Birds of Singapore
by the Bird Society of Singapore
This post highlights significant avian sightings during Singapore's November migration, including a national first Rhinoceros Hornbill and a rare Steppe Eagle. It also discusses a renewed commitment to eBird listing following the appointment of BirdSoc SG as a regional partner for the platform.
Rhinoceros Hornbill at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. First confirmed wild bird record for Singapore November is smack in the middle of the autumn migration season for Singapore. Whether trying to look for raptors at Mt Faber, or trying our luck for waders at Sungei Buloh, birders have every excuse to get out and look for rarities. Who knows, we may get lucky and stumble upon a national first bird species for Singapore. If not, we can always hope to improve our bird count with any of the rarities that invariably turn up around this time of the year. Having taken a break from actively listing my sightings at eBird for a while, I recently started again soon after Bird Society of Singapore (BirdSoc SG) was appointed as the regional partner of eBird for Singapore. It was more a show of support for the organisation than any pressing need to list. The Rhinoceros Hornbill appeared at Sungei Buloh on 28 October. The fact that this species was a national first somehow changed the dynamic of listing for me. I spent a few days in November trying to get some better photographs of it and decided that it’s only appropriate to start using the eBird app on my phone. Who knows what else I can find, and I might as well start a list if I am out birding instead of only submitting one through the website later in the day. I attended BirdSoc SG’s second Raptor Watch event on 2 November and the highlight of the day was the appearance of a juvenile Steppe Eagle, a species we have not encountered since 1999. Of course I had to do an eBird list for that, as it was my first SG tick for the month. And so the list submissions went on and on thereafter. As a side note, interestingly the eagle made its journey to Indonesia and was photographed 1,200km away near Mount Merapi, in Jawa. By around the 10th of the month, I noticed from the eBird website that I have a measly year count so far (157 at the start of November), and thought to myself that I ought to aim to get to 200 bird species by the end of the year (I had 201 in 2024). It was also the day we discovered that there was a new national first sighted, a Rustic Bunting, at a site I have yet to explore called Marina Grove. Unfortunately we all dipped on the bunting, but such is birding. Marina Grove as a site still had more to give, but more about that later. On 17 November, I had a very good listing day at Neo Tiew area, and Dairy Farm Nature Park where a few nice flycatchers I have yet to see for the year appeared, like the Mugimaki, Dark-sided and Zappey’s. The next day, needing one more bird, I went there again and knew exactly where to find bird 200, the Rufous-tailed Tailorbird and got it in no time. So challenge completed. What’s next then? I ruminated over this for a while. By the 20th, I knew what exactly I wanted. I wanted to end the month with the highest possible number of birds listed. In other words, by a series of connected but unlikely events, I ended up embarking on a Big Month quest, with two-thirds of the month already ended. What foolishness! Why a Big Month, not a Big Year, or a Big Day? For me personally, a Big Year is too long a time to compete and complete, too taxing, too stressful, and ultimately I am not so dedicated to go out every day to look for birds. A Big Day is challenging, but too short a time, where the outcome is more influenced by a big amount of randomness and chance. A Big Week is a good amount of time. Something I may challenge myself one of these days, but a Big Month is what I ultimately ended up pursuing. The goal was 180 birds for November. With this new goal came new focus. Instead of the 2-3 hours of daily birding, it meant more walking to more sites for more opportunities and birding hours extending to the afternoon. I ended up walking anywhere between 12K-20K steps daily instead of the normal 8-10K steps. When the news came about the presence of a Caspian Tern at Pulau Ubin, I extended my birding hours to evening time as well. I took a ferry and then a taxi to Chek Jawa in Pulau Ubin, and promptly dipped again… No luck after all these years. A consolation prize of a Black-headed Gull (a rarity in Singapore) was on offer together with 5 other wader monthly ticks. Life goes on. However, on any other non-twitching days, what I actively avoided was to go to a site for just one specific bird. Instead, more often than not, I was keen to explore different habitats that I normally don’t focus on. It meant going to West Coast Park, a place I have not visited for years. I managed to see the Dusky Warbler and Black Bittern but was too impatient to wait for the Black-capped Kingfisher to appear. It’s no wonder that I won’t do another Big Year! It also meant going to Sungei Buloh more often than usual to check for rare waders and ended up scanning the sky in boredom and ended up with a distant Greater Spotted Eagle instead. On the second last day of the month (29 November), I started the morning visiting my old stomping ground in Lorong Halus, where...