August’s Birding Moments.

August can be a quiet month for birding even though some early migrants started to  arrive. Most of us were taking things easy waiting for the onslaught of of the winter visitors from the Northern Asia in September.

It was not a productive month for me as well being away on holiday for the last week of the month. Here were some of the common species caught doing their things.

The breeding period for these Sunda Pygmy Woodpeckers is from February to August. This pair at Pasir Ris Park is either late starters or thinking of raising a second brood. Did not check if they eventually used this nest hole but it was hard work excavating this in early August. The flying chippings rendering some movements to the shot.

Another late nesting was the Grey-rumped Treeswifts as previous nestings were in April. This mother was seen feeding a juvenile at one-north crescent in mid August. The small cup nest was built on the branch of a roadside tree. Previous nesting was also recorded near by at Kent Ridge.

When the figs and other berries are not available, these Pink-necked Pigeons will come down low to feed on the dried seeds of the Melastoma Plant, a favorite of the Flowerpeckers.

Now I know why the Grey Herons chose to nest by at the Jurong Lakesides. The water surrounding the gardens are shallow and they can wade around and hunt with ease. A bit of action in the shot with the water trails.

When a bird rests on a clean perch at eye level, you have to shoot it even though it is a common species and you have plenty of them in your hard disk. Showing the grassland habitat of TEG adds a bit more to this Red-whiskered Bulbul in the shot.

Yes the tigers are back and good to see that they still dropped by Bidadari even though a large part of it have been cleared for housing. This area will be part of the 9 hectare Town Park which will be ready before the new owners move in. Lets hope they will keep coming back.

Did not have time to chase after these Yellow-rumped Flycatchers that started arriving by the end of the August. By early September, they were reported all over the island. Again we are glad that quite a good number were seen at Bidadari this season.

Reference: Lim Kim Seng. The Avifauna of Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore) 2009

 

 

Jurong Lake Grey Herons are at it again.

13 June 2015.

Bringing up a new brood. part of the seven active nests by the side of Jurong Lake.

The nationally threatened Grey Herons, Ardea cinerea,are at it again. But it is good news. They are bringing up another brood of offsprings high up in the Casuarina trees by the side of Jurong Lake. Fish from the lake must be plentiful. I counted 7 active nests yesterday.

Both parents tendering to eggs in the nest built on a flimsy branch of the Casuarina tree.

Some parents were sitting inside the nest incubating their eggs while other just stand guard next to the nests. I can’t see any young birds in the nests and there were no feeding as well. From time to time one of the parents will do a fly around more out of boredom.

Some of the parents are still in their breeding plumage as can be seen in this photo. Reddish legs and pinkish lined bills.

Some of them are still in their breeding plumage. When the chicks hatch, it will be a critical period for the parents fending off predators like the Large-billed and House Crows and even the Changeable Hawk-eagles from getting to the chicks.

Large colonies of nesting Grey Herons are rare nowadays. They may be common but are still under threat.

They may be common but they are very choosy in setting up a heronry. For no good reasons they will abandon a site and disappeared. This happened the heronry at Sungie Buloh Wetland Reserves in 2002. The largest colony was inside the Seletar Camp with a few hundred birds ( Sinav 19.4). One of the earlier sites were by the side of Kranji Reservior and at SAFRA Club at Tanah Merah (Sinav 17.2). But now most of the colonies are small in comparison spread out over several places like P, Ubin, Pasir Ris Park and this one at Japanese Gardens.

Ref: The Avifauna of Singapore. Lim Kim Seng 2009.