Mike Hooper (viator)'s 2008 List (1 Viewer)

[viator]

Aug 13

A morning walk in the central catchment forests yielded a flock of 3 Blue-rumped Parrots the rarest of the resident parrots and one other new year bird Chestnut-bellied Malkoha.

458. Blue-rumped Parrot
459. Chestnut-bellied Malkoha

In the afternoon I went to look for early wader migrants at Sungei Buloh which was a little disappointing with small flocks of Common Redshanks, Common Greenshanks and a couple of Common Sandpipers. The sighting of a couple of Common Moorhens did increase the 2008 year list for Singapore to 191.

 

[viator]

Thanks to going through updating my taxonomy database with some splits I've got one additional bird. Eastern Great Egret - which is the species I've been seeing in Sth East Asia as opposed to (Western) Great Egret sighted in the US.

460. Eastern Great Egret

 

[viator]

Sep 5
A lunch time stroll to Marina South to look for any migrants having arrived passing through. The migrants seen were: Asian Brown Flycatcher (1), Forest Wagtail (2), Common Kingfisher (1), and Common Sandpiper (4).

Highlight though was a resident and new bird for 2008, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot

461. Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot

 

[viator]

September 12

Spent the morning hiking in the central forests looking for migrants.

The highlights were a couple of Whiskered Treeswifts that were perched low in the forest during a torrential thunderstorm and a Hooded Pitta that raced across the path barely 10m from the Treeswifts whilst I unsuccessfully was trying to shelter!

462. Chestnut-winged Babbler
463. Asian Paradise Flycatcher
464. Whiskered Treeswift
465. Red-collared Lorikeet
466. Hooded Pitta

A visit then to Sungei Buloh to look for waders was highlighted by a Great Knot - over the last couple of weeks there have been several sightings of probably different birds passing through along with the more common waders.

467. Great Knot
468. Grey-headed Fish Eagle

 

[viator]

September 19

A lunch time walk in some thick secondary forest at Marina South yielded an excellent lifer which is also my 200th Singapore bird for 2008 - a White-bellied Woodpecker.

This is a very rare resident which is normally deep in the forests of central Singapore so finding one on the coast is extremely unusual - a visitor to Singapore?

469. White-bellied Woodpecker

 

[viator]

September 30

Was sitting outside with my son just after dark when I heard an owl calling. After a bit of a search in the trees at the bottom of the garden spotted it - an Eastern Barn Owl.

470. Eastern Barn Owl

 

[viator]

October 5

My typical weekend afternoon walk at Marina East is starting to get more interesting with the passage migrants and winter visitors. Today's walk was full of expectations given I started on the tail end of a heavy downpour which had lasted a couple of hours - something the teams from last weekend's Grand Prix would have been happy not to race in!

Things got off to a good start with a resident though, a juvenile Little Bronze Cuckoo giving its 'parent' Golden-bellied Gerygone a hard time providing food.

Next was my second sighting of a Brahminy Starling for Singapore - the other time being Feb this year. This is either a vagrant to Singapore or an escapee. Given I go to this spot very regularly (this was the 3rd time in 5 days) I don't believe there is an escapee hanging out there or I'd see much more often than during migration times!

Over the grassland/swampy area was a large flock of mixed swifts and swallows. At a minimum this included House Swifts, Asian Palm Swifts, Germain Swiftlets, Pacific Swallows, Barn Swallows, three Red-rumped Swallows and at least two passage migrant Asian House Martins. The last being new for 2008.

471. Asian House Martin

Other migrants spotted were: Common Sandpiper, Brown and Tiger Shrikes, Purple-backed Starling, Asian Brown and Yellow-rumped Flycatchers

 

[viator]

October 7th

Whilst walking back over Siglap Hill after lunch and sheltering from a heavy downpour a migrant Common Kestrel flew in and landed in some trees.

472. Common Kestrel

 

[viator]

Feb 14 update

A relook at a photo taken on Gunung Raya, Langkawi, Malaysia which I'd originally assumed was a Japanese Sparrowhawk has with the assistance of BF members turned into a lifer: Grey-faced Buzzard

473. Grey-faced Buzzard

 

[viator]

Oct 27

An afternoon walk during the Diwali/Deepavali public holiday at Marina East yielded a good array of migrants but only one new bird for 2008.

474. Dark-sided Flycatcher

 

[viator]

Nov 3

A morning walk through Sime Forest produced a reasonable selection of residents and migrants although total numbers seemed low.

Within a few minutes of starting the hike I flushed the first new bird of 2008, a migrant Black Bittern.

475. Black Bittern

Shortly afterwards in the dawn light a silhouette of an Accipiter perched on a dead tree - as the light improved giving better views and moving further down the trail improving the angle it proved to be the rare resident Crested Goshawk.

476. Crested Goshawk

After not seeing much for quite a while my main target for the morning hopped all to briefly into view, a Siberian Blue Robin

477. Siberian Blue Robin

The last new bird for 2008 was also a lifer, the rare resident of the central forest a Malaysian Hawk Cuckoo.

478. Malaysian Hawk Cuckoo

 

[viator]

Nov 8

I was sitting at the computer this afternoon going through some photos when a Black Kite when a commotion amongst the usual birds caused me to look up and see the kite.

479. Black Kite

Edit: After going through some photos of Weavers at Marina East from a walk taken later in the day I realised one is a Streaked Weaver

480. Streaked Weaver

 

[viator]

Nov 22
Marina East

A short walk produced many migrant passerines but only one new for 2008.

481. Mugimaki Flycatcher

 

[viator]

Nov 23

A short walk on Pulau Ubin with my son so not seriously birding but still managed a lifer - a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo that flew across the path.

482. Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

The ferry back to Singapore yielded a few terns with a couple of White-winged Terns knew for 2008.

483. White-winged Tern

We then grabbed a taxi back via the Changi Coastal rd and spotted a Common Buzzard on the fence around the airport.

484. Common Buzzard

 

[viator]

Nov 25

Starting walking today at 7am I spent 7 1/2 hours walking just under 30km around the NW corner of Singapore starting with a circuit of Sungei Buloh for the waders and other mangrove birds before covering a variety of farmland, freshwater marsh, and secondary forests. All up seeing 92 species but only 3 new for 2008.

The highlight of the day was Singapore's star visitor a Noordmans's Greenshank at Sungei Buloh - its been there for a couple of weeks now but its the first of its kind to visit Singapore in 27 years. Also new to my Singapore list, but not 2008 list, was a flock of 7 Great Knots

485. Noordmann's Greenshank

Whilst walking the 4-5km from SB to Neo Tiew Lane 2 I was surprised to see a Besra in a small tree beside the road.

486. Besra

At Kranji Reservoir at the end of NTL 2 amongst the White-winged and Little Terns was a single Whiskered Tern - new to my Singapore as well as 2008 list.

487. Whiskered Tern

Despite then hiking around for a few more hours nothing else new!

 

[viator]

Dec 3

Cut across the 'park' adjacent to Bedok bus interchange after lunch and spotted a single Grey-streaked Flycatcher

488. Grey-streaked Flycatcher

 

[viator]

Dec 5

Walked over Siglap Hill at lunch time and was very surprised to see a raptor in a roadside tree on the edge of the cemetery. Was able to get very close for excellent views of a migrant that was also a lifer!

489. Booted Eagle

 

[viator]

Dec 6
Pulau Ubin

A morning spent having a walk with my son on Ubin yielded 2 new birds for 2008. The first a rare resident, Mangrove Blue Flycatcher, the second a winter visitor and lifer, Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo.

490. Mangrove Blue Flycatcher
491. Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo

 

[viator]

Dec 7
Marina East

A couple of hours walking yielded 49 species with plenty of migrants but only one new one for 2008, Von Shrenck's Bittern

492. Von Shrenck's Bittern

 

[viator]

Dec 8

A public holiday in Singapore today and re-visited Marina East after the mornings heavy rain turned into a persistent drizzle. A longer list than yesterday with 62, and one new for 2008, White-shouldered Starling and another new for Singapore, Wood Sandpiper

493. White-shouldered Starling