rufous woodpeckers @ chek jawa mangroves - Feb2013

February 2013 was a very wet month with some days having intermittent heavy rain from morning till the afternoon. The penultimate level of the Jejawi tower provided some shade from the light rain and also a great vantage point to look over the surrounding mangroves and forest. It's rare to see so much green in Singapore. 

During the brief lulls in the intermittent rain, some of the birds showed themselves. There were the oriental-pied hornbills, straw-headed bulbuls(quite a few), olive-backed bulbuls, magpie robins, black-naped orioles, pink-necked green pigeons, brown-throated sunbirds, crimson sunbirds, a white-bellied sea eagle, and a great-billed heron amongst many other birds.

A red streak flew across the scene and settled on a nearby tree. It was a rufous woodpecker. This was my third time seeing a rufous woodpecker. The first was also on Pulau Ubin although at the Jelutong mangroves which is on the Southern side of Ubin. The second was at the Berlayar mangroves. 

rufous woodpeckers @ chek jawa mangroves - Feb 2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

The bird was soon joined by another rufous woodpecker for a brief moment before the latter flew off to another nearby tree. Rufous woodpeckers are rarely seen resident birds. Habitat loss seems to be the main reason why these birds are not seen more regularly. We need to ensure that our already rare coastal mangroves and forests are conserved.

Read more about this rarely seen woodpecker :

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2013/02/rufous-woodpecker-berlayar-creek-jan2013.html

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2012/09/rufous-woodpecker-ubin-sept2012.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous_Woodpecker

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=691

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/woodpeckers.htm

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/02/15/rufous-woodpecker-and-the-air-conditioning-unit/#more

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Micropternus-brachyurus

rufous woodpecker @ berlayar creek - Jan2013

It was surprising to see a small reddish blur fly past me at the Berlayar mangrove boardwalk. I expected it to disappear into the mangrove trees but it landed on a sea hibiscus tree branch just above the boardwalk. It perched on an elbow and started hammering into the branch with its beak. This was a rare sight.. A Rufous Woodpecker! Although common on the Indian subcontinent, it is rarely seen in Singapore...probably mainly due to the fact that its preferred habitat, mangrove forests or forests close to mangroves, are in short supply in Singapore. Other places where I've seen this rarely seen species are the Chek Jawa mangrove forest and the Ubin Jelutong mangroves. (Both the aforementioned areas are under threat of future development.)

I could not see what it was eating but I assume there were tiny termites or other insects which were below the bark. What was even more interesting was that the woodpecker was using its tongue to extricate what was inside the branch...much like what an anteater does to a termite  mound.

The woodpecker was also using its tail to good use stabilising itself against the branch even whilst upside down. The terminal end of its tail feathers are pointed the tail feathers seem to have a 'v'-shaped cross section. The separate feathers together seem to provide an ideal 'grip' to assist in stabilising the bird in the various positions we see in the clip.

The bird kept up its feeding frenzy for about 10 minutes before it flew off further into the mangrove. I tried to see if there was another bird accompanying the one videoed but did not detect another rufous woodpecker in the vicinity. Rufous woodpeckers like Sunda Pygmy woodpeckers are commonly seen in pairs or small groups.

Read more about this rarely seen woodpecker :

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2013/02/rufous-woodpeckers-chek-jawa-mangroves.html

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2012/09/rufous-woodpecker-ubin-sept2012.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous_Woodpecker

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=691

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/woodpeckers.htm

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/02/15/rufous-woodpecker-and-the-air-conditioning-unit/#more

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Micropternus-brachyurus

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.

rufous woodpecker @ ubin - Sept2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read more about this rarely seen woodpecker :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous_Woodpecker

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=691

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/woodpeckers.htm

http://www.besgroup.org/?s=rufous+woodpecker&x=0&y=0

http://www.doesgodexist.org/NovDec06/TheRufousWoodpecker.html

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Micropternus-brachyurus