Category Archives: Birds

Green Imperial Pigeon – Status in Singapore

The Green Imperial Pigeon (Ducula aenea) is a species of forest pigeon. It a large bird, with green-blue metallic sheen on its wings, back and tail. Its head and underparts are off-white.

Its usual range covers southern Asia from India to Indonesia

Historically, this species have been listed as a resident in small numbers at the coastal area (Gibson-Hill 1949)¹

Presently in Singapore, it is listed as a non-breeding visitor with it’s usual stronghold in Pulau Tekong where sightings are more common.

In 2011, they were sighted in the adjacent Pulau Ubin between the months of June and August. Up to 5 were perched on a single tree in one afternoon.

In the mainland, there were sightings in Pasir Ris Park area in early 2012. In March 2013, the birds were seen in an industrial estate in Loyang. Ever since then, they has made regular appearances there, whenever the Macarthur Palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii) fruits in the area.

As an observation, the pigeons swallow the ripe palm fruits whole as the sequence of pictures shows.

With the knowledge of the regular presence of the pigeon in the area, the first report of nesting came in late March 2014, with a single chick hatched subsequently. By May 2014, it seems that the chick has fledged and with that the first breeding record of this species have been documented.

In the span of 3 years, this species appears to have dispersed from Pulau Tekong to Pulau Ubin and then to the mainland. And finally in an unlikely turn of events, it started breeding in an industrial estate, feeding mainly on an introduced exotic palm species.

References
1. Gibson-Hall (1949) A Checklist of the Birds of Singapore Island

Red-billed Blue Magpie – Status in Singapore

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The Red-billed Blue Magpie (Urocissa erythrorhyncha) is a striking looking magpie species. As the name suggest, it has a red bill and also red legs. It’s head, neck and breast are black with a bluish spotting on the crown. It’s shoulders and rump are a duller blue and the underparts are a greyish cream. The long tail is a brighter blue.

It’s usual range cover northern India, the Himalayas, northern parts of South East Asia up to China.

It’s presence in Singapore has been reported dating back to at least 2001 (wildbirdSingapore)¹. Reports of sightings have been concentrated mainly in the Southern Ridges, covering anywhere from Mount Faber to Kent Ridge Park and adjacent areas.

It has been speculated that the birds originated from the illegal bird smuggling activities from the southern coast and outer islands of Singapore as illegal smugglers came in from the Riau Islands, with reports of housing station for these birds located along Pasir Panjang Road (wildbirdSingapore)¹

Whatever the case of their origin, the magpies have been around for more than a dozen years with regular sightings ever since with individual sightings of 9-10 birds reported. Have they established a feral population or are the sightings of original released/escaped birds? No one can be certain, as magpies in general can live up to a decade, and breeding records are not available.

What we do know is that these magpies have been mating. This have been observed in April 2013 in the below photographs.

Notice the position of the male’s legs. One is wedged on the female’s leg to prevent her from jumping off. The other is holding on to the wings of the female to prevent flying.

The actual act, like most other birds mating is brief and vigorous. No further observations of the fate of these birds as they tend to roam around. No nesting records are known.

So what is their diet?

The partial answer is that sometimes they visit nearby buildings to rummage through the nearby garbage collection points. Here it is observed eating cooked rice grains from one such building.

What we can conclude is that there magpies are roaming around the Southern Ridges, are adaptable enough to be around for more than a decade, have managed to adapt at least some parts of their diet to reflect their urban settings.

Most of the pictures taken here are from my office building which is opposite Kent Ridge Park over a period of 3 years. And in most of the sighting, they come in pairs or in groups.

I leave you with some more pictures of these magnificent, hardy birds.

http://youtu.be/Tvr53mWV-Ho

Video taken handheld and stabilized in post. Please pardon the jerkiness.

Reference:
1. wildbirdSingapore Yahoo Group

Oriental Pied Hornbill – Ballistic transport feeding

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One of the joy of birding is to observe behaviour of birds in the field and then having done so, be educated by a fellow birder as to what it all meant.

I had the opportunity to observe a family of Oriental Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris) flying towards a kampung house at Pulau Ubin. One of the adult proceeded to land on a large papaya tree. This tree happen to have one ripe papaya fruit.

Soon enough the hornbill dug into the fruit itself and then retrieve the flesh. It the proceeded to flip the morsel and then with the mouth wide open, swallowed it whole. This method of feeding is call “ballistic transport” and is practiced by hornbills and toucans.

The hornbill using its powerful bill to tear into the the papaya fruit.

The flip and swallow routine

A closer look at another instance. Notice the shape of the morsel is different.

Yet another instance, this time at a different, steeper head angle.

After one side is done, it goes for the other side. A messy eater.

In between feeding time.

All the while, the juvenile is perched quietly just below the papaya tree. As it has the same pose, you can compare its relative proportion.

Soon after these photos were taken, a group of weekend cyclist came by a bit too close. The whole family flew off to another location, and the papaya was left half eaten.

In summary, we know that Oriental Pied Hornbills like ripe papaya fruits, they tear into the fruit using their powerful bill to retrieve morsels of flesh, are messy eaters and then use ballistic transport to feed themselves.

Reference:
Ballistic transport (“flip and catch”) feeding in hornbills

First year of bird photography

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On 29 April 2010, I bought a 300mm lens to try out for birds and butterflies photography. About two months in, I gave up on photographing butterflies but kept on photographing birds. Since then, I’ve kept track of this hobby more meticulously that I normally would.

Today marks the first year of this endevour for me. What have I accomplished so far:

Discovered and photographed 2 new species of escapee birds (White-rumped Seedeater and Crimson-rumped Waxbill).
First to photograph in the wild a new species of escapee bird (Black-and-white Mannikin), that was first discovered elsewhere captured for ringing purposes.
Discovered a flock of Yellow-fronted Canaries (another escapee bird) that in the past have only been found singly.
Explored and popularized a patch of land called Punggol Mini Grassland near Punggol East Road

First among my group to photograph the following uncommon birds:

A flock of 3 Jerdon Bazas, a rare migrant to our shores (Lorong Halus).
Sooty-headed Bulbuls flock (Punggol East)
Black Swan cygnets (Singapore Botanic Garden)
Little Grebes fledglings (Lorong Halus)
Plaintive Cuckoos (Lorong Halus and Tuas Grassland)
Male Banded Bay Cuckoo (Lorong Halus)

Photos and articles in Bird Ecology Study Group blog:

My bird count stands at 170 identified non-captive birds photographed in Singapore, and 23 for birds captured in Fraser’s Hill bringing a total of 193.

Raptor close encounter

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A few days after Christmas, I was trying to photograph a perching Brahminy Kite that I found in one of my photography spots. Now, I’m such a raptor (those eagles, kites, falcon etc) repellent that I have never successfully captured any images of them perching (this was before my previous posting). Mind you, I have always managed to spot them high up in the sky. There was once, where two juvenile sea eagles were flying relatively low above me and I excitedly took shots after shots. Unfortunately for me, the CF card gave repeated write errors without me realizing and all the money shots got dumped (>50 of them!)

Luck was not about to change for me with regards to this kite, and by the time I got my camera set-up in position, it flew off! Oh well…

Walking away from that spot, suddenly another raptor flew hurriedly away from one of the branches of tree that I was passing though. Luckily for me, it flew a short distance. So I gingerly trod towards it’s presumed landing site.

Just one turn away, my luck changed.

It’s an Oriental Honey Buzzard. A winter migrant that has the body of a typical raptor, but the head is unusually small like a pigeon.

So close until I have to cut off the tail in this picture, or risk falling down a monsoon drain…

Video of it playing with stick (720p HD option gives higher quality but with slower load time)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgAK5jLxqvI&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1&w=405&h=720]

New Year’s Eve hiking

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I was having a day off on New Year’s Eve and I decided to go hiking to Singapore Quarry in the afternoon. The sky was overcast and I was a bit worried that rain would fall before I made it to the site. Sure enough, around 100 meters to the site, it started pouring. Thankfully I managed to make a quick dash to the shelter without getting drenched.

Waiting for the rain to stop, I set up my camera gear in preparation for taking pictures of the Little Grebes that I had previously photographed. Scanning my surrounding, I heard a bird calling and pointed my camera to get a clearer picture.

It was a Tiger Shrike, calling out in the rain. I took some pictures, and the turned on my camera’s video. My apologies for the wind blowing sound in the video. I need to sort this technical issue out.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vph6EXG2_aw&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Soon, the rain subsided. And after a little while, the Little Grebes appeared at their usual spot. Bobbing in and out of water catching their prey.

First, there is one.

The pair together

Another view

While concentrating with these, I noticed far in the distance, a raptor was circling the pond and then proceeded to perch. It was a juvenile White-bellied Sea Eagle.

Front view

Back view

Last picture

Evening time came much too soon and I had leave. While I was packing up, the Sea Eagle proceeded to circle round the pond searching for it’s own meal. Mine was still a hike back away.

Black Swans

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No, this is not a movie review. Rather, this is a post on the real Black Swans. The kind that turns from ugly ducklings to handsome creatures upon adulthood.

I suppose most people have heard of the existence of Black Swans. In Singapore, they are an ornamental species introduced (from Australia) to the Singapore Botanical Garden no doubt due to their unusual appearance. Armed with the knowledge of their existence, I made my way there to have an actual sighting and hopefully some nice photographs.

What I did not expect, and for which I was very fortunate to witness was that there was a swan couple who just started a family!

The couple with four recently hatched cygnets

What I didn’t know was that the cygnets are actually white in colour!

A closer look at a cygnet. Isn’t it cute and fluffy? Not ugly at all.

Cygnets feeding.

From what I gathered, this is the first time that the Black Swan is raising a family. Mind you that these photos were taken more than a month ago. So by now, the cygnets would have been much bigger. I hope that they manage to grow up safe and sound.

Escapees

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In the parlance of birding, escapees are non-native birds that have ‘escaped’ from captivity and are now living independently in the wild. In Singapore there are quite a number of escapees birds as we do have a bird trade going on and of course there are many people who release captive birds for religious purposes on certain occasions.

On the whole, here and there we will have reports of sighting of 1 or 2 exotic birds either introduced or maybe a rare winter migrant that will trigger the call to action for many bird photographers. News indeed travel fast in this small island.

It is rarer to see a flock of exotic escapee birds though. I mean, it’s Singapore. Where do they hide from prying eyes for long? Do escapee birds of a feather somehow flock together? Do they breed and soon become a feral population?

Near where I stay, there is a small flat field that has been leveled and is probably slated for development, perhaps in anticipation of future demand for HDB flats. In the meantime, lalang and other grass species have sprouted in place of the bare ground. Mimosa bushes and acacia trees have grown as well. The place is wholly uninteresting to most people as there are many such plots of land nearby. To me however, it is a quiet, nearby training ground to learn bird photography.

I have noted for a long time the presence of a flock of Sooty-headed Bulbuls (Pycnonotus aurigaster) that have made this field their home. Well, just so happen this is a escapee species introduced here and have started breeding. They are considered a breeding feral population and just so happen, this plot of land is an excellent site to observe them.

Recently I made another discovery. Apparently there is another flock of birds that are also pretty exotic. When I first met them, I had trouble identifying them as the local bird guide book did not contain their description. With the help some bird ID experts, I found out that not only did I managed to find one species of bird, but actually two!

The first bird is the Yellow-fronted Canary (Serinus mozambicus), a native of Africa that is traded and prized as a song bird. Pictured below eating grass seeds.

The second bird is the White-rumped Seedeater (Serinus leucopygius), a relative of the Yellow-fronted Canary that is also an African song bird.

Racial Harmony Day

These two kind of birds somehow escaped from captivity, found each other in a tiny plot of land, and now live together peacefully.

There are currently 6 of them, three Yellow-fronted Canaries and three White-rumped Seedeaters scurrying around and foraging together in this grassland they call ‘home’. I hope they manage to survive and prosper.

A pair of Little Grebes

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Little Grebes are pretty common water birds in many parts of the world. In Singapore however, there are only a few pairs left due to habitat destruction.

As far as I know, the disused Singapore Quarry near Dairy Farm Road is the only place you can easily observe these small duck like creatures. I was there on a Saturday afternoon looking for them. For 15 minutes I stared at the pond and only found swallows flying around. Only upon closer look did I manage to see the grebes, as they were very far away, and I did not expect them to be so small!

A pair of Little Grebes sharing a photo with Pacific Swallows

A closer look (the pink bubble gum like packages are eggs of the apple snails)

Another shot

A walk at Japanese Garden

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On Friday, I took a bit of time off from work to have a stroll at Japanese Garden. It’s a park in Jurong that as the name implies have some Japanese influence in it’s landscaping. It’s also a favourite haunt for bird photographers as there is a wide variety of birds both resident and migrants that congregate there and the adjoining Chinese Garden. The reasons are simple. There are many trees and more importantly many ponds and even a lake there. Source of food and water. It also helps that it is pretty devoid of bird predators (except probably for some raptors which are also birds anyway).

So on this short trip, I saw hornbills, kingfishers, shrikes, flycatchers, sunbirds and herons. Nothing stands out, except for two things.

First, I had another encounter with yet another stork-billed kingfisher. Unlike my previous encounter at Hindhede Quarry, this time I was much nearer.

It’s an adult and it’s looking for food. Unfortunately, it’s not very adept at fishing. I was observing it hunting a few times unsuccesfully.

But not to worry, there are plenty of fishes at the pond and it has all the time to get it right. BTW on the same day, I received a promotional letter from Nespresso that came with a 50 cents stamp. Guess what, the picture on the stamp is that of the Stork-billed! Coincidence?

The other picture above is that of the Grey Heron. It is interesting just because of its pose, which reminded me of the shape of a heart. It’s actually the heron sunning itself, but makes for a somewhat unusual image.