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

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. 

mama snakehead & kids @ kent ridge - Aug2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

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 :

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

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/freshfish/text/234.htm

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/fishes/giant-snakehead.htm

lineated barbet @ kent ridge - Aug2012

At first i thought this was another pink-necked green pigeon in branches above me. However, the yellowish ring around the eye, the pale orange bill and the striations on the chest region told me it was something else.

This is a Lineated Barbet. Thought to have been an introduced species (in the late 1960s) due to the captive bird trade.

lineated barbet @ kent ridge - Aug2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Find out more about this bird here :

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

http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2009/2009nis39-45.pdf

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=759

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/lineated-barbet-megalaima-lineata

http://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/Online%20Extras/Photo%20of%20the%20Week/Photos/2012/03/Lineated%20Barbet.aspx

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Megalaima-lineata

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/04/28/lineated-barbet-feeding-chick/

http://www.besgroup.org/2010/03/30/lineated-barbet-feeding-on-fishtail-palm-fruits/

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.

zeaglerefishing from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

A fabulous show as usual. Just gotta wait for it.

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."

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 :

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Orthotomus_ruficeps.htm
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/tailorbirds.htm
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/2119.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashy_Tailorbird
http://www.besgroup.org/2008/08/17/family-of-tailorbirds/
http://www.besgroup.org/2011/03/31/call-of-the-ashy-tailorbird/
http://www.besgroup.org/2011/07/19/ashy-tailorbirds-%E2%80%93-duet-sparring-and-sonograms/
http://www.besgroup.org/2007/09/16/a-family-of-common-tailorbirds/
http://www.besgroup.org/2007/05/25/common-tailorbird-a-failed-nesting/