Ken Cross in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.: First day on Tour

BIRD OF THE DAY!!!! - Oriental Pied Hornbill

Some plans look better on paper. The plan was to arrive in Singapore at 5-20am after an all-night flight, wait for an hour, meet a guide and bus, and then go birding for the next 12 hours.

In the event, that expectation was a little over the top. To be fair it was perhaps made a little worse thanks to the overall efficiency of Singapore Air who got us to Singapore a full 50 minutes early; meaning we had to endure a full two hours of consciousness before beginning our adventure.

And it was made worse by not sleeping much on the flight.

And it was made worse because it was Singapore and it was pretty, freaking hot.

So we finished our day early and were booking in to the hotel before 5pm rather than the 6-30pm that I had originally designed.

Anyway, everything went well. We met everyone and our group of 10 gathered before the bird guide, Lim Kim Seng arrived.

First we went for a little tourist type drive down along the bay where we saw the now famous Garden by the bay with its huge artificial trees. We also could not fail to notice the huge three tower hotel nearby that dwarfed the trees. This was striking because there was a large ship looking structure perched atop the three towers.

The birding was pretty good. We recorded just over 60 species for our first day by visiting three key locations.

Our first stop was Bukit Batok Nature Park, a 36-hectare urban park. Here we quickly encountered Red Junglefowl, a great flock of the introduced White crested Laughing thrushes plus Slender and Plantain Squirrels. A few spp flew over including Coppersmith Barbet and Long tailed Parakeets. Black naped Orioles showed well as did Pink necked Pigeons, Oriental White-eyes and Bulbuls – both Yellow vented and Olive winged. Another Bulbul was a major target and one that was achieved – the endangered Straw headed Bulbul. This bird is an attractive species who has a striking song. Enroute the Rufous tailed Tailorbird made a brief appearance. And we got good views of Linneated Barbet, Banded Woodpecker and Laced Woodpecker. Pin striped Tit-Babbler was seen by a few. Crested Green Lizards showed well at this site.

gang 'in action'

Red Junglefowl

Black naped Oriole

introduced White crested Laughingthrush

Green Crested Lizard

Plantain Squirrel

Straw headed Bulbul

Laced Woodpecker

Banded Woodpecker

White throated Kingfisher

Olive winged Bulbul

Yellow vented Bulbul

We stopped briefly for some lunch where the theme, strangely was Asian food…

White breasted Waterhen

Next stop was the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, a nature reserve in the northwest area of Singapore. This was the first wetlands reserve to be gazetted in Singapore (2002), and its global importance as a stop-over point for migratory birds was recognised by the inclusion of the reserve into the East Asian Australasian Shorebird Site Network. The reserve, with an area of 130 hectares, was listed as an ASEAN Heritage Park in 2003. WE saw a small range of migratory waders [Whimbrels, Golden Plovers, Redshank and Common Sandpiper] as well as Milky Stork, Grey Herons, the three main egrets, Brahminy Kite, and a few sunbirds plus good views of Ashy Tailorbird and Arctic Warbler.

Wetland Reserve

Vince of the Mangroves

Stork

juvy Black crowned Night heron

Mudskipper sp

Short nosed Fruitbats

Short nosed Fruitbat

Redshanks

Ashy Tailorbird

Pink necked Pigeons

Our final stop was Pasir Ris Park, a beach park located in the eastern part of Singapore. This coastal park opened in 1989 and is among the largest in Singapore. It occupies 70 hectares of land, including some reclaimed land. There is a 6-hectare mangrove forest within the park and the Boardwalks enable visitors to explore the forest. Mud crabs, mudskippers and mangrove trees such as Rhizophora and Bruguiera are found there.

Plaintive Cuckoo

Common Birdlife in the park that we saw included Red Junglefowl, Spotted Dove, Zebra Dove, Pink-necked Pigeon, Asian Koel, Swiftlet sp, White-breasted Waterhen, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Little Egret, Oriental Pied-Hornbill [our Bird of the DayCollared Kingfisher, Blue-throated Bee-eater, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Red-breasted Parakeet, Long-tailed Parakeet, Common Iora, Black-naped Oriole, House Crow, Large-billed Crow, Barn Swallow, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Arctic Warbler, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Asian Glossy Starling, Common Myna, Javan Myna, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Brown-throated Sunbird, Olive-backed Sunbird and Eurasian Tree Sparrow.