Singapore March 2014, Pasir Ris

After two months in Borneo we had to get a new visa for Indonesia and with Singapore being the closest, the choice was easily made. So we stayed a week in this tiny, weird country and did some birding next to the visa arrangements as well. Our first day of birding in Singapore was in the Pasir Ris Park. I was inspired by this post by Redgannet to visit the park. Pasir Ris is very easily reached by the public transport. Just take the East-West MRT line (the green one on all maps) to the last station, which is aptly named "Pasir Ris". From the MRT station just take the B exit and walk towards the east. Five minutes later you will find yourself inside the park (no entry fees). I don´t know whether the weekends are more calm, but when visiting this park during the week, expect a lot of noisy school groups visiting this park for educational purposes.

Because of the post by Redgannet, I made the Spotted Wood Owls and the Mangrove Pitta in the park my main targets. In the end I only found one of the two targets, but I´m very pleased with the results of our seven hour stay in this park. The birding was very entertaining with new birds showing up all the time. In the end we saw more than 50 species in the park. Amongst them where many local residents like Asian Glossy Starling, Black-naped Oriole, Collared, Stork-billed, Common and White-throated Kingfisher, Laced and Banded Woodpecker, Common Flameback, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Pied Thriller, Changeable Hawk-eagle (which attacked the local Grey Heron colony several times!) and Oriental Pied Hornbill. The best amongst the resident birds however were the two Spotted Wood-owls roosting in the high trees just to the West of the concrete viewing hill.

One of the two Spotted Wood-owls (Strix seloputo) inhabiting the large trees near the vieuwing hill

The stars of the day however were the migrants. I was surprised how many species of migratory birds I recorded on this day. Of course the Asian Koels, Blue-throated Bee-eaters and Asian Brown Flycatchers were present, but there were also some more unexpected findings like Ashy Minivet, Grey-streaked Flycatcher (long primary projection, heavy streaking on the underparts and unmarked undertail coverts gave this species away), Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, "Swintail" Snipe and last but not least a female Von Schrenck´s Bittern sneaking through the mangroves!

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (Clamator coromandus)

A female Von Schrenck´s Bittern (Ixobrychus eurhythymus) made my day!

Other animals can also be observed in this park, especially in the mangroves. we had good views of several Plaintain Squirrels, Monitor Lizards, Giant Mudskippers, Archer Fish and other mangrove inhabitants, however we did not have the same luck as Redgannet on that day and did not see any Otters.

Giant Mudskipper (Periophthalmodon schlosseri) peering uit of its muddy hole