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Unidentified Birds - Singapore (1 Viewer)

Quarrion

Member
Hi

Here's a couple of birds I photographed in Singapore last year that I couldn't id from the field guide I had with me (Strange & Jeyarajasingam, 1999).

The first (unk1) was same size as a common miner, behaved like a common miner and was with common miners, but the plumage colouration is quite different - possible leucistic bird?

The second (unk2) flew above us into a tree, so I wasn't able to get a good shot. If we were back in oz I would have said it was a common koel. Definately something along the lines of a large cuckoo or small coucal.

Thanks for your help (*crosses fingers that the attatchments work*)
 

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If it looked like a common koel it was probably a common/asian koel. Eudynamys scolopacea. I saw a male in the few seconds I had to myself when I was in Singapore in September. According to Jeyrarajasigam and Pearson they are common. Hopefully one of the Asian experts will be along soon!

Sorry, can't offer anything on the Mynah
 
Quarrion,

The one on the right appears to be a juvenile Eudynamys scolopaces (Asian Koel) the other one is Sturnus melanopterus (Black-winged Starling), a bird globally threatened..
 
re unk1: Black-winged Starling it is, this is an introduced bird in Singapore (native of Indonesia) though Robson A Field Guide to the Birds of South-east Asia (2002) queries whether the Singapore population is extinct - clearly it isn't!

The other bird is a female Common Koel as pointed out by others.

Spud
 
Black-winged Starling is the bird, as Spud said

This species is kept as a cagebird in the region and as Bali Starling's are all but extinct it appears this species is taking its place, unfortunately. They are now very rare in parts of Indonesia
 
Thanks for your replies guys!

If I had known the myner was so rare I would have reported it. Probably a bit late now, as it was over 18 months ago that I was there.

Good to hear my instincts were right in picking the Commone Koel. That bird wasn't in my field guide for Singapore, but remembered it from Aussie field guides.

Thanks again for your help - another case closed! :)
 
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