Great egret

The great egret is a very big egret.

 

A great egret

It has a white body, wing, black legs and a yellow bill and a thin neck. I took this picture at the canal near the kallang canal near Bishan Park.

Singapore Botanic Gardens

Singapore Botanic Garden is a very good birding place in Singapore. Well, it is actually very near Orchard road. It is a very mature garden with lots of old trees. I saw the common flameback, magpie robin, radjah shelduck, lesser treeduck, black swan, mute swan and many more there.

The gardens was first founded in 1849. In 1990, NParks took over the garden. I think they did a very good job.

About birding there, you I found these species at these specific places.

• Near Bandstand- Common flameback
• Near Bonsai garden (a bush)- yellow vented bulbul, Black naped oriole, pink necked pigeon
• Near Eco Lake- Pied fantail
• Eco Lake-White breasted waterhen, Radjah Shelduck
• Symphony Lake-Lesser treeduck, white breasted waterhen

What an ecology wonder! A good birding spot just in the heart of the city.

Lesser treeduck

The lesser treeduck (Dendrocygna javanica), also called is a species of duck, from the subfamily of whistling ducks (Dendrocygninae). The duck is very common and can be found in South Asia and Southeast Asia as well as other places of the world. It can be found in Singapore.

I usually see them at Singapore Botanic Gardens, at the Symphony Lake I saw a pair of them, they are very tame.

 

A photo I took at the Symphony Lake of the duck

Its habitat is at still freshwater lakes with lots of vegetation to feed on usually. This duck has a long grey bill and the wings and back are grey with brown areas around the wings and tail. The belly and breast is light brown in colour.

 Highly gregarious and tame and nests in tree holes, old nests of other birds, or on a stick platform near the ground, and lays 6-12 eggs.

White breasted waterhen

The white breasted waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus)
 is water bird in the rail and crake family. Adults have a white breast, black or dark grey underparts and the belly is cinnamon in colour. They too have long toes, a short tail and yellow legs and beak. Immatures are black all over, or grey, like all rails.

 

An adult white breasted waterhen

Many rails are very secretive, but White-breasted Waterhens are often seen out in the open.

They can be found in Singapore Botanic Gardens. I only saw them there before. Everytime I go there, I would surely see it.

 

Another adult white breasted waterhen

Sime forest

Sime forest is a very good place to bird. The best one in my opinion. I saw my rarest bird there- the white rumped shama. I love the tree-top walk and jelutong tower, although I’m scared of heights. There are really many species of birds. My favorite route there is from Macritchie reservoir park to ranger station through forest trail, then to tree-top walk, then to Jelutong tower, then back from Venus Drive.

Secondary growth in the forest

 

Long tailed macaque I found at the entrance of the tree-top walk

 

Me walking on tree-top walk

My sugar cane plant-day 1

I planted a sugar cane yesterday, hoping that it will grow. Today, I just looked at it and I saw some growth! Hair were sticking out from the original sugar cane. Now, let us compare what is the difference…

All you need to do to compare is to look at a sugar cane that you got. You can see that there are hairs on it. I heard that they can grow spikes. YAY!!! That means a good start. Does it?

 

My sugar cane (sorry for the bad image)

Common Flameback

The common flameback (Dinopium Javanese), also called the common goldenback, is a common bird in Singapore. It is a woodpecker.

It is a strikingly colourful bird with brown wings (as you can see from the picture on below). The woodpecker has a crest of either red or black, depending on the sex. The female has a black crest, and the male has a red crest. The common flameback has three toes. The belly and breast is white in colour with spots.

It is found in open coastal woodlands, mangroves, disturbed habitats such as mature gardens, like Botanic Gardens. I saw one there. It flies from tree to tree, finding food, starting from the bottom of the tree to the top. I saw one moving from the bottom to the top of a tree, pecking on the bark, I think it might be finding insects.

It is a very agile in climbing trees. when I saw it at the Singapore Botanic Garden, it was moving up trees very smoothly. 

It is found in and looks like the greater goldenback/ greater flameback. The common flameback has 2 malar stripes, whereas the greater flameback only has 1 malar stripe. The greater flameback is less common than the common flameback in Singapore.

How I started birding- A time for reflection

Birding, or birdwatching is an art in my opinion. It is a pleasure to see new species and just look at birds as they forage for food, or fly from one branch to another.

Let me tell you how I started birding. It all started when I was Primary 2, when I was 8 years old. I when to Sime Forest through Macritchie Reservoir Park. When I walked I then saw a greater racket tailed drongo. I know it was very common, but I was amazed. At that moment, I had already forgotten everything in the world. I just looked at it.

 I wasn’t prepared to take any action on birding yet. It was then after about a fortnight when I when Sime Forest again. This time, I went through Venus Drive to the ranger station, then to the tree-top walk. No, it was not what you are thinking right now, I did not see any birds there, partly because I’m scared of heights.

Then, I continued walking on till I reached Petaling trail. I walked till I reached Petaling hut. It was then, I saw the rarest bird I ever saw… Even till today-3 years later. I saw a white rumped shama. I looked at it and heard it sing. It was beautiful.

In a glimpse of an eye, 3 years has past. Now, I love birding at Sime forest! The previous time I went, I went from Macritchie reservoir park all the way to Jelutong tower! It was so fun. I even saw the orange bellied flowerpecker there.

 

The orange bellied flowerpecker I saw in Sime Forest.

Radjah Shelduck

I was walking in Singapore Botanic Garden, listening to the birds around me. Then, I needed to go home. Just as I turned to get out of the botanic gardens, something white and big caught my eye. A bird had flew onto the ground next to the Eco lake. What could it be? I approached the direction I saw it was a Radjah Shelduck in Singapore Botanic Gardens. Wow! It had a white belly, and black wings. A line of black feathers went across its chest. It had a bill that was quite flat and had webbed feet, like any other duck. Aside from its webbed feet, the duck had a white neck and the colour of the bill and feet reminds me of the colour of the beak of the black naped oriole.

Black naped oriole

A blog- http://www.besgroup.talfrynature.com/, told me that the Radjah Shelduck is a new duck around the lakes of Singapore. The exact post: http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/?p=1719.

 It is found in Australia and New Guinea.

Hi

Hi all, I am a bird lover. I am Singaporean and my dream is to work as an ornithology and a bird writer. 

I am interested in birds and like other animals too. This is my log on birds and I would post some photos on it. I am only familiar with Singapore birds and I am studying about birds from other countries.

For any information on birds or questions email me: birdlover001@gmail.com . See Ya!!!