Whimbrels flying from Eagle Point towards Sungei Danga/Sungei Sekudai - 12Nov2016

A flock of about 35 whimbrels flying off from Eagle Point (Singapore) across the Straits of Johor (Malaysia) towards Sungei Danga/Sekudai in Johor. The incoming tide chased the birds off for the evening. Eagle Point (part of the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve) is at the western edge of the Mandai mudflats which is a rich coastal mudflat area which the shorebirds feed at during the lower tides. As the incoming tide rises, the shorebirds fly off to roost at either the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve nearby or across the Straits of Johor towards the Sungei Danga/Sekudai mangroves. Time : 6.36pm Tide : 0.9m @ 3.30pm, 2.9m @ 9.30pm The clip was shot at 96fps and played back at 24fps. Certain sections were sped up (especially where the focus starts to suffer and the birds are far away enough to start merging into the background.)

Whimbrel Flock flying towards Sungei Sekudai - 12Nov2016 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

The red lines show some of the routes taken by various groups of shorebirds to and from the Mandai mudflats from roosting sites at SBWR and the Danga-Sekudai rivers. There may be other roosting areas (eg. Sungai Melayu) closeby too. (Music : Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major : Op 60 IV. : Allegro ma non troppo)