13 August 2006: Encore

... this entry named after what those tedious Mediacorp tv programmes like to call themselves when they are repeated ...

2nd birding @ Ubin this yr, hehe... can't resist what the 1st bird I saw on land was the Oriental Pied Hornbill. Hope for an encore, which did happen... with not one but THREE hornbills perched on a roof. Yours truly is proud to say I was the FIRST to spot, just as the bee-eater later on...

Would go on a 3rd trip...to see what the elusive straw-headed bulbuls look like in real life. Hunted almost to extinction in Indonesia, it was reassuring to hear the loud and melodious, though intermittent, sounds of 2 of them calling out to each other...The closest was we traced it to a tree, but it was too dense to make out bird from leaves...

Other sightings:
Flamebacked woodpecker (me spotted 1st again), red-breasted parakeets coming in and out of their love nest, sea eagles, sunbirds, tailorbirds, and a very handsome Stork-Billed Kingfisher (can't understand when they say it's not bright enough...) taking a cool respite from the heat for a long, long time under the shade of a palm branch.