Highlight of the day was the Forest Wagtail.
The distinct black and white bars on the wings, the T shaped patch of black on the chest, and the white brow were nicely displayed.
It kept wagging its tail as it goes about foraging in the grass patch between the canal and the marsh garden pond.
List of species recorded:
- Lesser Whistling-Duck
- Sunda Woodpecker
- White-Throated Kingfisher
- Collared Kingfisher
- Blue-Throated Bee-Eater
- Asian Koel
- Rock Pigeon
- Spotted Dove
- White-Breasted Waterhen
- Common Sandpiper
- Brahminy Kite
- Little Egret
- Striated Heron
- House Crow
- Black-Naped Oriole
- Common Iora
- Oriental Magpie-Robin
- Common Myna
- Javan Myna
- Pacific Swallow
- Yellow-Vented Bulbul
- Oriental White-Eye
- Olive-Backed Sunbird
- Forest Wagtail
Weather: Hazy and humid
Recent reports on sightings of migratory birds at SBWR brought me to the area.
Just within the farm opposite SBWR, saw some scaly-breasted munias collecting building materials, moving busily in and out of the palm trees.
Somewhere near hide 1B, saw a sunbird with orangey feet and gape. Suspect it to be a juvenile female plain-throated.
At the bridge and platform that looks out to Johor Straits, a brahminy kite flew overhead with a fish in its clutch. An osprey soared past in the other direction. Then 8 common redshanks did a fly-past. At hide 1D, I sat and counted 37 common redshanks, 26 little egrets, 5 grey herons, 2 milky storks, 1 common greenshank and 1 purple heron.
List of species recorded:
- Sunda woodpecker
- Collared kingfisher
- Spotted dove
- Water-breasted waterhen
- Common redshank
- Common greenshank
- Common sandpiper
- Osprey
- Brahminy kite
- Little egret
- Grey heron
- Purple heron
- Cattle egret
- Striated heron
- House crow
- Common iora
- Common myna
- Javan myna
- Pacific swallow
- Yellow-vented bulbul
- Scaly-breasted munia
- Milky stork
It has been more than 4 months since I last went to Jurong Lake Park. There has been some recent reporting of the appearance of a great-billed heron in the middle of the lake. So I went to check it out.
At about 8:40am, standing in the water. There it is swallowing some bird whole. Could only see some feathers jutting out of its beak.
Heard some kingfishers calling noisily, and saw 3 of them chasing each other around. Then at about 10 meters from the footpath, a crested serpent-eagle is perched on a branch about 10 meters above ground. It has a green snake under its feet. The left foot holding the snake’s head down, while the right foot is at mid length of the snake’s body. The snake was struggling. Coiling its tail up the serpent-eagle’s foot.
The serpent-eagle used its beak to break the snake’s strangle and peck at the snake’s body. After about 10 minutes, the snake seemed to be exhausted or the serpent-eagle has managed to inflict sufficient injury. The snake hanged motionless across the branch, while the serpent-eagle lifted its feet and changed its position. Then the serpent-eagle began tearing the snake, head first, and started mealtime. It was done in 5 minutes. The serpent-eagle cleaned its beak against the branch.
Full list of species recorded:
- white-throated kingfisher
- collared kingfisher
- blue-throated bee-eater
- asian koel
- pink-necked green-pigeon
- white-bellied fish-eagle
- crested serpent-eagle
- grey heron
- great-billed heron
- purple heron
- striated heron
- house crow
- black-naped oriole
- pied triller
- pied fantail
- common iora
- asian glossy starling
- common myna
- javan myna
- pacific swallow
- yellow-vented bulbul
- rufous-tailed tailorbird
- scarlet-backed flowerpecker
- plain-throated sunbird
- olive-backed sunbird