sgbeachbum

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

flagged redshanks II @ SBWR - 01Nov2015

Another selection of flagged redshanks at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on 01Nov2015.

2 of the birds (LU and AH) were fitted with geolocators.

The redshanks seen : TH, LU, TE, ET (misnamed in videoclip as UE), NB, TP, AH, UE, RP

A continuation of effort from https://vimeo.com/143501959.

flagged redshanks II @ SBWR - 01Nov2015 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Monday, November 2, 2015

pilky stork hybrid & snake dinner @ SBWR - 01Nov2015

The mid afternoon saw a dense thunderstorm with rain beating down hard across the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. The resting shorebirds had spent the deluge turned into the wind and rain. As the rain clouds moved on, the mudflats came to life with the shorebirds actively looking for food on the mangrove mud that was now trickling with rain water running off the surface.

A stork had managed to come across a chunky snake, likely a dog-faced water snake (Cerberus rynchops). It looked like it was about 75cm long. The stork spent some time to juggle the snake head first up its bill whilst the snake haplessly tried its best to get out of really bad situation. The stork went towards the bund out of view to finish despatching its dinner. The snake presumably lost this battle.

There are upwards of about 25 storks flying about the SBWR during the height of the northern migratory season. It is hard to tell whether these are the endangered milky storks or the more likely painted storks or painted-milky 'pilky' stork hybrids.

painted-milky stork hybrid stork & snake dinner @ SBWR - 01Nov2015 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Painted Storks are 'near-threatened' but seem to breed with the milky storks readily thereby thinning out the milky stork population over time.

Find out more with these links :
Painted Storks :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_storkhttp://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697651/0

Milky Storks :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_stork
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697658/0

Dog-Faced Water Snakes :

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/snakes/cerberus.htm

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/verts/water_snake.htm

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/dog-faced_water-snake.htm

Saturday, October 24, 2015

flagged redshanks @ SBWR - 24Oct2015

A selection of flagged redshanks seen at the main hide in the afternoon of 24Oct2015 when there was a period of low tide. The water in the pool at the main hide had just drained out following the falling tide.

There was a group of about 30 redshanks, 1 terek sandpiper, 1 marsh sandpiper, 1 greenshank and 3 black tailed godwits.

Redshanks seen : SE, JM, BF, EP, C2, RU
(note : JM is more than 20 yrs old having been tagged in 1996 and RU is more than 16 yrs old having been tagged in 2000).

flagged redshanks @ SBWR-24Oct2015 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

godwits & friends @ SBWR - 24Oct2015 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Across at the adjacent pool which had some water, a flock of greenshanks and some redshanks flew in at about 6pm (when the tide must have started rising at the open mudflats close to the reserve) and 3 godwits were with them. These stayed in the shallow water near some mangrove saplings near where the resident milky storks were resting.

Monday, October 19, 2015

preening common kingfisher @ SBWR - Oct2015

Common Kingfishers are usually seen in a flash of blue as they zoom by. Although they are named 'Common', these little kingfishers are not very common in Singapore as they are not considered residents but migrants more often seen in Singapore during the Northern Hemisphere's colder months from September to April.

Looking at the slightly reddish lower bill, this could be an adult female.
preening common kingfisher @ SBWR - Oct 2015 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Read about the Common Kingfisher :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_kingfisher
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Alcedo_atthis.htm
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22683027

and SBWR :
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/sbwr
http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/sbwr.htm
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/birds.htm

Sunday, October 18, 2015

pekan quarry otters @ ubin -17Oct2015

A late afternoon at Ubin's Pekan Quarry proved a good spot for birdwatching. The usual suspects showed up. A grey headed fish eagle, stork-billed kingfisher, two common kingfishers, a dollarbird, barn swallows, bee-eaters, a flock of asian glossy starlings, a white bellied sea-eagle, a couple of brahminy kites, a pair of straw headed bulbuls, two oriental magpie robins, an oriental pied hornbill and lots of grey herons.

Common Kingfisher

Barn Swallow

Stork-Billed Kingfisher

The endangered Grey Headed Fish Eagle

Grey Herons loving the first installation of the new floating wetlands at Pekan Quarry.

Grey Heron with Common Kingfisher

Oriental Pied Hornbill

The grey herons were enjoying the new floating wetlands installation. There were 4 to 5 islands of rafts lined with coconut husk fibres mat with some planted vegetation. Some of the herons, presumably juveniles, were actively picking at the reeds. This might be to practise their targeting skills.

The floating wetlands were also a hit with a group (about five) of visiting otters, (likely smooth-coated otters). Otters have only occasionally been seen at Pekan Quarry and it was great to see them using the newly installed floating wetlands. It also looked like 2 of the otters were spraying the coconut husk matting with their faeces which may be a sign that they are claiming the area as theirs.

pekan quarry otters @ ubin -17Oct2015 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Hope the otters like the wetlands enough to make it a permanent home.

Find out more about the Pekan Quarry wetlands and other Pulau Ubin projects :

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/news/2015/6/factsheet-updates-on-the-ubin-project-initiatives-june-2015

http://www.mnd.gov.sg/mndlink/2015/2015_Jul-Aug/ubin-day-2015.htm

http://www.tnp.sg/news/5-new-things-look-forward-pulau-ubin

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/new-biodiversity-research/1913778.html

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/nparks-to-build-homes-on-pulau-ubin-for-bats-birds-and-other-creatures

Pulau Ubin :

http://www.wildsingapore.com/ubin/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulau_Ubin

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/pulau-ubin-and-chek-jawa

http://www.littledayout.com/article/day-tripping-to-pulau-ubin-planning.html

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

5 Terek Sandpipers @ Seletar - 24Sep2015

The newly exposed mudflats showed a surprising 5 Terek Sandpipers together with some Lesser sandplovers, 3 Common Greenshanks and a lone Whimbrel. (There could have been a sixth Terek as the few were running about quite a bit over the mudflat and I was a long way off).

These birds are not normally resident in Singapore....so what are they doing here?

Find out about the East Asian Flyway :

http://www.eaaflyway.net/about/the-flyway/