vimeomontage

Sunday, January 1, 2012

white-bellied sea eagle forest @ pasir ris - 01Jan2012


A short write-up on a section of forest at Pasir Ris near Elias Road which houses at least 3 WBSE nests which are visited by 3 pairs of eagles (my assumption). No eagle chicks seen in any of the nests yet.

I would not normally post locations of birds nests but these are high and far away enough to be out of reach of 'flashy' or otherwise destructive photographers/enthusiasts.



I had known, through a friend, of one white-bellied sea eagle nest (with a pair of eagles in residence) near the edge of the forest near Paris Ris Heights. The nest (#1) is visible from Elias Road.

(click on the pics for a bigger pic)
Here is Mr Ng who had also known of the nest and who dropped by on his bino-equipped scooter last weekend to have a look at the nest from Elias Road. The nest is high up the tree in the middle of the photo.
a closeup of nest #1


here is a clip shot the week before of an eagle at nest #1.

a short clip of a nest #1 eagle in the nest looking around before flying off
I did not know that eagles are able to twist their heads 180 degrees. I had thought that only owls were capable of that. You can see this in the clip before the bird flies off.
(shot on 02Jan2012@7.13pm)


and a short clip of an eagle from nest #1 resting on a branch above the nest
(shot on 02Jan2012@7.15pm)
[possibly the same eagle as in the preceding clip]


However, the eagles were elusive in that they would refuse to visit the nest if anyone was close by i.e. if one tried to walk up the adjacent hillock. I decided against that approach and since I had seen the eagles flying in the skies above the neighbourhood and above the tree-tops, I thought that a nearby HDB block would give a good view of the birds in flight.
The 13th floor of Block 626 does present a spectacular view of the forest adjacent to Pasir Ris Farmway 1 although nest #1 itself was obscured by foliage.

What I did not realise was that it was not only a great vantage spot to various birds flying in and out of the forest. but that it enabled one to spot other large nests in the upper layer of the trees. There were two nests clearly visible from the 13th floor. One was a very large nest (#2) which was partially obscured surrounded by leafy branches.

The other nest (#3) was much further away and it was in the fork of a tree with an unobstructed view.

Both nests were empty when i first spotted them. Nest #2 was much bigger than nest #3 and it was probably a lot older having been reused over many years.

However, the green of the treetops was soon interrupted by a pair of large black and white wings returning to nest #2. Shortly thereafter, another pair of wings joined the first at nest #2. Both eagles stayed in the nest for a couple of minutes before one flew off into the foliage of the trees nearby. Then the other followed suit but with what looked like the remains of a longish fish in its beak. They disappeared into the foliage below the nest. However, i could hear the unmistakeable squawking of the eagles and shifted my viewpoint towards the left end of the corridor. I was just in time to see one eagle mount the other eagle on a branch somewhere below the nest. It took just a few seconds and then the male (presumably) eagle took its position beside the other eagle (presumably female).
The pic shows the two eagles ex-post facto with the male on the right partially hidden by the tree with the female looking at him.

Here is a short clip of the two lovebirds


Nest #3 had been empty all this time but one (i'm assuming there is a pair) of it's resident eagles had flown in and was busy pecking (eating) at something and occasionally looking around.

Here is a short vidclip of the eagle at nest #3.
It was surprising to know that the 3 nests were all within about 150m to 300m of each other. This patch of forest was able to support the nest building and maintenance of 3 nests by the 3 pairs of eagles (although i have not seen the other eagle at nest #3).

I hope there are no plans to develop any part of the forest. Let's hope the forest is left alone as it has for the past 18 years at least. That what a resident said as she moved in 18 years ago and the trees were all much much shorter providing her with an actual sea view whereas now, most of the seaview has become blocked by the taller trees which the eagles seem to prefer.

An adjacent forested plot of land across Elias Road has been earmarked for sale by HDB and there is a large billboard highlighting the pending sale for condominium development.


a short video pan of the eagle forest from left to right.
The leftmost part of the forest is on Mindef 'shoot-you-on-sight-red-billboard' land. However, the rightmost part bordering Elias Road is not.

I suppose living in a land-starved country poses greatly conflicting land-use issues and a balance is sometimes impossible to manage. Pity the white-bellied sea eagles are not rare birds but rather common. Indeed they are seen as pests around Changi Airport due to their large size and the potential impact on jet engines and airline safety.
Forest habitat loss will probably push them from mainland Singapore eventually except for already threatened pockets around the Central Catchment areas and other minor forested areas.

Last Chance to See and appreciate the Eagle Forest!

Showtimes : from a brief observation over a couple of days, flight usually is prevalent in the mornings with the birds flying in and out until about 1pm. Thereafter its siesta time until about 5.30pm whereupon its flight time again until about 7pm when they seem to perch on nearby trees for the night. These birds have been seen coasting the Pasir Ris coast and flying between Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin sometimes in pairs.



Posted by
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)