deadfish @ northwestern Singapore coast off SBWR & LCK - 29Jun2013

Visited SBWR this afternoon and was surprised to see many many floaters - fish - all dead and stinky. They seemed likely to be milkfish and mullet. These are commonly farmed at the off-shore fish farms located off Lim Chu Kang and the SBWR. I did not see any dead giant mudskippers, archer fish or sea bass or needlefish, but there was one dead and bloated catfish near the main bridge at Sungei Buloh. Perhaps that had been scavenging on the dead milkfish or mullet. 

The scene at Lim Chu Kang beach (beside the AVA jetty)...

The whole beach was strewn with dead fish (and not forgetting copious amounts of styrofoam and other rubbish). 

I had a friend from Denmark visiting Singapore whom i had dragged along to visit SBWR and he was (with jaw dropping silence) shocked to see the condition of the Lim Chu Kang mangrove and beach and the items left behind by squatting fisherfolk temporarily resident along the beach.

Meanwhile at SBWR ... the reserve was being pervaded by the certain pungent smell of decomposing fish. Lots of them. 

These pics are from the Mangrove Boardwalk area. Apparently, the dead fish started appearing on Friday and SBWR staff had cleared what they could reach but there was just too many dead fish coming in from the coast with each incoming tide. 

Many dead fish got stuck on the rocky bunds and also on trees once the tide receded. The hot afternoon air wafted the rotting stench easily and it was impossible to escape the pungent smell (even with an N95 mask which obviously was not designed to stop smells).

including some fish stuck on trees ...

The Lim Chu Kang jetty has two dumpsters, one for biological waste and another for general waste. It is obvious that the fish farm(s) responsible for the dumping are not using these waste collection containers. 

Could the crocs, monitor lizards, otters and other scavengers in the area face possible poisoning from whatever killed the fish (despite their strong stomachs). 

There could be quite a few possible causes ...

an E-coli outbreak?

chemical poisoning?

algal bloom?

depleted oxygen?

(Update 03July2013 : apparently, it was low oxygen levels which caused the deaths)

Failing good reason for the dumping(can there be any?), the farms responsible should be prosecuted.

Dumping puts the surrounding environment (and other farms) at risk. 

It pollutes the water making it unsafe for all.

some links about dead fish incidents and fish farming in Singapore waters :

http://wildshores.blogspot.sg/2012/03/thousands-of-dead-fishes-at-sungei-api.html

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120320-334670.html

http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.sg/2012/03/dead-fish-found-in-another-river.html

http://wildshores.blogspot.sg/2010/01/dead-fish-zone-hits-pulau-ubin.html

http://wildshores.blogspot.sg/2009/12/why-are-there-so-many-dead-fish-on.html

http://wondercreation.blogspot.sg/2009/12/dead-fish-on-pasir-ris-shore.html

http://wildshores.blogspot.sg/2009/02/coastal-fish-farms-where-does-fish.html

Find out more about farmed milkfish and mullet : 

http://www.thefishfarmer.com/product/our

http://realseafoodmilkfish.wordpress.com/

http://realseafoodmullet.wordpress.com/

http://www.spc.int/aquaculture/index.php?option=com_commodities&view=commodity&id=12&Itemid=58

http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/SME%2BCentral/Story/A1Story20090130-118141.html

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/marinefish/text/222.htm

eagleantics @ marina bay - June 2013

Was about Parliamant House when i noticed two adult white-bellied sea eagles atop High Street Centre. One took off towards Fort Canning whilst the other stayed put on the 'finger'. Nice of the architects to make such a perch for the area's resident eagles. The views must be stunning (on days without the haze).

Going up Fort Canning, i missed locating the WBSE or the two fledged juveniles. This was the first time i was not able to locate any of the birds in any of the usual perch points. Walking back towards the Southern part of Fort Canning, the two adult birds were atop the finger again. This time, they started their trademark territorial cackling. It could be heard clearly across the distance. Perhaps they were calling to the juveniles to join them.

One of the adults took off towards Marina Bay followed shortly by the other. Time for some last minute fishing. A quick walk over to the Marina promenade proved fruitful. One of the adults came flying in low past the floating platform clutching a large fish in its talons. It flew above the bandstand and decided to circle around. It kept doing this whilst gaining height with each upward spiral before finally continuing its flight path across the Padang. It settled atop High Street Centre. Meanwhile, the other adult WBSE came by also gripping a fish. This one just powered straight on across the top of the Esplanade durians across the Padang. I lost sight of it and it must have taken a different route perhaps back to Fort Canning.

eagleantics @ marina bay - June 2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

animal snippets @ chek jawa - Jun2013

here is a selection of snippets from a visit to Chek Jawa...

the clip includes:

white-collared kingfisher

olive-winged bulbul

carpenter bee

goby

haddon's carpet anemone

grey heron (with fish)

white bellied sea eagle

animal snippets @ chek jawa - June2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

white-bellied sea eagle escapes a murder of crows @ SBWR - May 2013

The white-belied sea eagle, Singapore's largest resident bird, was enjoying a sunny morning on a bare branch at one end of Pulau Buloh across from Platform 1 at SBWR. It was soon joined by a single crow but within minutes, there were quite a few more crows crowding the surrounding branches. 

As the crows grew in number, they started leapfrogging between the nearby branches constantly repositioning themselves around the eagle which was many times their size. It seemed as if there was intelligence behind the repositioning like a chess game being played on the chequerboard of branches.

The eagle was becoming increasingly concerned with the attention by the ever increasing crows. Soon, it was time for the crows to show the eagle who was boss of that corner of Pulau Buloh.

The eagle quickly decided to take flight after a crow brushed up too close against its wing. Time to escape a murder. It was immediately chased by some of the other crows which had ben waiting on the nearby branches. The eagle flew off to a less crow-ed (pun intended) part of the reserve.

white-bellied sea eagle and a murder of crows @ SBWR May2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Here are some links about crows :

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/crow-intelligence-mind_n_2457181.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_19042_6-terrifying-ways-crows-are-way-smarter-than-you-think.html

http://nusavifauna.wordpress.com/category/crows/

http://nusavifauna.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/large-billed-crow/

http://www.besgroup.org/2006/10/23/a-house-crow-went-fishing/

http://www.besgroup.org/2006/04/20/the-house-crow-and-the-bat/

http://www.besgroup.org/2009/07/13/house-crow-caching-meat/

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a094b.htm

http://blog.nus.edu.sg/lsm2251student/2010/04/14/the-bully-in-singapore/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070108-crows.html

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3802688?uid=3738992&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102330702267

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3802944?uid=3738992&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102330702267

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/world/asia/08singapore.html

changeable hawk eagle - dark morph @ bukit brown - 01May2013

Took a detour into Sime Road and entered the main gate of the Bukit Brown Cemetary when I noticed a large dark bird sitting high on a bare tree. 

It was sitting on a stump whilst the rain drizzled on. I moved around to get a better vantage point to observe the bird. The dead tree it was on was a little behind the banners put up to help save Bukit Brown from development.

The bird was on the branch for about 20 minutes before it flew off. I'm guessing it had gotten wet in a downpour and was sitting high on the bare tree drying itself off.

changeable hawk eagle - dark morph @ bukit brown - 01May2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Having seen the pale morph version of this rarely seen locally resident eagle, it was a first for me to see the dark morph version at Bukit Brown. Unfortunately, seeing these rarely seen birds at Bukit Brown will likely soon become history once development plans are put into a higher gear. Already, some trees near the entrance have been cut down. 

Find out more about these rarely seen resident birds here :

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2013/05/changeable-hawk-eagle-pale-morph.html

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2013/01/changeable-hawk-eagle-pale-morph-bukit.html

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2012/11/changeable-hawk-eagles-tanah-merah.html

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=31546

http://www.besgroup.org/2007/10/07/changeable-hawk-eagle-pale-x-dark-morph/

http://www.besgroup.org/2007/08/16/portrait-of-an-eagle-changeable-hawk-eagle/

 http://besgroup.blogspot.com/2007/01/changeable-eagle-attacking-colugo.html

http://www.besgroup.org/2006/11/02/changeable-hawk-eagle-and-the-long-tailed-macaque/

http://www.besgroup.org/2007/07/21/changeable-hawk-eagle-nesting-observations/

http://nusavifauna.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/changeable-hawk-eagle/

http://singaporebirds.blogspot.com/2012/06/buttonquail.html

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Nisaetus-cirrhatus

http://wildbirdsingapore.nss.org.sg/Raptor%20Manual_circa.pdf

changeable hawk eagle - pale morph juvenile @ maxwell road - 4 May 2013

It's not everyday you see a large raptor in the vicinity of the central business district. I had seen the raptor briefly as it flew overhead into a clump of trees on the left side of the AYE-ECP just past the tip of Maxwell Road (this is the southern part of Maxwell Road closest to Marina South). Being only able to reach the clump of trees about twenty minutes later, I thought the bird was long gone. There was only a crow flying about the small sliver of trees bordering Maxwell Road. The crow was however repeatedly flying towards the ground behind some bushes and then up again as if it was trying to harass something on the ground. It was also calling out loud. Moving a little aside, through the bushes, I saw the raptor standing on the ground. It was trying to lift off with something but I was not able to see what it was it had in its talons. It soon flew to a tree branch just about 3 metres away before flying off to better cover further into the trees.  Perhaps the CHE had come from the nearby Gardens by the Bay. I tried looking for what it had been trying to lift behind the bushes expecting to see an injured bird or snake but did not see anything which was the likely target.

zCHEpalemorphjuvenile from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Find out more about these rarely seen resident birds here :

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.sg/2013/01/changeable-hawk-eagle-pale-morph-bukit.html

http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2012/11/changeable-hawk-eagles-tanah-merah.html

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=31546

http://www.besgroup.org/2007/10/07/changeable-hawk-eagle-pale-x-dark-morph/

http://www.besgroup.org/2007/08/16/portrait-of-an-eagle-changeable-hawk-eagle/

 http://besgroup.blogspot.com/2007/01/changeable-eagle-attacking-colugo.html

http://www.besgroup.org/2006/11/02/changeable-hawk-eagle-and-the-long-tailed-macaque/

http://www.besgroup.org/2007/07/21/changeable-hawk-eagle-nesting-observations/

http://nusavifauna.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/changeable-hawk-eagle/

http://singaporebirds.blogspot.com/2012/06/buttonquail.html

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Nisaetus-cirrhatus

http://wildbirdsingapore.nss.org.sg/Raptor%20Manual_circa.pdf