grey-headed fish eagle @ sg buloh - 29July2012

It was just after 6 pm when most of the weekend's visitors to the reserve had already left. The hornbills were somewhere towards the front of Sungei Buloh Besar and started cackling loudly. I turned towards them to see what i thought was one of them flying towards the main bridge. However, the flying style of this bird was noticeably different from that of a regular oriental-pied hornbill. It was a raptor and I initially thought it was a white-bellied sea eagle (or white-bellied fish eagle as it is also known by). As it got closer, i saw that the head was noticeably grey. This was my first time seeing the grey-headed fish eagle up close. I had a fleeting glance of one on Pulau Ubin some months ago but this one was headed my way and flying rather low. I lost track of it when it was just past overhead and it flew into some trees. A quick reposition on the bridge showed it atop a tree looking around. It was there for about a minute before flying off towards the pond on the left of the main hide. Hope it finds a favourite tree at Sungei Buloh to take up residence!

Global status : near threatened

grey-headed fish eagle @ sg buloh - 29July2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read more about this rarely seen eagle :
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3368
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey-headed_Fish_Eagle
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/106003368/0

http://www.arkive.org/grey-headed-fish-eagle/ichthyophaga-ichthyaetus/

http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-grey-headed-fish-eagle.html

http://iyb2010singapore.blogspot.sg/2011/01/study-on-endangered-raptors-in.html

http://www.npss.org.sg/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2954

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/01/11/calls-of-the-grey-headed-fish-eagle/

http://bukitbrown.com/main/?p=3322

http://www.mangoverde.com/birdsound/spec/spec30-43.html

http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdimages.php?action=birdspecies&Bird_ID=869

http://singaporebirds.net/npassers_04/npassers_04.html

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Icthyophaga-ichthyaetus

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/648820/majestic_greyheaded_fish_eagle_goes_hunting_at_little_guilin.html

WBSE fished II @ marina bay - July2012

I was lucky to spot this adult white-bellied sea eagle fly into the bay area in a graceful glide.  It suddenly changed direction and dropped into a steep dive swooping to the water surface to catch something. My guess is that a small fish was caught. The catch was not visible as the eagle's feet grasped it totally. The bird went into an upward spiral to gain height before flying off towards its favourite perch atop a nearby building. After it caught the fish, it turned its head to look at the catch in its feet ...  as if to check what it had caught. (background audio from the parade rehearsal nearby).

WBSE fished II @ marina bay - July2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Thursday 19July2012, Time : about 6.20pm

WBSE fished @ marina bay - July2012

Was by the bay area in the evening looking out for the area's resident white-bellied sea eagles going about catching their dinner. The rehearsals for the National Day parade were going on nearby. One adult WBSE showed itself in the sky to the left of the floating platform where the rehearsals were being conducted. The background audio you hear in the clip is from the rehearsal. I guess the WBSE was not too inconvenienced by the audio and started swooping down. It went behind the structures on the platform and I lost sight of it for a bit. However, a few seconds later, it appeared with a large fish in its talons flying low just above the water. It took a beeline towards the Padang area instead of flying in a tight upward spiral. I later spotted it's silhouette far away atop its usual perch on a building beyond the Padang.

WBSE fished @ marina bay - July2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Friday 20July2012, Time : about 6.00pm

juvenile WBSE @ marina bay - July2012

Heard from a friend (SSeo) that she had seen 3 eagles flying over the Marina Bay area last Friday evening. I had known that there were two adult white-bellied sea eagles resident in the area and which fished in the Marina Bay reservoir area. I had also seen Brahminy kites in the area (and also been fooled by eagle kites flown at Marina South. I had however, not seen a third eagle in the area.

This evening started with sighting the 2 resident adult WBSEs flying in the skies above the Padang / Adelphi / Funan area at about 6.30pm. These soon settled atop the nearby High Street Centre building to watch the sunset...something which they regularly do.

A short while later, a lone raptor was spotted flying above the reservoir area. It kept gliding lower and lower in tighter circles and then dropped towards the surface in a graceful dip before grabbing a fish. It then started flying in an upward spiral to gain height. The undersides of the large wings showed a distinct pale colouration. Its tail region also showed a patch of white. These indicate that the bird was a juvenile white-bellied sea eagle. It will eventually take the distinctive colouration of the adults which have a clear white head, belly, tail and the underside of wings. 

This bird flew off with its catch towards the direction of Fort Canning after reaching a suitable gliding height.

zjuvenileWBSE from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

bats @ the merlion - July 2012

bats @ the merlion - July 2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

The end of the Esplanade Bridge at One Fullerton had its own evening aerial show with numerous bats flying about the trees at the behind the mythical 'merlion' site.

The bats were flying about the fruiting ornamental palm trees which had bright red fruits ripe for the picking. Anyone know what kind of palm trees these are? The bats are probably fruit bats which seem to be rather common around the Fort Canning Hill park area.

Read more about the bats here :
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/mammals/brachyotis.htm
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/2121.htm
http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/bats/lesser_dog-faced_fruit-bat.htm

preening eagle @ berlayar creek - July 2012

Whilst its partner had flown off to a nearby perch and started its morning calls, this white bellied sea eagle was busy preening itself. It reached back with its beak and pulled out a long feather before transferring it to its foot stepping on it. The eagle seemed to pull on the feather with its beak before discarding it and continued preening itself. It then pulled out (not in video clip) another long feather and transferred it to his feet, before discarding it as well.  Shortly after, it flew off across the former BP field towards Labrador Hill. 

It flew low to the treetops and seemed to grab at some leaves from the top of a tree before flying to another tree nearby grabbing at some more leaves. It then made a u-turn heading for another tree on the hill and grabbed a talon-full of leaves which it promptly discarded before disappearing beyond the hill.  Perhaps it was trying to clear its feet of something stuck in it and that 's why it flew to the tree tops to see it if could clear whatever it was being bothered with. 

zpreeningeagle from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

time : about 7.15 am

salt licking mangrove squirrel @ berlayar creek - July 2012

Was out at Berlayar Creek early to catch the eagles waking up and was distracted by a rustling in the tree behind me. It was Mr. Plantain Squirrel out for his morning's ... minerals? I as surprised to see it licking the leaves of the mangrove tree. It seemed to be interested mainly in the underside of the  leaves and also the surface of the bark of a branch. It held the leaves between its hands and licked it like a child doing his favourite ice-cream flavour justice. Occasionally, it plucked off a leaf from a branch and licked it before discarding it.

Mangrove trees are able to live in salt water due to their ability to excrete salt from their leaves (and possibly woody branches as well going by what the squirrel in this video clip did towards the end). This allows the mangrove trees to regulate the salt content within their vascular system.

Time : 0715am

salt licking mangrove squirrel @ berlayar creek - July 2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

hammering laced woodpecker @ bidadari - June 2012

The soon-to-be-deforested forest resounded with the distinctive repetitious hammering of a tree trunk. It did not take too long to figure out which tree was being hammered but the hammerer flew off as I came around the tree. It came back after about 15 minutes to the same spot. It was a male laced woodpecker. The hammering took place at intervals of about a minute and lasted each time for just about 2 seconds. The woodpecker would wait about a minute to resume its 2 seconds of hammering.

hammering laced woodpecker @ bidadari - June 2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

It flew off after a while but the hammering was heard again after the camera left.

Find out more about this resident woodpecker :

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=726

http://singaporebirds.net/npassers_01/laced_woodpecker.html

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

http://www.besgroup.org/2012/06/28/laced-woodpecker-and-durians/

http://www.besgroup.org/2012/03/26/laced-woodpecker-foraging-on-the-ground/

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/05/16/ground-pecking-laced-woodpecker/

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

https://vimeo.com/36165497

http://mygreenspace.nparks.gov.sg/a-most-odd-tree-doctor/

fishing great-billed heron @ chek jawa - June 2012

fishing great-billed heron @ chek jawa - june 2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

A great-billed heron was out fishing in the shallows during the low tide at the edge of the seagrass meadow. After a couple of misses, if finally managed to catch a rather large elongated fish which was longer than the length of its bill. It took a few minutes to swallow the fish and it almost seemed that it was not going to be able to do so. The bird occasionally lowered its fish filled bill into the shallow water as if it was using gravity to slightly re-adjust the position of the fish as well as the the surface of the muddy ground below to make sure the fish would not fall out of its bill. It managed a final upward swing of its bill and swallowed the fish into its throat. (This part was missed during the video capture). The whole process from capture to swallow took about 1min 45 sec.

Read more about this threatened bird : 

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2011/07/rip-great-billed-heron-sbwr.html

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/great-billed-heron-ardea-sumatrana

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3724

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/herons-large.htm

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/birds/shorebirds.htm

http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2010/12/bird-poop-helps-heal-seagrass-damage.html - how bird poop helps seagrass meadows

http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/docs/redbook/aaaArdea-sumatrana1aaa.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great-billed_Heron

http://www.besgroup.org/2009/01/23/great-billed-heron-catching-an-eel-catfish/

http://besgroup.blogspot.com/2006/12/great-billed-heron-poaching.html - poaching!!

http://besgroup.blogspot.com/2006/10/hunting-techniques-of-great-billed_16.html