Spotted movement in the long grass lining the sides of the reservoir near the northern pond. I had never seen this little bird before and it's bright red eye-band was a real eye-catcher. It did not mind my prescence about 2 metres away and kept flying in and out of the long grass. It seemed to be gathering thin grass stems and then flying off to a spot lower down the granite retaining wall. I just needed to wait less than 30 seconds each time it disappeared for the bird to return to two main areas about 5 metres apart. One spot was deep in the midst of a clump of long grass and the other was in the upper half of another clump of long grass about 5 metres away. Undoubtedly, it was gathering nesting material and was somehow undeterred by me being closeby on the adjacent gravel trail.
I had initially thought it was some kind of shrike but could not find any entry in my copy of Craig Robson's Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia. A check with a friend, (GPH), suggested that it was a crimson-rumped waxbill which was not native to not only Singapore but also South-East Asia.
This bird is actually native to Africa and in particular Eastern Africa. How did it get here? Probably through the pet bird trade as it is not known to be a migratory species(?). It may have escaped from its cage or been 'released' into the skies around Singapore.
Read more about this beautiful bird here :
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