Saturday 13 April 2013

Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore, March 2013

Mike from10,000 Birds visited Panti Bird Sanctuary during a recent trip to Singapore. I confess that I had never even heard of Panti before and Mike’s trail-blazing example left me feeling quite the stay-a-bed. Amends must be made. But this is a Redgannet post and regular readers will know that things do not always go to plan. Sometimes it does, but then it transpires that the plan was actually the problem. I had been warned that the border crossing could be busy today (Easter Sunday), so I took a quick look at Singapore’s Botanic Gardens to while away the golden hours.


A walk around Eco Pond brought Black-naped OrioleLesser Whistling Duck, White-breasted Waterhen and Yellow-vented Bulbul. I had made the conscious decision to ignore swiflets this morning.


Heliconia Walk is becoming a firm favourite of mine. An Oriental Magpie Robin sang from his perch there. It is difficult to pass it without stopping for a short while to see if any sunbirds come down to feed. This morning a male Olive-backed Sunbird did the honours.

The bank overlooks the symphony stage with tall palm trees growing from behind it. These palms are often rich with birds and this morning they hosted Asian Glossy Starlings, Blue-rumped Hanging Parrots and Pink-necked Green Pigeons.

On Symphony Lake a Yellow Bittern was poised in the reeds looking for a meal. A large Water Monitor looked hungry too. It was tasting the water and was obviously on the prowl. The bittern looked nervous as it approached and took the prudent option of flight.

Here, I met Mr Che and his friend Peter. They had not seen many birds this morning and Easter Sunday crowds were already making the paths through the gardens very busy. They invited me to join them at Fairway Drive on Eng Neo Avenue, a site that I had not heard of before.
Birds seen;

Lesser Whistling Duck 24, Yellow Bittern 1, Gray Heron 1, White-breasted Waterhen 10, Spotted Dove 10, Zebra Dove 1, Pink-necked Pigeon 20, Long-tailed Parakeet 6, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot 2, Black-naped Oriole 3, House Crow 2, Yellow-vented Bulbul 6, Oriental Magpie Robin 3, Asian Glossy Starling 25, Javan Myna 45, Olive-backed Sunbird 2, Eurasian Tree Sparrow 30.

Spotted Dove

For more posts from Singapore Botanic Gardens, follow the links below;

Visit the dedicated Oriental Page for more posts from Singapore including Paser Ris and Sungei Buloh.


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