This juvenile WBSE appeared out of nowhere in the sky above at Eagle Point, SBWR and quickly drew the keen attention of the few visitors at the lookout point. It swooped down towards a dead fish (probably a milkfish which is one of the types of fish farmed at the nearby offshore 'fishfarms') floating at the water surface which it skilfully picked up with incredible precision. It soon flew off into the fringing coastal mangrove forest. What a wonderful sight!
(no audio - footage shot at 120fps)
Juvenile White-Bellied Sea Eagle Fishing @ SBWR Eagle Point - 2 Oct 2016 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Sunday, February 14, 2016
pacific reef egrets @ cyrene reef - 09Feb2016
Cyrene Reef never ceases to amaze. Made up of three submerged reefs, one can only walk on it during particularly low tides. It lies surrounded by shipping lanes in and out of the port at the south-western edge of Singapore. Despite the busy shipping and petrochemical plants surrounding it, Cyrene Reef hosts an amazing range of marine life. With the low tides, the exposed reef and its temporary shallow pools become a feeding ground for wading and shorebirds.
These reef egrets were already on the exposed bit of the reef before we got off our boat and into the dinghy. Both the white and dark morph reef egrets were present and busy darting about looking for food. The dark morphs had smoky dark grey feathers, a white throat and a yellow bill. Both morphs were actively hunting for food in the shallows and they were very good at finding food ranging from tiny crabs, prawns and even fish.
white morph pacific reef egret @ cyrene reef - 09Feb2016 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.
One peculiar thing both morphs did was to partially open up their wings as if to air their underwings as they were approaching their prey. Perhaps this helped to create a shadow to encourage prey to come out from hiding. Or maybe it helps with maintaining balance during active pursuits.
dark morph pacific reef egret @ cyrene reef - 09Feb2016 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.
There were a total of 9 egrets seen that afternoon and 3 of them were dark morphs. The remaining 6 were white morphs.
Some links about the pacific reef egret :-
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22696980
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_reef_heron
http://www.arkive.org/pacific-reef-egret/egretta-sacra/
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-pacific-eastern-reef-egret.html
http://www.besgroup.org/2011/08/17/pacific-reef-egrets-%E2%80%93-fishing-in-pulau-tioman-malaysia/
http://orientalbirdclub.org/chinese-egret/
http://npss.org.sg/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=855
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/herons-small.htm
More about Cyrene Reef :
http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/cyrene.htm
http://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/dna/places/details/55
http://cyrenereef.blogspot.sg/
http://teamseagrass.blogspot.sg/search/label/cyrene#.VsCWNpN95E4
Thursday, February 11, 2016
whimlews @ Semakau South - 08Feb2016
I was expecting to see some waders within the mangrove inlet at Semakau South but there was only 1 common redshank and 1 whimlew (that is what you get when you cannot tell a whimbrel from a eurasian or far eastern curlew).
I had initially thought this was a curlew due to the length of its decurved bill. However, it has the distinctive dark crown stripes on top of its head which seems to be indicative of a whimbrel. There also seemed to be a dark eye stripe which whimbrels usually have.
It was all alone within the mangrove inlet walking along the sandbank during the low tide. It soon got dive bombed by a collared kingfisher and it took off flying behind a group of mangrove trees but it soon reappeared to land further along the outgoing stream. I was thinking that it was possible that this was the same curlew i had seen a week earlier on 24Jan2016 at the Northern Semakau shore. (Now, I'm not sure whether that earlier ID was correct if this was indeed the same bird). The bird soon flew off and disappeared beyond the coastal forest.
I had initially thought this was a curlew due to the length of its decurved bill. However, it has the distinctive dark crown stripes on top of its head which seems to be indicative of a whimbrel. There also seemed to be a dark eye stripe which whimbrels usually have.
It was all alone within the mangrove inlet walking along the sandbank during the low tide. It soon got dive bombed by a collared kingfisher and it took off flying behind a group of mangrove trees but it soon reappeared to land further along the outgoing stream. I was thinking that it was possible that this was the same curlew i had seen a week earlier on 24Jan2016 at the Northern Semakau shore. (Now, I'm not sure whether that earlier ID was correct if this was indeed the same bird). The bird soon flew off and disappeared beyond the coastal forest.
I thought that it would be the last whimlew i would see that afternoon but i soon spotted two more out on the intertidal sandy mudflats. These two kept somewhat close to each other as they moved along the shallow pools looking for crabs and shrimp. So are these eurasian curlews or whimbrels?
a pair of 'whimlews' @ semakau south - 08Feb2016 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.
Here are some links to help you sort out or confuse you further in the quest to tell the curlews apart from the whimbrels :-
Here are some weblinks which try to distinguish between the two birds :
http://www.planetofbirds.com/the-slender-billed-curlew-last-seen-in-the-previous-century
http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-curlew-and-whimbrel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt8ZK8fI3W8
https://photographyandbirds.wordpress.com/identifying-waders/
http://hubpages.com/animals/whimbrelvscurlew
http://www.nemesisbird.com/birding/bird-sightings/whimbrel-and-long-billed-curlew-comparison-cibola-nwr-az/
http://singaporebirds.blogspot.sg/2012/06/sandpipers-and-allies.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/sep/18/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOXpHnZIq8o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_curlewhttp://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-eurasian-curlew.htmlhttp://eol.org/pages/1049389/detailshttp://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693190http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Curlew.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whimbrelhttp://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-whimbrel.htmlhttp://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693178http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Whimbrel.html
Here are some weblinks which try to distinguish between the two birds :
http://www.planetofbirds.com/the-slender-billed-curlew-last-seen-in-the-previous-century
http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-curlew-and-whimbrel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt8ZK8fI3W8
https://photographyandbirds.wordpress.com/identifying-waders/
http://hubpages.com/animals/whimbrelvscurlew
http://www.nemesisbird.com/birding/bird-sightings/whimbrel-and-long-billed-curlew-comparison-cibola-nwr-az/
http://singaporebirds.blogspot.sg/2012/06/sandpipers-and-allies.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/sep/18/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOXpHnZIq8o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_curlewhttp://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-eurasian-curlew.htmlhttp://eol.org/pages/1049389/detailshttp://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693190http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Curlew.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whimbrelhttp://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-whimbrel.htmlhttp://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693178http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Whimbrel.html
And a recent earlier clip showing a eurasian curlew amongst a bunch of whimbrels at the SBWR :
Monday, February 8, 2016
wintering grey plovers @ Semakau South - 08Feb2016
The receding afternoon tide exposed quite a fair bit of the long sandy Southern Intertidal mudflat shore at Pulau Semakau. The resident grey herons were out at various puddles picking out small fish which were soon to be trapped as the water drained away from the intertidal zone.
There were also four smaller birds walking about on the exposed sandy mudflats. These were a little difficult to identify as they did not fit within the list of usual resident birds. The birds were of the plover family and were light grey with a pale underbelly. They had longish legs and a distinct stocky bill.
They were obviously not one of the smaller plovers. When one of the birds took flight, the black ancillaries (the area below the wings closest to the body - the equivalent of our armpits) could be seen clearly. The bird also showed a white uppertail covert with some faint markings at the fringe.
A check with some good friends confirmed that these were grey plovers which are winter visitors to Singapore and are seen on the quieter shores around mainland Singapore.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
lone whimlew @ Semakau North - 24Jan2016
It was a very windy day and there were 4 grey herons, a great-billed heron, one common sandpiper, two white-bellied sea eagles and a brahminy kite at the shore at Pulau Semakau facing Pulau Bukom. However, there was also another visitor...with a long downward curled bill. This was too long for a whimbrel or was it not?
This bird seemed to have a longer bill than what a whimbrel would have. However, this BTO clip mentions that the bill length itself is not a good feature to base an ID on as the 'bill length in both species varies with sex and age'.
It also looked bigger than a whimbrel although it was difficult to give the bird a proper sense of scale as there were no other whimbrels (or other birds) near it on the shore. Some parts of the clip show it to have a rather long neck....longer than what i think a whimbrel would normally have. Its head however had the dark crown stripes which Whimbrels have on top of their heads and also a dark eye stripe. These are more indicative that the bird was a Whimbrel.
Sadly, i was not able to listen to the calls made by this bird as it was quiet during the period of observation.
It also looked bigger than a whimbrel although it was difficult to give the bird a proper sense of scale as there were no other whimbrels (or other birds) near it on the shore. Some parts of the clip show it to have a rather long neck....longer than what i think a whimbrel would normally have. Its head however had the dark crown stripes which Whimbrels have on top of their heads and also a dark eye stripe. These are more indicative that the bird was a Whimbrel.
Sadly, i was not able to listen to the calls made by this bird as it was quiet during the period of observation.
I'll just call it a "whimlew" until i can get a confirmation from a more experienced birder.
Update 1 : the weight of initial opinion was that this bird is an eurasian curlew. However, some others have commented that this was a whimbrel.
Update 2 : after more consideration, due to the prescence of the dark crown stripes on its head, this bird should be a whimbrel.
Update 2 : after more consideration, due to the prescence of the dark crown stripes on its head, this bird should be a whimbrel.
Here are some weblinks which try to distinguish between the two birds :
http://www.planetofbirds.com/the-slender-billed-curlew-last-seen-in-the-previous-century
http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-curlew-and-whimbrel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt8ZK8fI3W8
https://photographyandbirds.wordpress.com/identifying-waders/
http://hubpages.com/animals/whimbrelvscurlew
http://www.nemesisbird.com/birding/bird-sightings/whimbrel-and-long-billed-curlew-comparison-cibola-nwr-az/
http://singaporebirds.blogspot.sg/2012/06/sandpipers-and-allies.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/sep/18/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOXpHnZIq8o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_curlew
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-eurasian-curlew.html
http://eol.org/pages/1049389/details
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693190
http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Curlew.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whimbrel
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-whimbrel.html
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693178
http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Whimbrel.html
http://www.planetofbirds.com/the-slender-billed-curlew-last-seen-in-the-previous-century
http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-curlew-and-whimbrel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt8ZK8fI3W8
https://photographyandbirds.wordpress.com/identifying-waders/
http://hubpages.com/animals/whimbrelvscurlew
http://www.nemesisbird.com/birding/bird-sightings/whimbrel-and-long-billed-curlew-comparison-cibola-nwr-az/
http://singaporebirds.blogspot.sg/2012/06/sandpipers-and-allies.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/sep/18/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOXpHnZIq8o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_curlew
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-eurasian-curlew.html
http://eol.org/pages/1049389/details
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693190
http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Curlew.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whimbrel
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-whimbrel.html
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693178
http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Whimbrel.html
And a recent earlier clip showing a eurasian curlew amongst a bunch of whimbrels at the SBWR :
Saturday, January 23, 2016
grey-headed fish eagles @ SBWR - 23Jan2016
The sight of a large raptor flying to rest in a nearby tree at the carpark of the Sungei Buloh Wetlands Extension was a pleasant surprise. But it was followed by another which came to rest very close to where the first one was perched.
The initial thought was that these were both the ubiquitous brahminy kites but a sneak of white showed at the tail and this piqued my interest more. Walking slowly towards the more visible bird, it was soon clear that it was a grey-headed fish eagle. The frontal lower legs of the other bird was also visible and it was then clear that both were adult grey-headed fish eagles.
Both stood firm despite the strong winds. Lets hope they are able to find a suitable tree nearby to nest in. This is a cause for concern as there has been much clearing of the tall albizias in adjacent areas.
grey-headed fish eagles @ SBWR - 23Jan2016 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.
The initial thought was that these were both the ubiquitous brahminy kites but a sneak of white showed at the tail and this piqued my interest more. Walking slowly towards the more visible bird, it was soon clear that it was a grey-headed fish eagle. The frontal lower legs of the other bird was also visible and it was then clear that both were adult grey-headed fish eagles.
Both stood firm despite the strong winds. Lets hope they are able to find a suitable tree nearby to nest in. This is a cause for concern as there has been much clearing of the tall albizias in adjacent areas.
grey-headed fish eagles @ SBWR - 23Jan2016 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.
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