whimlews @ Semakau South - 08Feb2016

I was expecting to see some waders within the mangrove inlet at Semakau South but there was only 1 common redshank and 1 whimlew (that is what you get when you cannot tell a whimbrel from a eurasian or far eastern curlew). 

I had initially thought this was a curlew due to the length of its decurved bill. However, it has the distinctive dark crown stripes on top of its head which seems to be indicative of a whimbrel. There also seemed to be a dark eye stripe which whimbrels usually have.  

It was all alone within the mangrove inlet walking along the sandbank during the low tide. It soon got dive bombed by a collared kingfisher and it took off flying behind a group of mangrove trees but it soon reappeared to land further along the outgoing stream. I was thinking that it was possible that this was the same curlew i had seen a week earlier on 24Jan2016 at the Northern Semakau shore. (Now, I'm not sure whether that earlier ID was correct if this was indeed the same bird). The bird soon flew off and disappeared beyond the coastal forest.

lone 'whimlew' @ semakau south - 08Feb2016 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

I thought that it would be the last whimlew i would see that afternoon but i soon spotted two more out on the intertidal sandy mudflats. These two kept somewhat close to each other as they moved along the shallow pools looking for crabs and shrimp. So are these eurasian curlews or whimbrels?

a pair of 'whimlews' @ semakau south - 08Feb2016 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Here are some links to help you sort out or confuse you further in the quest to tell the curlews apart from the whimbrels :-
Here are some weblinks which try to distinguish between the two birds :
http://www.planetofbirds.com/the-slender-billed-curlew-last-seen-in-the-previous-century
http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-curlew-and-whimbrel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt8ZK8fI3W8
https://photographyandbirds.wordpress.com/identifying-waders/
http://hubpages.com/animals/whimbrelvscurlew
http://www.nemesisbird.com/birding/bird-sightings/whimbrel-and-long-billed-curlew-comparison-cibola-nwr-az/
http://singaporebirds.blogspot.sg/2012/06/sandpipers-and-allies.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/sep/18/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOXpHnZIq8o


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_curlewhttp://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-eurasian-curlew.htmlhttp://eol.org/pages/1049389/detailshttp://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693190http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Curlew.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whimbrelhttp://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-whimbrel.htmlhttp://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693178http://www.birdfieldguide.co.uk/Whimbrel.html

And a recent earlier clip showing a eurasian curlew amongst a bunch of whimbrels at the SBWR :

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2015/09/eurasian-curlew-swallows-stone-sbwr.html

More about SBWR :
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/sbwr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungei_Buloh_Wetland_Reserve

And Pulau Semakau :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulau_Semakau
http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/semakau.htm