[viator]

Here we go again with another year list - 2009's 669 has provided a high bar to try and beat!

For comparison purposes I'll update this post with the number of species seen by country.

As of Dec 31 the total for 2010 stands at 781.

For comparison purposes:
Country_______2008___2009___2010
Singapore______234____210____206
USA___________207___________177
Australia_______170____123____183
Malaysia_______122____392____229
Indonesia_______26
Hong Kong_______1_____________2
Thailand______________222
Dubai_________________________8
Greece________________________3
Spain_______________________152
Italy_________________________14
World________613___669___781

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Jan 1

No specific birding just the common birds around home.

1. Asian Koel
2. Black-naped Oriole
3. Olive-backed Sunbird
4. Asian Glossy Starling
5. Brown-throated Sunbird
6. Pacific Swallow
7. Javan Myna
8. Yellow-vented Bulbul
9. Common Pigeon
10. Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker
11. Crested Honey Buzzard
12. House Crow
13. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
14. Common Myna
15. Common Flameback
16. Collared Kingfisher
17. Large-billed Crow
18. Zebra Dove
19. House Swift
20. Spotted Dove
21. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
22. Brown Shrike
23. Germain's Swiftlet
24. Common Iora
25. Oriental Dollarbird
26. Pink-necked Green Pigeon
27. Japanese Sparrowhawk
28. Asian Palm Swift

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Jan 2

First new bird seen driving along the coastal road around the back of Changi Airport
29. White-throated Kingfisher

It was then on the boat for the short trip across to Pulau Ubin - 3 tern species in the 10-15min crossing with a fourth from the jetty. Thereafter it was a steady supply of new birds whilst walking for a few hours
30. Swift Tern
31. Little Tern
32. Common Tern
33. Lesser Crested Tern
34. Crimson Sunbird
35. Straw-headed Bulbul
36. Ashy Tailorbird
37. Black-nest Swiftlet
38. Common Kingfisher
39. Crested Hawk-Eagle
40. Pied Fantail
41. Hodgson's Hawk-Cuckoo
42. Brahminy Kite
43. Red Turtle Dove
44. Common Hill Myna
45. Yellow Bittern
46. Black Baza
47. Van Hasselt's Sunbird
48. Abbott's Babbler
49. White-bellied Sea-Eagle
50. Red Junglefowl
51. Grey Heron
52. Long-tailed Shrike
53. Eastern Great Egret
54. Little Egret
55. Intermediate Egret
56. Pacific Reef Egret
57. Blue-tailed Bee-eater
58. Scaly-breasted Munia
59. White-rumped Munia
60. Common Tailorbird
61. Barn Swallow
62. White-breasted Waterhen
63. Oriental Magpie Robin
64. Olve-winged Bulbul
65. Rufous-tailed Tailorbird
66. Greater Coucal
67. Long-tailed Parakeet

Upon returning back to the mainland a flock of Red-breasted parakeets were flying over Changi Village.
68. Red-breasted Parakeet

[viator]

Jan 3, East Coast Park

A short walk in the afternoon added another 3 birds. Unfortunately I'd only take my bins and not the camera which meant missing out on great closeups of a Chinese Sparrowhawk

69. Chinese Sparrowhawk
70. Asian Brown Flycatcher
71. Little Heron

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Jan 4

Seen from the bus on the way to work this morning when crossing the Kallang River, Singapore

72. Common Sandpiper

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Jan 5

A short walk at lunch time added several more relatively common birds within 1km of the office

73. Pied Triller
74. Golden-bellied Gerygone
75. Arctic Warbler
76. Oriental White-eye
77. Tiger Shrike
78. Eastern-crowned Warbler

Heading home through Siglap yielded a somewhat out of place Tanimbar Corella which are normally seen around Changi Village but I do see here occassionally

79. Tanimbar Corella

[viator]

Jan 10, Changi Cove

Spent the afternoon cycling out to Changi Cove to pick up some grassland specialists. Picked up 52 species for the trip of which 10 were new for 2010.

80. Asian Paradise Flycatcher
81. Yellow-bellied Prinia
82. Paddyfield Pipit
83. Stejneger's Stonechat
84. Zitting Cisticola
85. Eastern Marsh Harrier
86. Black-winged Kite
87. Lesser Coucal
88. Red-wattled Lapwing
89. Peregrine Falcon

[viator]

Jan 11

I had a day off and the intention was to both get into the forest, with a hike from Dairy Farm Nature Reserve into Bukit Timah Nature Reserve incl. a quick stop at the Singapore Quarry for the Little Grebes, and secondly to see what waders were around Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve.

The first bird of the day though was seen enroute on the side of a canal.

90. Black-crowned Night-Heron

Heading into the forest things were quite slow to start with but picked up as I got further in. The two highlights for me were the Black-headed Bulbul and Red-crowned Barbet both being rare residents that were new for my Singapore list.

91. Blue-rumped Parrot
92. Thick-billed Green Pigeon
93. Siberian Blue Robin
94. Pin-striped Tit Babbler
95. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
96. Red-legged Crake
97. Lineated Barbet
98. Dark-necked Tailorbird
99. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
100. Coppersmith Barbet
101. Western Osprey
102. Little Grebe
103. Black-headed Bulbul
104. Red-crowned Barbet
105. Laced Woodpecker
106. Short-tailed Barbet
107. Cream-vented Bulbul

After a quick bite to eat having exited the forest it was then out to the wetlands of Sungei Buloh. A very hot afternoon without many waders....

108. Eastern Cattle Egret
109. Common Greenshank
110. Marsh Sandpiper
111. Milky Stork
112. Painted Stork
113. Common Redshank
114. Terek Sandpiper
115. Copper-throated Sunbird
116. Black Drongo
117. Chinese Pond Heron
118. Pacific Golden Plover
119. Whimbrel
120. Ashy Minivet
121. Stork-billed Kingfisher
122. Slaty-breasted Rail

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Jan 13

A quick walk around the corner from the office to a patch of overgrown bushes yielded the resident Large-tailed Nightjars.

123. Large-tailed Nightjars

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Jan 14

No birding just the bus ride home after work!

124. Rose-ringed Parakeet

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Jan 20

Another parrot new for 2010 on the bus ride home - this time a flock of 3.

125. Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot

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Jan 23

A quick trip to the Singapore Botanic Gardens to look for the three star attractions of the moment: Hooded Pitta, Orange-headed Thrush and the Malayan Night Heron whose been around for over a month now. Only managed the first of the three. The pitta views weren't even worth attempting to take a photo of!

126. Hooded Pitta
127. Grey-rumped Treeswift
128. Lesser Whistling Duck

Much later in the day another new 2010 bird seen from a bus.

129. Purple Heron

[viator]

Jan 30, Pulau Ubin

Spent a long hot day over on Ubin which yielded an excellent 91 species - of which 21 are new for 2010.

130. Red-rumped Swallow
131. Dusky Warbler
132. White-rumped Shama
133. Little Green Pigeon
134. Barred Buttonquail
135. White-shouldered Starling
136. Rufous Woodpecker
137. Banded Bay Cuckoo
138. Chestnut Munia
139. Mangrove Whistler
140. Grey Plover
141. Crow-billed Drongo
142. Great-billed Heron
143. Oriental Pied Hornbill
144. Lesser Sand Plover
145. Kentish Plover
146. Sanderling
147. Malayasian Plover
148. Greater Sand Plover
149. Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo
150. Black-capped Kingfisher

[viator]

Jan 31, Central Catchment Forest

I spent the afternoon walking through the Central Catchment, from Venus Drive across to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. A very quiet day for birds due to the numbers of other people in the forest, most of whom seem to try and make as much noise as possible - as a result all the new birds occurred in the middle of the hike around 5km from the start!

151. Red-eyed Bulbul
152. Banded Woodpecker
153. Yellow-browed Warbler
154. Yellow-vented Flowerpecker
155. Chestnut-bellied Malkoha

[viator]

Feb 12, Kallang River

Firstly thanks to whoever gave the rating since my last post.

Today's new bird was another one seen from a bus on the way home from work. This time when crawling across the Kallang River a White-winged Tern flew conveniently at bridge height on the reservoir side. This is one of our common winter visiting terns.

156. White-winged Tern

[viator]

Feb 13, Pulau Ubin

A quiet morning spent on P. Ubin with my son - quiet due to not seeing much and because as the day before Chinese New Year not many people and the restaurants and shops by the ferry terminal were mostly all closed.

We did though manage to see two new 2010 birds

157. Javan Munia
158. Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher

[viator]

Feb 22

A small park by my office today yielded a winter visitor I've been surprised not to see already this year!

159. Indian Cuckoo

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Feb 23, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Thanks to a meeting adjacent to SBG I took the opportunity to check for the visiting Orange-headed Thrush which has been around for the last 6 weeks or so which I dipped on in late Jan. Heading to the Ginger Garden area I spotted several photographers and upon getting to them there was the thrush maybe 2m from the path and less than a metre from where I saw the Hooded Pitta last month! Alas didn't have the camera with me as I don't have a decent shot of an OHT.

160. Orange-headed Thrush

[viator]

Feb 25, East Coast Park

A quick stroll to East Coast Park added a juvenile Little Bronze Cuckoo which was spotted thanks to its incessantly calling its Golden-bellied Gerygone foster parent.

161. Little Bronze Cuckoo

Besides the cuckoo here are a couple of photos of Large-tailed Nightjar

[viator]

Mar 5, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Two new 2009 birds, the first a couple of Wandering Whistling Ducks in amongst the regular Lesser Whistling Ducks. Probably seen them there before without paying attention amongst the Lessers...

162. Wandering Whistling Duck
163. Blue-throated Bee-eater

[viator]

Mar 6, Pulau Ubin

Spent another morning walking around the island and got another 2 year birds

164. Common Emerald Dove
165. Glossy Swiftlet

Below is a photo of the world's largest moth - at least by surface area if not quite by wingspan - the Atlas Moth.

[viator]

Mar 12

Surprised to see a Dark-sided Flycatcher hawking in a stand of trees by the office at lunch time.

166. Dark-sided Flycatcher

Whilst waiting for the bus to head home a flock of at least 30 Daurian Starlings circled overhead before coming into roost. A surprise not to have had these before now!

167. Daurian Starling

[viator]

Mar 13, East Coast Park

An afternoon stroll along the park in which I didn't see many birds but one good one - a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher which should be heading north. Unfortunately some other people came along to see what I was looking at and spooked it so no photo.

168. Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

[viator]

Apr 5, @Home

Despite having heard Brown Hawk Owl's quite a few times since we moved to our current apartment 18 months ago I've never actually seen one! This changed this morning around 6:40am when one seemed very close i.e. lying in bed with the window open it was unusually loud!

Living on the 7th floor (with no buildings beyond ours) I'm basically at tree top height so after 15min of staring out the window at every silhoutte I didn't recognize (this wasn't the first pre-dawn spent staring out the bedroom window) I eventually spotted a likely shape that wasn't normally there. It eventually got light enough to really id it (personal choice I don't use heard-only birds for my lists) and very soon afterward it flew off, still before sunrise to wherever it spends the day.

So as far as I was concerned the day was all down hill from there and the sun hadn't even come up!

169. Brown Hawk Owl

So as of Apr 5 I'm 190 species behind my record pace of 2009 - but a family holiday in Spain followed by a conference in Las Vegas over the next 5-6 weeks will hopefully pretty much wipe out the gap if not put me in front.

[viator]

Apr 17, Pulau Ubin

Another walking spent walking around Ubin which added a couple of new birds for 2010. The first a Plaintive Cuckoo which was calling loudly which was quickly followed by the rare visitor to Singapore a Crested Serpent Eagle.

170. Plaintive Cuckoo
171. Crested Serpent Eagle

The best sighting of the day though was an Equatorial Spitting Cobra swimming across a pond.

Providing the volcanic ash clears and the airlines clear their backlog flying to Europe on Tues evening....