Category Archives: Birds

White-rumped Shama in Singapore

The White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) is a songbird that is native to South Asia and South-east Asia. It has a rich and highly melodious voice which unfortunately made it one of the most popular cagebirds in its native territory. Due to this fact, it has been poached to near local extinction in the mainland of Singapore. However it is still found in good numbers in the offshore island of Pulau Ubin and Pulau Tekong.

The male and the female bird differ in appearance, with the male being more striking with its very long tail, glossy blue-black on the head, breast and upperparts. The underparts is deep rufous-orange. In comparison, the female has a dark grey (not glossy) parts at the same location and the underparts a duller rufous colour.

Because they have a very melodious voice, locating them by the song they make is much easier than sighting them, as they tend to be rather shy and skulking in behaviour. If they are not singing, they oftentimes call with a harsh ‘tschak’ while foraging or alarmed that is also indicative of their presence.

The best place to find them in Singapore is currently Pulau Ubin where a morning walk from the jetty to Chek Jawa will invariable reveal 3-4 of them if one knows what to look out for. In the mainland, it is much harder to find them. They are still present and breeding, and have been found in various locality like Central Catchment Nature Reserve and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Due to the ongoing poaching activities, exact locality cannot be provided.

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Coconut Lorikeet in Singapore

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The Coconut Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) or Green-naped Lorikeet is a bird native to southern Maluku, West Papua islands and western New Guinea. For a long time, they have been considered a subpecies of Rainbow Lorikeet. In fact, some authorities still consider them a subspecies of Rainbow Lorikeet. However quite recently, both IOC and Birdlife International decided to accord them full species status. This means that the proper Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus moluccanus) are now confined to Australia.

In Singapore, the Rainbow Lorikeet we have in our current checklist is actually the Coconut Lorikeet. They are an introduced species that has been reported to be widespread since 1980s. They can be found at many localities and believed to be locally breeding. Recent sightings include the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, Choa Chu Kang, Buona Vista, Sunset Way, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Bishan Park and the former Bidadari Cemetary.

These lorikeets are gregarious birds that tend to congregate together especially in the late evenings. They roost in hollows of tall trees, which they presumably also use as nesting sites. Like other parrots and parakeets in Singapore, they have been observed feeding on the seeds of the African Tulip tree and ripe rambutan fruits.

Below are some pictures and a video clip of the Coconut Lorikeets, with captions of their locality and behaviour. Also in the gallery is the picture of a Rainbow Lorikeet for comparison.
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Cream-vented Bulbul nesting

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The Cream-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus simplex) is a species of bulbul that has striking white-eyes that are unmistakable. It is found in Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and the Greater Sundas. In Singapore it is a uncommon resident in the forest.

Although breeding has been reported in Singapore before, there isn’t much documentation of the nesting of this species locally or anywhere else.

In June 2011, I had the opportunity to witness the nesting of a pair at the road leading to Upper Peirce Reservoir.

The first encounter on the afternoon of 12th June. I was observing a bulbul perched on a thin branch when it suddenly flew to a Dicranopteris fern (Resam in Malay) patch just a meter off the ground. Although it was partially blocked, I could see that it was sitting on a nest. I observed the bulbul for about 30 minutes when it decided to leave. I took the opportunity to get closer to the nest to get a quick camera phone photo of the eggs. There were two eggs that looked very much like the Yellow-vented Bulbul eggs. About 15 minutes later, the bulbul or its partner returned to incubate the eggs.

On 14th June, I went back to have another look, and I could see that the same routine of perching on a branch and then flying into the fern bush. Approximately half and hour later, a change of shift occurred as the nest was left empty momentarily until presumably another parent took over. See video below.

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Watercock at Singapore Botanic Gardens

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Most people with any interest in Singapore birds would know about the ubiquitous White-breasted Waterhen. The waterhen, also known in Malay as Burung Ruak-ruak, is a rather bold bird that thrives in most of our non-forested nature areas.

It stand to reason that if there is such a bird called waterhen, then there must be a species of bird called watercock too. And in reality there is! The Watercock (Gallicrex cinerea) is a waterbird that is a distant relative of the waterhen. It is a widely found species throughout Asia. Unfortunately in Singapore, it is listed as an uncommon winter visitor presently. In the past, it was a very common bird but drainage of many areas, and development of suitable habitat made for much reduced numbers.

The male in breeding plumage is a striking black bird with yellow bill, red frontal shield and legs. The female and the juvenile looks a lot duller with dark brown upperside and buff below with wavy greyish brown bars.

Behaviourally, they are more secretive, and they like to stay around freshwater and brackish wetlands. In normal circumstances they are more likely to be flushed out from the tall grasses or bushes where they normally resides

In February 2012, a non-breeding plumaged Watercock was spotted around the edges of Eco-Lake at Singapore Botanic Gardens. It was an opportunity for many to get a closer look of this normally secretive waterbird. From our observation, it was usually seen around the bushes at the edge of the lake. Occasionally it will come out in the open to forage, like the waterhens. Perhaps this specimen was habituated by the constant human traffic, so it did not seem as shy. Nonetheless, it quickly went back to the bushes once its foray outside attracted any attention.

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Oriental Plover in Singapore

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The Oriental Plover (Charadrius veredus) also known as the Oriental Dotterel is a long-legged, medium-sized plover. Its breeding range covers southern Siberia, through northern and eastern Mongolia and into north-eastern China. Post breeding season, it migrates southwards to the Greater Sundas and Australia. En-route it may pass by Hong Kong, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, the Philippines and parts of Southeast Asia.

In Singapore, it is considered a rare winter visitor/passage migrant. Since 1985, there have only been 5 records of this species locally. The most recent one was from October 2012 at a small strip of beach with an area of mudflat next to Seletar Dam.

On the early evening of 1 October 2012, I stopped by this area, en-route to check out a migratory Black-backed Kingfisher that normally bathe in the late evening at Lower Peirce. I had some time to kill. As I was checking out the beach inhabitants, two birders that I did not recognise came over and told me they think they have seen the Oriental Plover and needed me to get some photo evidence. I asked them to show me where the bird was and through their scope I could see a very distant and tall plover. I rushed back to my car to get a longer lens. Standing beside them, I managed to get a few shots. Then I decided to climb down from the roadside to the beach proper to get a closer view. Unfortunately during my descent, the plover flew off. So I went back, reported the sighting with small record shots to show. The next day, many birders came to try their luck, but the plover did not show up. I chalked that up as a lucky lifer, being at the right place and at the right time.

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Great Cormorant in Singapore

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The Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is a very common and widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It is found on every continent except South America and Antarctica.

The species breeds along rocky maritime coasts, nesting on cliff ledges or rocky islands free of predators, and feeding in sheltered inshore waters.

In the past, Great Cormorants migrate to Peninsular Malaysia an possibly Singapore, but now only rare vagrants occur in Malaysia. In Singapore, there is/was however a population of Great Cormorants, escapees or free ranging birds from the bird park. They have been found residing at Kranji Dam, Sungei Mandai and Mandai mudflats near the estuary of the river. In 2004, there was a record of 11 birds seen at Kranji Dam¹. Breeding is suspected as there were juvenile birds along with the adults.

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Yellow-billed Blue Magpie in Bhutan

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I have written before about the Red-billed Blue Magpies at my workplace here. Their close relatives are the Yellow-billed Blue Magpies (Urocissa flavirostris). The most prominent difference is the colour of their bills. They are also a bit smaller, the blue plumage a little duller, and a smaller white nape patch. They both belong to the crow and jays family, whose members are generally considered the most intelligent birds, and among the most intelligent animals.

The Yellow-billed Blue Magpie, also called the Gold-billed Magpie is a species commonly found throughout the Himalayas, and in some places, co-exist with the Red-billed Blue Magpies. However in Bhutan, only the Yellow-billed Blue Magpie can be found.

On the first day of my trip, I managed to hear and then see 2-3 of them flying up the trees at the hotel where I was staying. Throughout the entire trip, I would see them quite often mostly in a group, but opportunities to photograph them well was rarer. These birds are really intelligent. Once we sighted them on a low branch somewhere and stop our car, they will very soon just fly a little downhill, out of sight. Remember than Bhutan is really mountainous and the roads all go through them, so there is always a slope downhill everywhere we go. So just like the Blue Whistling Thrush (where one is present in every few turns of a road), these common birds were not so easy to photograph after all.

But of course there were one or two encounters that were more productive so below are some photos of them.

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Helping a dull bird shine – Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

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The Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) is by no means a dull bird in character. In fact it is one of the liveliest bird around, with the ability to mimic and create a variety of calls and sounds. It has been suggested that it’s ability to mimic other birds, serves the function to create mix-species flocks. The purpose being to steal food (kleptoparasitism) from the member of the flock or to find insects disturbed by other foragers around.

In Singapore, they have been observed following macaques around, probably gathering food or insects disrupted by the activity of these primates. There are many other stories about this very interesting drongo, that I will leave for another time.

Today the attention is towards photography. And unfortunately for the drongo, it’s a rather neglected species photographically. Its plumage colour is a glossy bluish black. That alone is a turn-off for many photographers who would gladly choose more colourful birds. The other thing is that it has a distinctive, long outer tail shafts ending with twisted pendants. That is a very attractive feature, but is challenging composition wise to get a ‘balanced’ picture, without it being blocked or cut off.

So what are the so-called features of a good bird photo? The answers are varied and for every feature I say is good, someone is bound to disagree. But generally, a few things normally stand out.

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Grey thickheads at Ghost Island

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Sometimes it is interesting to know how things are named. Most people with a passing familiarity with this blog knows that I writes mainly about birds, with occasional articles about the other wildlife that I encounter. But it will be a small minority that will know what I refer to as a grey thickhead unless they really know where is Ghost Island.

Ghost Island is the literal translation of Pulau Hantu (a Malay name), a small island (actually 2 islet, Pulau Hantu Besar and Pulau Hantu Kechil) located south of Singapore. It is best known as a destination for fishing, scuba diving and snorkeling, as well as a weekend retreat for campers.

The island itself is pretty small at 12.5 hectares, so chances of meeting many birds there is limited. Yet I have been to that island a total of 4 times since 2011. The reason is very simple. I was looking for the grey thickhead. What is this bird that doesn’t seem to have a Wikipedia entry? Thickhead is the old name for a genus of birds called the whistlers. It is a literal translation of the generic name, which is derived from the Ancient Greek terms pachys “thick” and kephale “head”. In other words, all the birds under the genus Pachycephala are called whistlers. In Latin ciner means “ashes”, and in scientific naming convention, normally is used to refer to the colour ashy grey. So Pachycephala cinerea is grey thickhead. Its English name is Mangrove Whistler, but that really isn’t very evocative of how it looks.

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The Great-billed Heron and the Barramundi

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The Great-billed Heron (Ardea sumatrana) is a large heron (up to 1.15 metres in height) that inhabit coastal areas in South-east Asia, Papua New Guinea to Australia.

In Singapore, it is considered a rare resident bird species, with sightings mainly on the various small offshore islands, although occasionally they turn up in Sungei Buloh. One of the most reliable place to see this species is at Chek Jawa Wetland in Pulau Ubin during low tide. There seem to be 2-3 of these around regularly, out about hunting on the shallow waters of the seagrass lagoon. There they wait patiently for fishes that pass by. As the name suggest, they have large, long and sharp bills, which they use effectively to spear their victims.

On the morning of 29 January 2012, I went out to Check Jawa to observe the birds that linger around during low tide. One of my target bird species was the Great-billed Heron and as expected, a pair turned up waiting patiently for their prey, although at quite a distance away. I took a few pictures and decided to search for the Grey Plovers that were also present. Unfortunately the Grey Plovers did show up but soon flew away.

Turning my attention back at the pair of herons, I noticed one of them had managed to catch a big fish. It turns out that it had speared a big Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) using its bill and it was hanging loosely, still alive and wiggling. The Barramundi also known as Asian seabass, is a big fish (average length of 0.6-1.2 metres). It is highly prized by anglers and is an important commercial food fish. In Singapore, the Hokkiens call this fish ‘kim bak lor‘ (金目鲈), and the Malays refer to it as ikan siakap.

Once caught, the heron repeatedly placed the fish down to the water as if to wash it of any contaminant, and held it up in the air. Land-based birds normally take their prey and whack them against a hard surface to knock them out, before swallowing. The heron in contrast, cannot employ the same tactic, as the surface tension of the water is too weak to knock out the fish. Instead, I speculate that by placing it on the shallow water, it gives the heron the opportunity to re-spear the fish, causing more injury, and holding it up in the air again to deprive the fish of water it needs to breathe on. Whatever it was, the tactic seems successful, and the heron managed to kill the fish and then proceeded to swallow it.

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