The Bird Blog

more from Sungei Bedok and Eastwood Estate...

2005-06-16T22:17:00.001+08:00

I went out again today, by the path and this time, across the river as well...

There were some welcome suprises... a pair of Paddyfield Pipits which I got really frustrated with. Pipits are always on the move, behaving like roadrunners as they scurry across fields feeding. Well, one of them finally popped up onto the fence and I took the shot the moment it began to jump off behind the fence... see the bending in its legs... haha

I tried to photograph two Pacific Swallows but the images came out blur... I seriously think Nikon CP 4500 has focusing problems. Even the late photographer Laurence Poh thinks so.
Anyway, here are some other pictures. I've yet to perfect my focusing... the problem is I have to focus the telescope AND the camera. and the camera doesnt seem to see what I see through the telescope.

Heres a Common Myna moulting. Really looks like a vulture or smthg...

And heres a Yellow-vented Bulbul... I like the lighting and background colours...

rain...

2005-06-15T20:39:00.000+08:00

The rain really spoils things... I woke up at 6.30 just to find the sky all dark and the streets wet, with occasional rolls of thunder rocking the sky.

So,

I went back to sleep.

I was out at 12.30pm. It was cloudy and the rain had died down, so I got my gear and went to that ulu path. THis path is 2 minutes from my door, running between some old houses and the golf course. The buildings are quite old and this part of the golf course happens to be undeveloped and overgrown.

12.30pm is an unearthly time to birdwatch. But today was cloudy and cool. Few birds were out though, and I resorted to using common species as target practice... with some nice results. Of course lighting was poor and all that... and it also drizzled while I was out there.

But here are two of my best shots from today, White-headed Munia Lonchura maja, and the Striated Heron Butorides striatus.

2005-06-14T22:53:00.000+08:00

* a lifer is a species of bird which a birdwatcher sees for the first time in his life. Hence the term lifer.

First...

2005-06-14T22:10:00.001+08:00

Well I guess I shall put all my bird ramblings here...

I'll start with last saturday... walked around marina south with jason... and got bitten by those big red ants... bleh I really can't stand those ants. They seem to blend in so well with the surroundings that you don't notice them until they're in your clothes.

Anyway, I didn't bring my binos because it was not a birdwatching trip... kind of wasted... There were some cuckoos around and that would have meant a lifer* or two... I haven't seen most of Singapore's cuckoos yet... Anyway, there was a japanese birder there... We tried to communicate but the language barrier made it difficult.

Most of the common species were there... Lesser Whistling-Duck, herons, colourful bee-eaters, kingfishers, bulbuls etc... And we got to see a pair of Oriental Magpie Robins up close. They flew by and started feeding a few feet away while we were sitting and talking.

erm... heres some pictures from marina south, taken a while ago...