singing free-range magpie robins @ chek jawa mangroves - Feb2013

Despite a wet wet February, the Magpie Robins were out during the breaks in the rain to sing their hearts out. A great place to view them singing is from the top of the Jejawi Tower at the Chek Jawa Wetlands. The tower allows for unparalled views of one of the rarest vistas in Singapore (Sadly, these views stand to disappear if & when the area is developed. So, better faster go and appreciate the vistas!).

One of the tall trees close to the tower provides for multiple roost points for various birds from the  surrounding hill and mangrove forests. Naturally, some of the magpie robins prefer to use the branches of this tree from which to propel their song. I saw both male (darker-black necks and heads) and females (greying necks and heads) singing from the branches. Replies could be heard from the surrounding forest as other magpie robins sang their chorus out.

[Naturally, there were other visitors at the Tower besides me. Some of them failed to appreciate the oppurtunity to listen to the songs and chirps of the forest and kept on talking about worldy issues. This explains the background discussions heard in the clip.]

Due to the captive songbird industry which has long held sway since the later-half of the 1900s, the Singapore magpie robin population has suffered greatly as many wild birds were caught to feed the captive industry. Fortunately, it is now illegal to trap these birds and despite almost disappearing from mainland Singapore except in some small pockets of coastal mangroves, these birds have managed to hold on and are becoming less rarely sighted. They can sometimes be sighted on mainland Singapore in the city (like at the roof garden at the Esplanade Theatre in the city and at Fort Canning Park). Another place to see them is at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Find out more about the rare Oriental Magpie Robin here :-

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

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a071b.htm - read about how the Magpie reintroduction programme failed - Article by Lim Kim Seng c/o Nature Watch.

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Copsychus_saularis.htm - extract from www.naturia.per.sg

rufous woodpeckers @ chek jawa mangroves - Feb2013

February 2013 was a very wet month with some days having intermittent heavy rain from morning till the afternoon. The penultimate level of the Jejawi tower provided some shade from the light rain and also a great vantage point to look over the surrounding mangroves and forest. It's rare to see so much green in Singapore. 

During the brief lulls in the intermittent rain, some of the birds showed themselves. There were the oriental-pied hornbills, straw-headed bulbuls(quite a few), olive-backed bulbuls, magpie robins, black-naped orioles, pink-necked green pigeons, brown-throated sunbirds, crimson sunbirds, a white-bellied sea eagle, and a great-billed heron amongst many other birds.

A red streak flew across the scene and settled on a nearby tree. It was a rufous woodpecker. This was my third time seeing a rufous woodpecker. The first was also on Pulau Ubin although at the Jelutong mangroves which is on the Southern side of Ubin. The second was at the Berlayar mangroves. 

rufous woodpeckers @ chek jawa mangroves - Feb 2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

The bird was soon joined by another rufous woodpecker for a brief moment before the latter flew off to another nearby tree. Rufous woodpeckers are rarely seen resident birds. Habitat loss seems to be the main reason why these birds are not seen more regularly. We need to ensure that our already rare coastal mangroves and forests are conserved.

Read more about this rarely seen woodpecker :

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2013/02/rufous-woodpecker-berlayar-creek-jan2013.html

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2012/09/rufous-woodpecker-ubin-sept2012.html

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

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=691

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

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/02/15/rufous-woodpecker-and-the-air-conditioning-unit/#more

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Micropternus-brachyurus

rufous woodpecker @ berlayar creek - Jan2013

It was surprising to see a small reddish blur fly past me at the Berlayar mangrove boardwalk. I expected it to disappear into the mangrove trees but it landed on a sea hibiscus tree branch just above the boardwalk. It perched on an elbow and started hammering into the branch with its beak. This was a rare sight.. A Rufous Woodpecker! Although common on the Indian subcontinent, it is rarely seen in Singapore...probably mainly due to the fact that its preferred habitat, mangrove forests or forests close to mangroves, are in short supply in Singapore. Other places where I've seen this rarely seen species are the Chek Jawa mangrove forest and the Ubin Jelutong mangroves. (Both the aforementioned areas are under threat of future development.)

I could not see what it was eating but I assume there were tiny termites or other insects which were below the bark. What was even more interesting was that the woodpecker was using its tongue to extricate what was inside the branch...much like what an anteater does to a termite  mound.

The woodpecker was also using its tail to good use stabilising itself against the branch even whilst upside down. The terminal end of its tail feathers are pointed the tail feathers seem to have a 'v'-shaped cross section. The separate feathers together seem to provide an ideal 'grip' to assist in stabilising the bird in the various positions we see in the clip.

The bird kept up its feeding frenzy for about 10 minutes before it flew off further into the mangrove. I tried to see if there was another bird accompanying the one videoed but did not detect another rufous woodpecker in the vicinity. Rufous woodpeckers like Sunda Pygmy woodpeckers are commonly seen in pairs or small groups.

Read more about this rarely seen woodpecker :

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2013/02/rufous-woodpeckers-chek-jawa-mangroves.html

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2012/09/rufous-woodpecker-ubin-sept2012.html

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

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=691

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

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/02/15/rufous-woodpecker-and-the-air-conditioning-unit/#more

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Micropternus-brachyurus

challenged golfers @ keppel club - Feb2013

It's amazing that Singapore has quite a few golf courses (perhaps too many) but it also seems to have more than its fair share of really challenged (critically handicapped) golfers.

And it seems that a good number of them frequent Keppel Club (duh!)

The pictures speak for themselves...

most of the little white dots were once in the hands of Keppel's golfers.

more little white (and some yellow and blue) balls

Dragging the heavy bag in the water was easier than carrying it. 

However, when the water got thin, it was time to haul it across the soft sand.

bag 1

bag 2

 2 IKEA bags... probably close to 500 or more (?) balls.

Picking up this many was back-breaking. Agonising. But at the end of the evening, it was good to know that all the visible golf balls were removed. This just from the area in front of No. 30 Bukit Chermin. Imaging how many balls are in the mangrove!

in the NParks green bin ready to be cleared

Clean? not by far!

Read more about golf balls :

http://sportsnscience.utah.edu/what-are-golf-balls-made-of-and-how-does-that-affect-their-performance/

Are there biodegradable golfballs? YES!!!

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/ecobioball-is-a-100-biodegradable-golf-ball-that-has-a-core-of-fish-food

"Manufactured by Albus Golf, the Ecobioball is reportedly the first 100% biodegradable golf ball that is 100% safe for marine organisms and is certified non-toxic. It is a single-use product recommended by the manufacturer whenever you want to play golf on "cruise ships, beaches, jetties, seafront hotels and resorts, oil rigs, boats, yachts, and near reservoirs, lakes, rivers and other marine environments." Once the golf ball hits the water, it will begin to biodegrade and within 48 hours the outer shell will dissolve completely exposing the fish food inside for consumption by fish and other invertebrates."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1371844/New-biodegradable-golf-ball-use-cruise-ships-lobster-shells.html

"University of Maine engineering undergraduate, and keen golfer, Alex Caddell helped develop the ball.

He said it performs similarly to a traditional golf ball.

'The flight properties are amazing,' Mr Caddell said. 'It doesn't fly quite as far as a regular golf ball, but we're actually getting a similar distance to other biodegradable golf balls.

'I didn’t really think it would turn out to be this fruitful.'

The University of Maine has filed to patent the lobster-shell mixture."

http://www.biogolf.nl/

Quotes from the New York Times (May 2nd, 2010): “No one knows for sure how many golf balls are lost each year worldwide, though the total in the United States is estimated at 300 million. Hundreds of thousands of golfballs are lost or abandoned every day in lakes, ponds, forests, wetlands, deserts, backyarts, gardens, parking lots, on rooftops and at the bottom of woodchuck holes” (.....) ”The informed guess is that most balls begin to break down somewhere between 50 and 500 years. Whether the great multitude of lost golf balls rotting under logs or slowly dissolving at the bottom of swampy estuaries pose an environment hazard is also apparently undetermined. But the mere presence of so many abondoned golf balls has made many uncomfortable and has caused others to hypothesize about possible effects”.

http://www.squidoo.com/dixon-earth-golf-balls

With an increasing number of golf balls discarded each year, the Danish Golf Association devised a number of tests to determine the environmental impact of golf balls on their surroundings. It was found that during decomposition, the golf balls dissolved to release a high quantity of heavy metals. Dangerous levels of zinc were found in the synthetic rubber filling used in solid core golf balls. When submerged in water, the zinc attached itself to the ground sediment and poisoned the surrounding flora and fauna. Rather than using harsh heavy-metal pollutants like tungsten, cobalt, lead, zinc or contain non-renewable synthetic materials and compounds; all balls manufactured by Dixon Golf are "green" to the core. So if you want to help out your earth and help out your game, buy Dixon's new Earth Golf Balls.

http://ecofriendlygolfballs.com/dixon-earth-golf-balls.html

Dixon Earth culminates the efforts of top scientists to bring to you the first "Eco-Friendly" ball that actually performs on the course. 

The first 100% eco-friendly golf ball. Delivers the distance & spin of a high performance golf ball while being 100% recyclable.

High Performance

• 392 Tour proven dimple pattern for maximum control and distance
• Thin Eco-cover provides exceptional feel and increased durability
• Improved high velocity green coreTM for added distance
• Official ball of the E-golf Professional and Amateur Tours
• 92% approval rating from PGA Tour Partners
• Best used by golfers with handicaps between 2-5

---------------------------------------------------------

I suppose a similar sight can be seen at all our golf courses fronting natural areas such as reservoirs and mangroves and coastal canals etc. Gold balls are primarily made of plastic-rubber like and these take a very very long time to biodegrade. Perhaps the authorities should restrict such golf courses from using non-biodegradeable golf balls?

Keppel Club seems to have more than its fair share of critically handicapped golfers who cant keep their balls where they need to be.

A note to Keppel's Club's golfers ... go find something else less challenging to do!

Keppel Club should either ban the use of non-eco friendly golf balls or clean up the adjacent mangrove and beachfront on a regular basis.

scaly-breasted murnias @ ubin - Feb2013

These murnias were busy looking for grass seeds for breakfast in the tall grass on the edge of the Pekan Quarry.

Time : about 8.30 am

scaly-breasted murnias @ ubin - Feb2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Find out more about this bird :

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaly-breasted_Munia

http://www.arkive.org/scaly-breasted-munia/lonchura-punctulata/

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Lonchura-punctulata

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/scaly-breasted-munia-lonchura-punctulata

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=8709

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