vimeomontage

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

changeable hawk eagles @ tanah merah - Nov2012

Tanah Merah seems to be a good spot (for now) to see Changeable Hawk Eagles. This species comes in two main morphs...pale or dark (and quite a few variations in between depending on the stage of maturity of the bird). The clip shows three different birds.
The first is seated on a Casuarina branch silhouetted by the morning sun. It was observed for about 5 minutes before it took flight calling whilst it flew off.
The second was seated on another tree looking around whilst highlighted by the morning sun. This one had a rich brown colour and the distinctive yellow feet can be clearly seen.
The third hawk eagle was a juvenile pale morph. This one had a white head and a pale coloured body with dark grey wings. It also had a small black crest atop its head. When it was first noticed, it was wagging its tail from side to side. Facing away from its observers, it was quite content until a motorbiker came by. Unfortunately, the noise from the bike set the bird off and it took off deeper into the nearby forest.


Habitat loss continues to be a problem for these shy birds which seem to prefer more quiet and non-habited areas.

Find out more about these rarely seen Singapore resident birds here :



Monday, November 26, 2012

raptors @ tanah merah - Nov2012

Came across these two raptors flying about amongst the Casuarina trees. It looked as it their talons were locked as they stumbled through the foliage. One bird managed to regain its balance on a thin branch whilst the other hung below it. It took a few seconds of struggling before the bird below managed to break free and the chase resumed.  ID is going to be a bit difficult as there was no clear oppurtunity. I'm guessing they were sparrowhawks. 


Thursday, November 15, 2012

rain, seagrass, a driftnet, 101 BBQ mesh squares and seacils @ labrador- 14Nov2012

Was out at Labrador Nature Reserve's intertidal zone for a bit of seagrassing with Team Seagrass on Nov 14 taking advantage of the low afternoon tide. The storm front quickly blew in from the West shutting out the warmth of the sun. Having started the random sampling, the lightning followed too soon after by rumbling thunder put a quick end to the ambitious start.

Taking refuge from the deluge below the overhead shelter, what became obvious was the flotsam which had accumulated below the walkway. There was quite an amount of styrofoam and plastic bottles. Strangely, there was an accumulation of BBQ wire mesh in a few neat stacks close to the start of the overhead walkway. Someone had stacked up about 20 wire mesh squares in two main piles below the walkway. These were well browned from the rust but there were some silvered ones as well. 



When the rain subsided, I found a few more mesh squares on the beach as I walked down to the seagrass patches.



There were quite a few squares on the rocky shore as well...


 Some of the squares were partially buried under the sand.
 I eventually came to find higher concentrations of mesh squares scattered near the base of the seawall fronting the promenade facing the jetty.



 Eventually, a total of 101 BBQ mesh squares of various sizes were removed from the shore.
It looks like someone has thrown over the mesh squares either at one go or over a few successive days. ..or perhaps over an extended period of time. There were a few squares partially buried through which Ovalis seagrass had grown. These would have been there at least a couple of weeks. Most were well rusted but some where shiny and had not been used before. The shiny ones were perhaps recently discarded... perhaps the day before or that very morning itself. There had been a public holiday the day before on Nov 13.

Perhaps there was a troll lolling around at Labrador which specializes in throwing BBQ mesh squares from the promenade?

... and then I spotted something else in the water... A triangular pipe section which was connected by a rope to another triangular pipe section. This was presumably part of the seacil project from some 5 years ago. Looks like parts are still being regurgitated from the deeper part of the reef just off the shore where the seacils were laid down.


As if the wire mesh and the seacils were not enough,... on the other side of the jetty, there was a driftnet which was about 50m long which had been laid across about 25m from the shore.

 This was already badly entangled around coral fragments and sargassum and there were a total of 6 spider conch snails and 1 red egg crab caught up in the net.

Luckily, these were still alive but it took some careful cutting (against a darkening evening sky and a rising tide) with a pair of scissors before they could be released.

We really need to take better care of our nature reserves :(
There should be a better enforcement practice to better protect our gazetted nature reserves. We have so few of these areas. We simply cannot afford to let apathy run riot in the reserves.

Read more about the day's toil :
http://teamseagrass.blogspot.sg/2012/11/labrador-14-nov-2012.html
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2012/11/surprises-on-labrador.html
http://projectdriftnet.blogspot.sg/2012/11/50m-net-abandoned-on-labrador-14-nov.html
http://peiyansama.blogspot.sg/2012/11/great-surprises-on-my-first-seagrass.html




Tuesday, November 13, 2012

osprey @ SBWR - Nov2012

Spotted a large bird sitting atop a dead tree at the edge of Sungei Buloh Besar.  This one had a characteristic dark eye band and I knew it to be an Osprey. Ospreys are migratory and this one was probably visiting during the Northern winter.

The osprey just sat on the branch preening itself for about 30 minutes before I gave up and moved on. 
Read more about the Osprey : 




nesting grey headed fish eagle II @ neo tiew - Nov2012

Went out early to see if I could spot the two GHFEs in the nest but I guess 0800 was a bit late for them. Managed to only see 1 bird in the nest and observed it for a few minutes before it flew off. 

Monday, November 12, 2012

nesting grey-headed fish eagle @ neo tiew - Nov2012

Was wishfully looking at a clump of trees along a road hoping to see a nest of some kind when I did see a nest of some kind. It was kind of largish but it seemed incomplete. My guess is that the nest was still being built and was 'under construction'. Despite the pitter patter of the rain and the windy conditions moving the Albizia trunks quite a bit, there was something else with a distinctive shape close to the nest. It was only when I zoomed in that I was able to see the characteristic terminal black band on the white tail.  This was not the commonly seen white-bellied sea eagle but the more rarely seen grey-headed fish eagle. I had only seen this species at the nearby SBWR just a handful of times. From reports by others, it seems that there was a pair of GHFEs in the area. The nest is clear evidence that a pair of eagles had settled into the area.

This particular bird just sat out the rain and was not frazzled by the much larger jet-powered thunder birds roaring closeby. 

Hopefully, the birds do complete building their nest and have chicks soon enough. It's important that locally found species find a foothold wherever they can.

Monday, November 5, 2012

brown-throated sunbird @ chek jawa - Nov2012

A clear chirpy chirp diverted some attention away from the skies (its already the bird migratory season) above the Jejawi Tower towards a nearby coconut tree. It did not take long to spot who was making it. It was a brown-throated sunbird perched high on the tree. It would not have been visible from the ground and those on the Jejawi Tower, at about 20metres off the ground, were at a fabulous vantage point. Tiny as sunbirds usually are, a pair of binoculars would make observation a lot easier. There seemed to be another sunbird somewhere closeby and both were perhaps having a discussion.  

The bird kept on its chirp for about 3 minutes before flying off to another tree in the nearby forest behind the stand of nipah trees. 

When was the last time you were at Chek Jawa?
brown-throated sunbird @ chek jawa - 4Nov2012 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read more about this colourful little bird :




Sunday, November 4, 2012

aerial dogfight @ chek jawa - 4Nov2012

A short clip of a short dogfight over the skies of chek jawa between a white-bellied fish eagle and a grey-headed fish eagle as seen from the Jejawi Tower. The WBSE obviously did not like the prescence of the GHFE and was trying to get rid of it. The WBSE was seen repeatedly flying close to the GHFE harassing it and the GHFE extended its legs ready to use them against the WBSE. There was however no contact seen between the two birds. The two birds eventually flew off behind the forest canopy near the Balai Quarry and the GHFE was not seen in the sky afterwards.

The migratory season has started and the Jejawi Tower at Chek Jawa proved a great vantage point to spot both migratory as well as resident birds in the sky. Amongst those spotted were oriental honey buzzards, changeable hawk eagles, accipiters,white-bellies sea eagles, grey-headed fish eagles, grey herons, sunbirds, swifts, oriental-pied hornbills, black-naped orioles et al.

Besides the birds, other animals seen were the ubiquitous macaques and wild boar.

The coastal forest around Chek Jawa and at that corner of Pulau Ubin is indeed a fabulous vista to take in. A must see for all!
Time : about 10.00am