Blue-crowned hanging parrots

Often we hear the high pitched honking calls of the blue-crowned hanging parrots as they zip around the Little Red Dot. They are also the only parrot that you will hear along the busy roads of our business district. This is because they favor the yellow flame trees that are planted along the roads, which provide them with food and ideal nesting holes. Their diminutive statue and green color make difficult to spot among the leaves. They are also not as noisy as the parakeets and can move quietly among the foliage. It takes a lot of patience and ignoring stares of people around you as you peer closely at a tree to spot them.

Can you spot the parrot?

Although they are nectar and fruit feeders, they need protein too to survive. In the wild, nature provides them with larvae. In the photo below you'll see a parrot drinking nectar. Look at the leaves of the tree, they've been punched full of round holes. These holes are the result of an infestation of bagworm moth larvae.

I was lucky to have seen photos from a friend who had photographed these parrots doing something unusual, they were harvesting larvae to eat. Spent some time to document this behavior plus I couldn't resist getting better shots of the handsome male blue-crowned hanging parrot.

Plucking larvae to eat

Male blue-crowned hanging parrot

How many species of otter world wide?

Many may not know that we have only 13 species of otters world wide, and all of them are on the IUCN Redlist.
The 13 species are: -

1. African clawless otter
2. Asian small-clawed otter
3. Congo clawless otter
4. Sea otter
5. North American river otter
6. Marine otter
7. Neotropical otter
8. South American river otter
9. Eurasian otter
10. Spotted-Necked otter
11. Hairy-Nosed otter
12. Smooth-Coated otter
13. Giant otter

Source: IUCN OSG

Update on the Bishan otters

Update on the Bishan otters - The Famous Five

The story of the little town parrots

I was in Little India having some fun locating street art in the back alleys. While photographing people who collect cardboard boxes for recycling, I heard a familiar tweeter of my little nemesis - the blue-crowned hanging parrot. It sounded close, like directly above me.

Bishan Park

Another pictorial story

Bishan otters: A pictorial story

Go to pictorial story

Against all odds

Spotted a pair of grey-rumped treeswifts in the midst of building a nest cup on March 01. The female had almost finished her work.

Forgot about the pair as I focused my attention on watching and learning about the pair of smooth-coated otters that are in neighborhood. On April 21, dropped by the location to check on the pair to find this little fella sitting in the nest cup. That afternoon, we had a huge storm but I didn't go on site to check on the chick.

When I did on April 23, the nest was empty and the parents were flying around but there wasn't any calls from the chick. I felt sorry for the parents as they has lost a chick that was so close to fledging. The next day, they were still hanging around and showed no signs of leaving the area. I thought to myself there may be a glimmer of hope.

On April 27, while passing the area I heard the excited calls and then saw one of the parent shadowing its fledgling in flight. It was probably the best Monday I had knowing that the little fella survived the storm and fledged.

Daddy was trying to coax it to fly but the fledgeling wanted to be fed instead. He flew off leaving the young one to stretch its wings, and wonder when one of its parents will relent and feed it.

Bishan otter pair is now a family

I kinda knew what this otter pair were up to but had to let nature take its course and quietly watch from the side lines.

Mama was absent for about three months. She was sighted briefly on several occasions and always very wary of humans.

Unusual behavior of long-tailed parakeets

I first observed the unusual behavior of long-tailed parakeets feeding on the old roof tiles in my neighborhood last year after a heavy downpour.

On the evening of 8 January 2015, I again observed the same behavior with a a flock of long-tailed parakeets that made a stop over in the evening before they head to their roosting site. They were up in the rain trees as usual but a couple of birds started to descend onto a neighbor's roof then more started to follow. Soon there were over fifty birds on the roof peeling off material from the roof tiles to eat.

Excuse me, we aren't beavers

Spent the last couple of days during my break looking for the otters. It didn't start that way but I kept hearing of sightings around the park by regular park users. Must have walked the entire length of the park (I and II) several times over before spotting a crowd of people on Sunday.

They were all gawking at the pair. Many curious folks didn't understand that like humans, the otters have a the need for a safe personal space, and were encroaching on the pair. There was at one point a slight panicked look on one of the otters but they held their own. As the crowd thinned they were able to come out of the water.

It made it possible to confirm the sex of the pair and also to check on the condition of the animals. Generally healthy but one of them has an open cut on its right hind paw.

The otter on the right has a cut on its right hind paw

Rainbow lorikeets

My first introduction to the gregarious rainbow lorikeet was at the bird park's lory loft. Then there was the group of four birds trying to establish nest holes at Malcom Park in 2011 to the pair that  flew around my neighborhood.

Last week I heard the calls of many parrots in the trees along Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 but didn't stop to check out what species. I assumed that they were either long-tailed, red-breasted or rose-ringed parakeets since they are common in the area. It wasn't till Wednesday did I realize that they were rainbow lories (green-naped lorikeets) when I caught sight of a pair flying over me.

Pulling out the bins from the car and painstakingly peering through them at the birds feeding  on the flowering trees yielded javan mynas, orioles and finally the noisy rainbow lories (plenty of them).

Bishan otter has a mate

This rather territorial big bird alerted me to the presence of something in the river when it flew down to the river. On getting closer, I spied the familiar dark brown shape of an otter in the water. Then another head pops up from under water. The Bishan Park otter population has increased. Since I had no camera with me during my walk, I had to walk very quickly home (30 mins) to get my kit.

My first sighting of an otter in Bishan was on 12 September. I shot this photo with my iPhone.

Great-billed herons courtship dance

Lucky me caught the courtship dance of a pair of great-billed herons at Sungei Buloh last Sunday. 

There were initially three herons in breeding plumage breeding (sliver streaked feathers on the lower neck, back and crest) but it was difficult to tell which of the three was the female since these herons have no plumage dimorphism.

The first heron started a display and the other fly in from across the rock island and they began a courtship dance, which was very interesting to watch. Another thing that I noticed was the growling sounds that the pair were making. Although we were very far from the pair we could hear them vocalizing as they danced.

Visiting SBWR's otters

Say hello to the brown anole

A morning visit to Gardens by the Bay for birds turned into a reptile photo session instead. On the bakau support poles propping the transplanted trees in by the car park were pencil long brown lizards sunning themselves.

Wild mushrooms: Ink caps

While browsing at Kinokuniya, I found the Singapore Science Center published "Guide to tropical fungi". This field guide is a nice to have especially with the rainy season, and fungi are springing up everywhere. 

I'm just happy to have something to refer to and put a name to the fungi I spot such as these ink cap mushrooms that had been nameless for a very long time.

Ink caps

Flying with an eagle

incoming eagle

Morning walks these days are full of distractions on the ground and in the air. There are times when a pair of white-bellied sea eagles will circle above or fly low in search of food. With the blessing of clear blue sky photographing a white-bellied sea eagle is just the most enjoyable arm exercise by the time I'm through with the session I'm sweaty and my arms are aching.

Less bullfrogs but they have started to lay eggs

There are significantly fewer bullfrogs today (1 Nov 2013) but there are still enough around to cause damage to the ecosystem. The frogs that are left are half the size of those I saw on Monday. They are less afraid and I could get real close to them to photograph them with a macro lens.

The bad news is even though there are fewer frogs, they have started to lay eggs. This is what I photographed this morning - a pair doing just that. I've sent NParks this photo and urged them to continue catching the remaining frogs.

Over 50 mature American bullfrogs released into Bishan Park

I went for my morning walk at Bishan Park yesterday and when I got to the Lotus Garden, I heard a call of an American bullfrog then another and another. It appeared that someone released bullfrogs into the pond. Upon going around the pond it became apparent how many frogs were released - over 50. There were frogs sitting on rocks, under rocks, on the grass verge, and in the water.

I walked back to my car and grabbed the camera. One of the regulars at the park had said that there were many bullfrogs over at the lotus pond at Ang Mo Kio Town West Garden but I never made it a priority to photograph the frogs till now.

Fall 2013 migration

Fall migration has began in earnest. Five young Asian dowitchers arrived at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on Monday together with a grey-tailed tattler. By yesterday another dowitcher joined the group along with a black-tailed godwit.

The Asian dowitcher is a rare mid-sized wader that is near threatened. It breeds in inland northern Asia during the spring/summer months and winters in Southeast Asia down to Australia. Unfortunately for us the Asian dowitcher is a passage migrant and it only stops for a day or two to rest and feed before moving on. After missing the bird during the previous seasons I'm happy to be rewarded with six birds. The last record of such a high count was during the 1980 migration.

5 Asian dowitchers actively feeding, the 6th was sleeping