Birdwatching at Bukit Batok Nature Park

I'm glad to pronounce myself as a fledging (no pun intended - English is such an interesting language!) birdwatcher as of 7 May 2006 (Sunday) with my third birdwatching outing at BB Nature Park, but which marks the first serious excursion with my Nikon Monarch binoculars (10x42; powerful!).

The signs of a fruitful outing were all there. I was greeted by a full-coloured, descriptive signboard which proudly proclaims the resident birds staying in this place at the junction of BB Ave 2 and 6.

First on the menu (haha! a word that scares the hell out of birds) was the laughingthrush, a cute, oversized version of a sparrow (I'm not sure if they are from the same genus). Distinctive with its completely white head, as if draped in a pristinely-white scarf, and one of the less bashful birds, they are easily seen on the ground (or maybe because it's fat??) and they are literally just an arm's length away.

Andrew, an old bird (pardon me, can't resist it) at birdwatching (this park is literally his backyard since his block overlooks this place), said that it's common to see laughingthrush at the birdshop nearby, to visit their other feathered friends and of course, to partake in some of the leftover bird seeds there...


As the walk went on, more treasures were to be discovered at the watering hole for birds and the more shady areas-

• the common yellow-vented bulbul, which a lot of NSS members voted for as the national bird of Singapore, but it lost to .....
• ... the crimson sunbird perched high up on a 'botak' tree - Evelyn's (another teacher who I got to know today) and my favourite tree, for obvious reasons - which has a body similar to ..... It's now the unofficial national bird of Singapore
• .....an olive sunbird, which I was sure I know how to identify one, till I saw the ....
• .....flowerpecker, and ....
• spidercatcher... Aaaaarggh! all of them look the same with their dainty size, long beaks and proportionately rather short tail... (will study how to differentiate the three)
• 2 species of kingfisher: white-collared and white-throated (I finally know the difference!)
• a white-bellied sea eagle sitting prettily on the Singtel "Eiffel Tower" til its 'eagle' (eager) eye caught us spying at it
• a woodpecker
• the omnipresent black-naped oriole
• a greater (I think, with the double rather than single racket) racket-tailed Drongo. I've been told this is the name you should quote if you want to masquerade as an expert... and most of the time, you'll be right! Very common in this area, they mimick sounds of other birds. The biggest and most spectacular of their species in this region, it's very easy to identify them while they're in flight... from the idiosyncratic silhouette of an elaborate 'V', with exaggerated rounded dots to start and end the alphabet , trailing across the sky....
• at the carpark, just as we were about to adjourn for a makan session, we saw this barbet throwing a fig around

We trekked up to Hume Heights, where we saw another kingfisher and a raptor (?) chasing a pair of birds, which was too fast for even the most experienced to identify...

The 'experienced' refers to :

• our leader for this trip , a 20-year old NS boy (so young! but an oldie in birdwatching age), who recommended the 'cheap' ("Borders selling at $39 only! ") bird guide by Craig Robson
• his friend Ting Li (?) who chased birds all the way to the remote islands of Indonesia. He's going to Flores next, next to komodo dragon haven, called (what else?) Komodo Island. What's impressive is that he can actually mimick the different sounds of a few species of birds of the same genus! And sometimes, the birds do fall for it and reply....
• Andrew, the 'old bird', bachelor, ex-diver, ex-sailor (such an exciting job!), joker, wanderer(!!)
• Si Ghim, a joker, seasoned trekker (one trip being F&E from Melbourne to Uluru or Ayers Rock) and the guy I remember because of his powerful fieldscope I used at Khatib Bongsu. Expensive! Should cost more than 2000 bucks, which makes the $400 I spent on my Monarch sound like a pittance... nevertheless a princely sum for my modest means....

So what's the allure of this activity that captivates us so much that we spare no expense in chasing after birds? Maybe it's the thrill of the chase of an ephemeral meeting with these elusive creatures... or pursuit of a never-say-die activity....

To get into the psychology of birdwatchers and the 'spoils' we can get, go read
http://besgroup.blogspot.com/

and Ya! forgot to state earlier we saw a loving flowerpecker feeding its baby inside a nest constructed in a cosy piece of real estate nestled in the shade....