kingfishers & herons @ seletar - Jan2013

How many birds can you spot in this clip? 

kingfishers & herons @ seletar - Jan2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

There are a total of four. Two kingfishers and two herons.

From left to right, there is the White-Throated Kingfisher, then the Little Heron(?), followed by a Common Kingfisher and lastly, the Pond Heron in the shadows below the fallen branch. Fabulous!

Find out more about the birds here :

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

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Alcedinidae.htm

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/river-kingfishers.htm

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/tree-kingfishers.htm

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Alcedo_atthis.htm

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Halcyon_smyrnensis.htm

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Butorides_striatus.htm

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