sgbeachbum

Sunday, April 29, 2012

wbse chased @ pasir ris - April 2012

White-bellied sea eagles are a common sight over the skies at Pasir Ris. Especially over the forest bordered by Elias Road and Pasir Ris Drive 3 as there are at least 3 nests in this small patch of forest.

Eventhough these eagles are the Singapore's largest resident birds, they are sometimes mobbed by smaller birds keen to keep their air clear of large raptors.

WBSE chased @ pasir ris from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

The clip shows a much smaller bird mobbing a wbse in the sky over Pasir Ris Drive 3.

This is going to be a rare sight once the forest patch is developed. Last chance to see.

The following link is to a poignant article about another patch of forest at Yishun which was cleared some years ago. The Vanishing Forest of Yishun by Melissa Lin.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

WBSE eaglet @ nest 2 @ pasir ris - 22Apr2012

A short clip of the eaglet at nest 2 (opposite Blk 626 Pasir Ris Drive 3).

The adults were nowhere to be seen. They may have been away looking for food. This eaglet did not move very much and stayed rather still in its nest for the most part.

Time : about 3.15pm

Unfortunately for the eagles, this patch now also has its own 'Land for Sale' signboard. Nest 2 is situated in a tall tree just behind the signboard. Last chance to see.

The following link is to a poignant article about another patch of forest at Yishun which was cleared some years ago. The Vanishing Forest of Yishun by Melissa Lin

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

WBSE eaglet @ nest 1 @ pasir ris - 22Apr2012

Was pleasantly surprised to see an unfledged white-bellied sea eagle chick in two of the nests within the coastal forest at Pasir Ris. There was an earlier post about this patch. See this link.

Here is a collection of clips of the nest #1 eaglet :-

One interesting observation was when it raised itself to a higher part of the nest edge and ejected liquid projectile poo from its posterior right out of the nest area. Toilet training from such a young age!

Nest #1's eaglet was rather active. It popped up its head to look around every now and then in addition to stretching its wings. My guess is that this eaglet is about 5 weeks old. (see this link for info about the Bald Eagle)

one of the adult birds kept a close watch on the eaglet... can you spot the adult?

Unfortunately for the eagles, this patch now also has its own 'Land for Sale' signboard.

Seeing that the Tender Submission date is June 2012, I hope that the eaglets would have outgrown the need for the nest in good time before the land is developed further.

It's a 'last chance to see' moment. Bring a good pair of binos though.

The following link is to a poignant article about another patch of forest at Yishun which was cleared some years ago. The Vanishing Forest of Yishun by Melissa Lin

Thursday, March 8, 2012

pitta and bathing waterhen @ pasir ris - feb 2012

At about 7pm, the light level had dropped considerably and the lower light levels below the mangrove canopy made it difficult to capture the busy Mangrove Pitta which was still actively running about its muddy little patch flipping leaves and looking for food. The rest of the photographers had left leaving the air clear of persistent clicks from motor drives.

The pitta suddenly made a beeline deeper into the clump of mangrove trees. I followed it along the boardwalk and managed to get a good angle. The pitta had been distracted by a waterhen which had intruded into its little patch of the mangrove. The waterhen had started to have a bath in a shallow stream of water flowing through the mangrove clump and the pitta must have been distracted by the sounds of water splashing. It kept a close watch on the intruding waterhen for a few seconds before deciding that the waterhen was not to be a bother and then running off continuing its search for dinner. The waterhen was probably 'recognised' by the pitta as a resident neighbour from the surrounding mangrove. I wonder if the pitta would chase off any other intruding bird.

Monday, March 5, 2012

hunting waterhen @ pasir ris - Feb 2012

White-breasted waterhens are probably one of the most common bird species seen in our parks, gardens, mangroves and in fact just about anywhere there is a body of water...and in some places far away from water too.

I've always wondered what they eat and where they go about looking for food. I was fortunate to come across one at the Pasir Ris mangrove boardwalk and it did not seem very bothered with me being just only about 2 metres from it. It was amazing to me how accustomed the bird was being in close proximity with visitors on the boardwalk. The Pasir Ris mangroves are truly a magical place for budding birdwatchers!

It was about 5.45pm and the bird was out walking about the drainage channels and turning over dead leaves which had settled on the muddy ground. As it turned over the leaves and discarded them to the side, a bare patch of mud or sand was uncovered. The waterhen very quickly pecked at the ground as if it had seen a small worm or crab which had been suddenly exposed by the removal of the leaves.

This particular section of mangrove housed many mangrove tree climbing crabs as well as burrowing crabs. I did not see the waterhen eating any crabs that time but have a reasonable hunch that crabs do play a big part of its diet, amongst other things, at the Pasir Ris mangroves ... especially the smaller crabs.

Read more about the white-breasted waterhen here :

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-breasted_Waterhen

http://singaporebirds.net/npassers_02/white-breasted_waterhen.html(incl. audio link)

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/03/22/call-of-the-white-breasted-waterhen/ (w video)

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/white-breasted-waterhen-amaurornis-phoenicurus

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Amaurornis-phoenicurus (incl. audio links)

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

http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-white-breasted-waterhen.html

electronic drongo @ bukit brown - March 2012

Was out looking for a lineated barbet making its distinctive repetitious call but totally missed it whilst looking in a thicket close to the stream. Instead i was lucky enough to get close to a greater-racket-tailed drongo. It started singing a mixture of tones and some of the tones in the repertoire were particularly 'electronic' ... (much like what one would expect from a space-voyaging white-domed droid on three wheels from the Star Wars trilogy - R2D2)

The greater racket-tailed drongo is known to be a mimic and a rather good copycat of other bird songs and calls. Perhaps it takes on electronic sounds just as well....or maybe the sounds are natural to the drongo and we just think they sound 'electronic'. Maybe the R2D2 sound effects team had copied the sounds from a drongo?