stork buffet @ sungei buloh wetland reserve - Nov 2012

November was a rainy month. It had just started raining when I got to the safety of the shelter on the main bridge. The monotone scene proved uneventful for the most part until the croc showed up close to the main bridge. It did not do much at all except for stay still in the drizzle and occasionally blink its eyes. A while later, a lone milky stork flew onto an uncovered mudbank exposed by the low tide. It soon started looking for food in the shallow water. It dipped the end of its bill into the water and moved its head from side to side whilst walking with its bill slightly ajar ready to shut close the moment some movement was detected within the gap. 
Interestingly, it used its legs to test the surrounding water trying to scare any potential dinner towards its formidable bill. The clip shows the success of this technique where the bird does indeed catch some dinner as a result. After a few bites, it took off towards the Straits of Johor.

Find out more about this magnificient bird: 
IUCN Red List : vulnerable to extinction due to loss of coastal habitats and hunting pressures

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

brahminy kites mobbing a raptor @ kranji war memorial - Dec2012

Paid an impromptu visit to the Kranji War Memorial on Dec 23 and saw two Brahminy Kites flying about a tree on the left flank of the plot making a lot of noise. I soon saw the kites swooping down and dive bombing at something in the tree. They kept doing it but I initially thought they were probably dive bombing a tree snake or something which I would not be able to see. Coming around the rear left corner of the memorial building, I saw that one of the kites was taking a break at a nearby bare tree whilst the other continued its chatter flying about the tree. It was then that I saw that there was another bird in the tree and the kites had been dive bombing it. It looked like a large raptor (bigger than the kites) and had a pale-ish head with a black eyeline. One of the kites dived at it so close that it must have come within millimetres of the raptor and the raptor decided to take off after having to duck to avoid the kite's talons. I missed following it as it took off flying low initially and then it disappearing behind a gap in the tree line.

This episode made it clear the the kites were capable of superb aerial gymnastics even in very tight air spaces like that amongst the branches of the tree which the larger raptor had chosen to rest in.

Brahminy Kites are frequently seen eating small prey on the fly carefully holding the prey in their talons and manouvering their feet to within reach of their sharp beaks taking small bites whilst flying about maintaining their altitude. I've not noticed any other bird species in Singapore which does this.

Can anyone tell what kind of raptor it was? My guess is that it could be a juvenile pale-morph Oriental Honey Buzzard or a Changeable Hawk Eagle.


Sunday, December 9, 2012

hermit crab house swapping @ Ubin - Dec2012


The clip shows two blue-striped hermit crabs in one of the mangrove pools (former prawn pond).
These crabs were both in Rodong snail shells. I was alerted to some house-swapping action by a knocking sound. One crab was tapping or knocking onto the other shell which was occupied by the other crab.



The loser was cajoled out of its shell by the aggressor and it ran out beyond the reach of the aggressor who promptly assessed the now empty shell. Finding it suitable, it climbed into the 'new' shell leaving its own free for the loser to lay claim to it.  The victor's former shell now empty was free for the loser to occupy which it did without much hesitation. Any protection was better than none and hermit crabs cannot afford to be 'naked' i.e. without a hard shell because their bodies are naturally unprotected and soft. 

With both crabs swapping shells, they quickly parted ways. Perhaps they may meet again on the other side of the mangrove pool ... and another battle may present itself. What a great way to recycle one's home!

Find out more about these and other Singapore hermit crabs here :



Saturday, December 8, 2012

brown shrike @ labrador nature reserve - Dec 2012

Came across this lovely little brown bird on the rusty barbed wire fence at the Labrador Park Nature Reserve.

Shrikes seem to prefer perches with sharp ends like plants with thorns and barbed wire fences. They are known to impale prey such as insects and lizards on sharp objects before consuming them. The brown shrike appears to be a winter visitor which appears in Singapore during the period from about October to March. This one is an adult brown shrike as it has a distinctive black eye band. Note the curved beak tip and the long talons. This bird may be small but it is a bird of prey no less.


Find out more about this winter migrant here :

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

the uncommon common kingfisher @ ubin - Dec2012


The Ubin mangroves seems to be a good spot for kingfishers.  At least 4 types can be seen with some patience (or good luck). The Common Kingfisher is nowhere near as common in Singapore as it is in Europe. It is rarely seen and is rather skittish preferring to fly off at first glimpse of the all too common mostly upright apes.

The birds seen in these clips may be the same bird or two or three birds which cohabit in one particular part of the mangroves. There were also stork-billed kingfishers, collared kingfishers, and even the rare black-capped kingfisher.

One particular characteristic of the tiny sparrow-like common kingfisher is its ability to hover at a spot. Despite their small size, they can fly past at an astonishingly fast speed...such that all you see most times is a blue blur.

The clips show the common kingfisher flying in and out from perches near the water surface and even momentarily hovering to target prey fish in the water. (Segments showing the kingfisher in action have been slowed down to 12.5% normal speed but even this seems too slow to appreciate the high speeds displayed by the dimunitive speedster).  



Read more about the common kingfisher here :

Sunday, December 2, 2012

peregrine falcon @ ubin - Dec2012

Last year, the telecommunications tower at Ubin village had a falcon on it at the end of October. This year, it seems to have been only seen first in early December. It sat actively looking around high atop the telecommunications tower. It did not seem to be bothered when a circling white-bellied sea eagle and later also a brahminy kite passed close by.
Singapore in within a long list of countries which is supposed to have resident peregrine falcons. However, it seems that the best time to see peregrine falcons is during the Oct to April period. This coincides with the migratory season for Northern hemisphere's winter.
It is thought that the telecommunications tower falcon is a migratory one as it is not seen for pretty much the rest of the year outside the Oct to April period.

Habitat loss due to human development continues to be a threat for seeing these falcons 'in the wild'. However, these falcons are frequently seen amongst high-rise buildings amongst a concrete jungle. They seem to thrive even in high-rise cities.

Find out more about the fastest animal (when in a hunting dive) on the planet :


Tuesday, November 27, 2012

changeable hawk eagles @ tanah merah - Nov2012

Tanah Merah seems to be a good spot (for now) to see Changeable Hawk Eagles. This species comes in two main morphs...pale or dark (and quite a few variations in between depending on the stage of maturity of the bird). The clip shows three different birds.
The first is seated on a Casuarina branch silhouetted by the morning sun. It was observed for about 5 minutes before it took flight calling whilst it flew off.
The second was seated on another tree looking around whilst highlighted by the morning sun. This one had a rich brown colour and the distinctive yellow feet can be clearly seen.
The third hawk eagle was a juvenile pale morph. This one had a white head and a pale coloured body with dark grey wings. It also had a small black crest atop its head. When it was first noticed, it was wagging its tail from side to side. Facing away from its observers, it was quite content until a motorbiker came by. Unfortunately, the noise from the bike set the bird off and it took off deeper into the nearby forest.


Habitat loss continues to be a problem for these shy birds which seem to prefer more quiet and non-habited areas.

Find out more about these rarely seen Singapore resident birds here :



Monday, November 26, 2012

raptors @ tanah merah - Nov2012

Came across these two raptors flying about amongst the Casuarina trees. It looked as it their talons were locked as they stumbled through the foliage. One bird managed to regain its balance on a thin branch whilst the other hung below it. It took a few seconds of struggling before the bird below managed to break free and the chase resumed.  ID is going to be a bit difficult as there was no clear oppurtunity. I'm guessing they were sparrowhawks. 


Thursday, November 15, 2012

rain, seagrass, a driftnet, 101 BBQ mesh squares and seacils @ labrador- 14Nov2012

Was out at Labrador Nature Reserve's intertidal zone for a bit of seagrassing with Team Seagrass on Nov 14 taking advantage of the low afternoon tide. The storm front quickly blew in from the West shutting out the warmth of the sun. Having started the random sampling, the lightning followed too soon after by rumbling thunder put a quick end to the ambitious start.

Taking refuge from the deluge below the overhead shelter, what became obvious was the flotsam which had accumulated below the walkway. There was quite an amount of styrofoam and plastic bottles. Strangely, there was an accumulation of BBQ wire mesh in a few neat stacks close to the start of the overhead walkway. Someone had stacked up about 20 wire mesh squares in two main piles below the walkway. These were well browned from the rust but there were some silvered ones as well. 



When the rain subsided, I found a few more mesh squares on the beach as I walked down to the seagrass patches.



There were quite a few squares on the rocky shore as well...


 Some of the squares were partially buried under the sand.
 I eventually came to find higher concentrations of mesh squares scattered near the base of the seawall fronting the promenade facing the jetty.



 Eventually, a total of 101 BBQ mesh squares of various sizes were removed from the shore.
It looks like someone has thrown over the mesh squares either at one go or over a few successive days. ..or perhaps over an extended period of time. There were a few squares partially buried through which Ovalis seagrass had grown. These would have been there at least a couple of weeks. Most were well rusted but some where shiny and had not been used before. The shiny ones were perhaps recently discarded... perhaps the day before or that very morning itself. There had been a public holiday the day before on Nov 13.

Perhaps there was a troll lolling around at Labrador which specializes in throwing BBQ mesh squares from the promenade?

... and then I spotted something else in the water... A triangular pipe section which was connected by a rope to another triangular pipe section. This was presumably part of the seacil project from some 5 years ago. Looks like parts are still being regurgitated from the deeper part of the reef just off the shore where the seacils were laid down.


As if the wire mesh and the seacils were not enough,... on the other side of the jetty, there was a driftnet which was about 50m long which had been laid across about 25m from the shore.

 This was already badly entangled around coral fragments and sargassum and there were a total of 6 spider conch snails and 1 red egg crab caught up in the net.

Luckily, these were still alive but it took some careful cutting (against a darkening evening sky and a rising tide) with a pair of scissors before they could be released.

We really need to take better care of our nature reserves :(
There should be a better enforcement practice to better protect our gazetted nature reserves. We have so few of these areas. We simply cannot afford to let apathy run riot in the reserves.

Read more about the day's toil :
http://teamseagrass.blogspot.sg/2012/11/labrador-14-nov-2012.html
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2012/11/surprises-on-labrador.html
http://projectdriftnet.blogspot.sg/2012/11/50m-net-abandoned-on-labrador-14-nov.html
http://peiyansama.blogspot.sg/2012/11/great-surprises-on-my-first-seagrass.html




Tuesday, November 13, 2012

osprey @ SBWR - Nov2012

Spotted a large bird sitting atop a dead tree at the edge of Sungei Buloh Besar.  This one had a characteristic dark eye band and I knew it to be an Osprey. Ospreys are migratory and this one was probably visiting during the Northern winter.

The osprey just sat on the branch preening itself for about 30 minutes before I gave up and moved on. 
Read more about the Osprey : 




nesting grey headed fish eagle II @ neo tiew - Nov2012

Went out early to see if I could spot the two GHFEs in the nest but I guess 0800 was a bit late for them. Managed to only see 1 bird in the nest and observed it for a few minutes before it flew off. 

Monday, November 12, 2012

nesting grey-headed fish eagle @ neo tiew - Nov2012

Was wishfully looking at a clump of trees along a road hoping to see a nest of some kind when I did see a nest of some kind. It was kind of largish but it seemed incomplete. My guess is that the nest was still being built and was 'under construction'. Despite the pitter patter of the rain and the windy conditions moving the Albizia trunks quite a bit, there was something else with a distinctive shape close to the nest. It was only when I zoomed in that I was able to see the characteristic terminal black band on the white tail.  This was not the commonly seen white-bellied sea eagle but the more rarely seen grey-headed fish eagle. I had only seen this species at the nearby SBWR just a handful of times. From reports by others, it seems that there was a pair of GHFEs in the area. The nest is clear evidence that a pair of eagles had settled into the area.

This particular bird just sat out the rain and was not frazzled by the much larger jet-powered thunder birds roaring closeby. 

Hopefully, the birds do complete building their nest and have chicks soon enough. It's important that locally found species find a foothold wherever they can.

Monday, November 5, 2012

brown-throated sunbird @ chek jawa - Nov2012

A clear chirpy chirp diverted some attention away from the skies (its already the bird migratory season) above the Jejawi Tower towards a nearby coconut tree. It did not take long to spot who was making it. It was a brown-throated sunbird perched high on the tree. It would not have been visible from the ground and those on the Jejawi Tower, at about 20metres off the ground, were at a fabulous vantage point. Tiny as sunbirds usually are, a pair of binoculars would make observation a lot easier. There seemed to be another sunbird somewhere closeby and both were perhaps having a discussion.  

The bird kept on its chirp for about 3 minutes before flying off to another tree in the nearby forest behind the stand of nipah trees. 

When was the last time you were at Chek Jawa?
brown-throated sunbird @ chek jawa - 4Nov2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read more about this colourful little bird :




Sunday, November 4, 2012

aerial dogfight @ chek jawa - 4Nov2012

A short clip of a short dogfight over the skies of chek jawa between a white-bellied fish eagle and a grey-headed fish eagle as seen from the Jejawi Tower. The WBSE obviously did not like the prescence of the GHFE and was trying to get rid of it. The WBSE was seen repeatedly flying close to the GHFE harassing it and the GHFE extended its legs ready to use them against the WBSE. There was however no contact seen between the two birds. The two birds eventually flew off behind the forest canopy near the Balai Quarry and the GHFE was not seen in the sky afterwards.

The migratory season has started and the Jejawi Tower at Chek Jawa proved a great vantage point to spot both migratory as well as resident birds in the sky. Amongst those spotted were oriental honey buzzards, changeable hawk eagles, accipiters,white-bellies sea eagles, grey-headed fish eagles, grey herons, sunbirds, swifts, oriental-pied hornbills, black-naped orioles et al.

Besides the birds, other animals seen were the ubiquitous macaques and wild boar.

The coastal forest around Chek Jawa and at that corner of Pulau Ubin is indeed a fabulous vista to take in. A must see for all!
Time : about 10.00am

Monday, October 15, 2012

juvenile brahminy kites @ lim chu kang road - Oct2012

There were two raptors flying around the Lim Chu Kang chicken coops as if they were looking to make an afternoon meal out of the poultry in the megacoops. The chickens were certainly making a bit of noise from the safety of the sheltered buildings.

The raptors looked like juvenile Brahminy Kites. One of them was fiddling with its legs in midflight as if it had got something stuck and was trying to remove it. Brahminy Kites are well known for eating on the fly which is something they seem to specialise in as compared to other locally found raptors. The tails edge was also a slightly rounded squarish one as compared to the wedge shaped tail of the white-bellied sea eagles.
Find out more about the Brahminy Kite :

Sunday, October 14, 2012

sandpiper & prawn dinner @ Sg Buloh Wetland Reserve - Oct2012

I think this is a Common Redshank (but I initially thought it was a Marsh Sandpiper). The reddish legs identify it as a Redshank. The other birds which closely resemble it are the Greenshank (with greenish legs) and the Marsh Sandpiper. This bird had a clearly visible green tag on its left leg. I assume that the green tag was  over a white tag which was not so visible. The green over white tags indicate that the bird was ringed in Singapore. SBWR does ring birds with the characteristic green over white tags to identify that these birds were tagged in Singapore.  It had just caught a nice prawn and was busy preparing it for a swallow. It kept dunking the prawn in the small stream and finally swallowed the prawn whole. I had previously thought that sandpipers went for smaller food items like insects , small crabs and small worms. This prawn was certainly at the larger end of the sandpiper's food list. 


Here is another clip of another Redshank foraging close to the ringed Redshank.
sandpiper looking for dinner @ SBWR - Oct2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

stork-billed kingfisher @ SBWR - OCT2012

The resident stork-billed kingfisher (Singapore's largest resident kingfisher) was at the cafe pond sitting nicely on a fallen bamboo stalk. There was also a barrage of megalensed photographers who had set up in the cafe intruding into the king's privacy. It did the best it could by flying off and returning with a fish in its beak only if was facing the opposite direction much to the annoyance of the persons behind some expensive glass.
The bird promptly made quick work of the fish swallowing it. Shortly thereafter, it did a quick neck swing and ruffled its feathers and wings as if to reset itself after the dive to catch the fish. The neck swinging seemed particularly 'violent' ... much more severe than any you might get in an old style barber's chair after a cut.  The resetting neck swing shows the power the kingfisher has in its neck muscles when it uses the same action to knock prey (eg. fish, lizards etc.) senseless against branches before swallowing them.


here is the replay of the neck swing (@12.5% normal speed)

disappearing croc @ sg buloh wetland reserve - Oct2012

 I was up in the tower aerie looking down when a fast moving log caught my eye.

The 'log' was about 2 metres long and it seemed to know when it was being watched for it soon submerged and disappeared below the water surface. It later surfaced closeby showing just its head for a brief moment before it disappeared again.

Bet you'd think more than twice before you get into the mangroves next.





Wednesday, October 10, 2012

grey-headed fish eagle @ sg buloh wetland reserve - Oct2012

It was about 1030 am when I spotted a raptor quite far off flying in tight circular. It was only when I got a faraway glimpse of the top edge of its tail that I knew what it was...a rare grey-headed fish eagle. (There was a distinctive black edge to the white tail). This was my second time seeing it at SBWR. The first was in July 2012 when it flew almost directly overhead the main bridge giving me a fabulous short clip. (see this post from July 2012).

The eagle was flying somewhere near the outdoor classroom area beyond the main tower aerie. It kept to a tight circle for a few minutes before flying off towards the coast. It seemed as if it was somehow interested in the area below its flight circle. Hopefully it was scouting out a roost or fishing spot.
Good to know that the grey-headed fish eagles are finding SBWR suitable. I hope they stay.

Towards the mid-afternoon whilst I was occupying a quiet gazebo at the mangrove boardwalk area when the air was interrupted by the unmistakable squawking of white-bellied fish eagles coming from the direction of the currently closed (for renovations) Kranji Nature Trail. I hope the renovations do not inconvenience the WBSEs too much.  Let's hope they stay too!

Monday, October 1, 2012

white-handed gibbons!!! @ jelebu-seremban - Sept2012

On the advice of a fellow traveller, we had driven up a really ulu road somewhere near a hill near  Jelebu on the edge of Seremban. We were on the path to some rhinos...the feathered variety... rhinocerous hornbills to be exact. The path up was certainly challenging and not for the faint hearted. The tires of the rental car slipped and spun burning rubber occasionally especially where the tarred road had long disintergrated into loose rocks. Up we went twisting and turning slowly making our way deeper into what seemed to be a path of no return, all the while hoping, praying that there would not be another 4 wheeled vehicle heading the opposite direction as the path was barely wide enough for our vehicle. Oppurtunities for allowing another vehicle to cross paths were few and far between which meant that one vehicle would have had to reverse quite a bit in order to allow the other to pass.

There was a break higher up and we took the oppurtunity to park the car and get out. LKS soon started his hornbill calls which sounded like a short cough. In the distance, coughs were heard. I took the oppurtunity to walk the opposite direction away from all the coughing. There was a lot of croaking which I was informed came from frogs. This sounded more like a birdcall than anything you'd expect from a frog. I never did see a frog. Further up the path and around a bend, I heard a slight whooping sound. Ah ha! there might be monkeys. I was expecting the ubiquitous long tailed macaques. I could only catch a fleeting glimpse of something monkey-like swinging at great ease through the trees. The speed was incredible. This was no macaque. I could just make out the white outlining of the hands.

I think there were at least two gibbons in the trees. One was a dark brown and the other was a lighter shade of brown. The darker one paused to munch on some leaves and was facing me directly for a few seconds. Then it saw me and immediately scampered off. The gibbons stayed out of sight after that.
A fabulous wild encounter! Totally unexpected. I hope Jelebu-Seremban keeps its forested hills intact. Priceless!

Find out more about gibbons here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbon
and Seremban : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seremban




Thursday, September 27, 2012

raptor mobbed @ balang padifields - Sept2012

It was a sight to behold seeing about a few hundred (maybe more) mynahs all over just one square of one part of the Balang padifields. The noise was was significant. The mynahs were busy with foraging when they were interrupted by by a much larger bird flying into their safety zone. A small bunch took off and flew towards the raptor catching up with it and started mobbing it with much chirping. The flock of mynahs chased the unknown raptor right across two padifield squares towards the mangroves causing the raptor to fly low in order to avoid the mob. It finally settled on a tree towards the edge of the padifields near the mangroves whilst the mynahs flew back towards their original corner. Birds of a feather flock mob together!

Pei Hao managed to grab a great shot of the mobbed raptor :-
(click on the pic for a bigger pic)






Tuesday, September 18, 2012

daurian starlings @ seletar link mangroves - 16Sep2012

A friend had posted on facebook that there were a whole lot of starlings at Chong Pang just a few days ago. I had not expected to see a horde of starlings at the Seletar Link mangroves seeing that it was a mangrove area and thinking that the starlings would prefer trees in the heart of a bustling city neighbourhood.

I was surprised to see a swarm of birds flying in the skies over Seletar. it was only when I got directly below the roosting trees that I could see exactly what they were when they took their turn to set foot on the muddy ground.

This exercise to get close to where the birds were resting saw some gymnastics over pudgy mangrove mud. The ground was however heavily littered with aged plastic bags and this provided sufficient footing without that 'sinking feeling'.

The birds were not concerned with me being below the clump of trees. I guess the 'safety in numbers' psychology was at work.

Waves of birds flew to a tree close to the edge of the mangrove and then proceeded down to the mangrove mud. Strangely, the water the birds seemed to be drinking and getting themselves wet in was actually seawater. It was a low tide and therefore the little mangrove puddles were filled up residual salt water which got left behind when the tide receded. The green on the ground was algae. I wondered how the birds could tolerate the salty water.

There was a mix of both Daurian Starlings (aka Purple-backed Starlings) and Asian Glossy Starlings (adults and juveniles) in the swarm...freely mingling about with no perceptible indifferences.
Time : between 6 to 7 pm
Date : 16 September 2012

Further away from the mangrove, i saw two dead birds about two meters apart. Both were easily identified as adult Asian Glossy Starlings due to their red eyes and glossy green plumage. Was this a mere coincidence ... or were they being poisoned? Starlings are unfortunately sometimes seen as pests by many people who live or work too close to the roost trees. The Seletar Link mangrove is just beside the Seletar airfield. The birds do seem to be well able to steer clear of obstacles and it seems unlikely that they would pose any danger to the aircraft in the area.

The Seletar Link mangrove has its own set of problems as the resident jetty operators (squatters until mid-2012) have had no trash disposal service nor hygenic sanitary arrangements. (They do not have an address). Human waste has been (and will probably continue to be) disposed off via the direct 'gravity-assisted' plomp method straight into the mangrove from the outhouses strategically lining the jetties. Other unwanted trash (plastic etc) is simply burnt openly although open burning was outlawed in Singapore many years ago. The resulting ash and bits are then dumped into the mangrove. When I first visited the mangrove about 3 years ago, there were giant mudskippers to be seen all over the mangrove at low tide. I did not see one this evening and I hope there is still a healthy population at the site.

Sad that this persists in 21st century Singapore.

It can take just a few hands to destroy a rare coastal habitat and some apathy on the part of lazy ostriches practising selective amnesia.

Find out more about these swarming starlings :

Sunday, September 9, 2012

An 'unwelcome' net @ Ubin - Sept 2012

Sat 8th Sept was the first day for the annual International Coastal Cleanup Singapore event. 
As volunteers headed out all over Singapore's coastline and mangroves, some were on Ubin to do their bit for Ubin's shores as well. 

It was a great morning to go to Ubin. Clear skies and fresh air.

Alas, just off the jetty, there was a familiar sight. Someone had recently dumped a net, no, two fishnets on the rocks near the jetty. Perhaps the owners had known that a cleanup of the beach area was scheduled for the 8th. 

Disposal of unwanted nets by abandoning them on the coast is not new to Ubin. This has been going on for years, if not decades. Ubin's shores especially the Southern shore facing mainland Singapore have been used as a dumping ground for unwanted fishing nets used by sampan fishermen as well as fishfarm or 'kelong' nets. There are many many such nets lining Ubin's Southern coast. There are even some places on the Southern coast where fishfarms have abandoned large pontoon sections on the beach...left to the waves and time.  


Find out more about the :
- abandoned fishnet problem : Project Driftnet
- International Coastal Cleanup Singapore : Link1, Link2 

Monday, September 3, 2012

stork-billed kingfisher @ Ubin - Sept2012

Pekan Quarry seems to be a good place to spot not so common birds. Some of them are big and some are small. Earlier in the day at about noon, PH spotted a rare grey-headed fish eagle flying in to sit on a branch of an Albizia by the edge of the quarry.

A lot of times, the small birds are far away. It was a pleasant surprise seeing a stork-billed kingfisher, the largest kingfisher in Singapore and one which is not commonly seen (i've only seen by the main bridge at Sungei Buloh) sitting on a branch at the edge of Pekan Quarry. The branch was unfortunately, some distance away. 

The bird did a bit of fishing around the branch and then resumed preening itself. It looked as if it had dived to catch a fish and 'lost' the fish after getting back to the perch. Replaying the video showed it to have merely pulled out a feather instead of losing a fish. Realtime can be deceiving.

Place : Pekan Quarry, Ubin
Time : about 6pm.
Find out more about this kingfisher :

Sunday, September 2, 2012

rufous woodpecker @ ubin - Sept2012

After a rather long hike through a forested area and temporarily dectivating a boar trap, a walk along Ubin's Jelutong mangroves was a welcome relief. These reddish-brown birds caught our attention as they flew through the mangrove trees. It was my first time seeing these Rufous Woodpeckers and there were four of them. I did not see all four of them but PH said that he counted four. They were about for about a minute before they flew further into the mangrove thicket. Rufous woodpeckers are common on the Indian subcontinent but they are not so common in Singapore.
Read more about this rarely seen woodpecker :


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

mama snakehead & kids @ kent ridge - Aug2012

The rhythmic bubbling proved curious and the red flashes which accompanied the bubbling also piqued my interest. Could this be some sort of strange hitherto unknown creature in little Singapore. It was not to be but none other than a school of young snakeheads accompanied by their mama who was keeping a close watch on her brood. 

A hapless terrapin happenned to float by too close to the group and this deserved a nip from the mama snakehead so much so that the turtle splashed quite a bit or water in shock or maybe in pain... probably in pain for snakeheads have a fierce set of teeth lining their jaws.

From the colouration of the mama fish, it appears to be a Giant Snakehead and it was estimated to be about 75 cm long.

Read more about the Snakeheads :


Tuesday, August 14, 2012

wbse re-fishing @ marina bay-Aug2012

The WBSEs seem to have had found a new fishing ground in the days leading up to the National Day parade on Aug 9th. They were hardly seen in the area last week although a friend said that she had seen them fishing at the Kallang Basin nearby.

This evening, they were a no show until about 7pm when one appeared looking for fish. After about a minute, another wbse appeared also looking for fish. The second one made a slow sweep of the water below it before plunging down and grabbing a rather large fish. However, as it was flying off with it, it must have realised that the fish was a tad big and without proper assistance from the right evening breeze, which had all but disappeared, it had to abandon the large fish. I'm assuming that the eagle was reluctant to do so but it let the fish drop back into the water from a height of about 3 or 4 metres causing a small splash and then carried on searching the water for other fish. After about 3 minutes of flying around within the same general area, it went back again for the dropped fish which must have still been close to the water surface. This time, it did not let the fish go and carried it off not without some difficulty gaining height as it flew in a tight spiral towards the Esplanade Bridge before flying off towards the Padang and where it finally landed on its regular feeding perch atop a nearby tall office building. It did not seem to finish its meal as it flew off again within a few minutes. Perhaps the fish took out more energy from the eagle and the eagle decided that it just needed a snack before turning in for the evening.
A fabulous show as usual. Just gotta wait for it.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Singapore Got Wildlife, Meh?

Embedded video clip courtesy of David Tan & other contributors.


"A community project based on the contributions of Singapore's naturalist community, this documentary explores a simple question that Singaporeans often ask - "Singapore got wildlife, meh?" and sheds some light on the amazing animals found in Singapore, from the elusive common palm civet to the elegant blue-spotted fantail ray.

This is also Singapore's first ever crowd-sourced nature documentary, bringing together the photos and video footage volunteered by nature enthusiasts from all over Singapore to tell the story of Singapore's surprisingly rich natural heritage."

Monday, August 6, 2012

ashy tailorbird mirrored @ woodlands waterfront - Aug2012

Thud! thud! ...i turned to look at what was thudding but all i saw was a tiny bird sitting atop a rusty barbed wire near a convex mirror. It flew off... and I thought that was it. A few more steps along the waterfront ...thud! thud!. I turned back to find not one but two ashy tailorbirds and a little yellow friend, perhaps a sunbird or an iora?. One ashy tailorbird started assaulting its image in the mirror with some gusto whilst the other and their yellow lil' friend went about preening themselves on the rusty barbed wire. 

I suppose the convex mirror aggravated the tailorbird with the competitor appearing to fly up to meet the protagonist defender each time with the 'thud' adding to the reality of the perceived threat so as to enrage an already excited tailor. Ironical, a self-'tailor'ed conundrum.
ashy tailorbird mirrored @ woodlands waterfront - Aug2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.
Read more about the ashy tailorbirds :




Sunday, August 5, 2012

mangrove pit viper @ lim chu kang - 04Aug2012

This little critter was found late into the pre-National Day Lim Chu Kang cleanup and of all places, right outside a staging point on the beach and before the mangrove proper. At the start of the cleanup, seeing some of the Cleanup volunteers heading into the mangrove behind the beach, I took the oppurtunity to tell them about keeping a good lookout for snakes especially the mangrove or shore pit viper. (I had read that there were pit vipers in the Lim Chu Kang mangroves though i had never seen one myself despite quite a few trips into this mangrove.)

It was only much later when the group was preparing to remove the collected trash that someone spotted the dark maroon snake coiled around a low branch on a small tree on the beach right near to where the supplies (trash bags, gloves etc.) had been kept.

Once its existence was known, the cleanup volunteers were informed to keep their distance from the tree so as not to invite an unfortunate defensive bite from the snake. The tiny snake, which could have been about 25cm long, hardly moved at all and I think it thought it was doing a good job blending in with the tree and minding its own business.

Best to let sleeping snakes lie and keep a respectful distance.

mangrove pit viper @ lim chu kang - 04Aug2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read more about the cleanup :
The 37 volunteers cleared 83 trash bags containing 669kg of trash (not including bulky items which were not weighed).
http://coastalcleanup.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/pre-national-day-coastal-cleanup-2012/
http://www.purplemangrove.blogspot.sg/2012/08/iccs-pre-national-day-coastal-cleanup.html (in mandarin)

Read more about this snake :