Pelagic Bird Survey at the Singapore Strait – 5 May 2018

Birders exploring the eastern Singapore Strait document rare Short-tailed Shearwaters and migratory Swinhoe’s Storm Petrels during a spring survey. The trip also records an unexpected Gull-billed Tern and various resident terns, highlighting the diversity of pelagic species found in local waters during the peak migration period.

On 5 May 2018, a boat with 10 birders/bird photographers boarded from Marina Cove, Sentosa and headed towards the eastern part of the Singapore Strait up until closer to coast of Pengerang, Malaysia. The weather was fine, and we expected we should see a mixture of the usual resident seabirds as well as some spring migrants on passage. Early May should bring us some Swinhoe’s Storm Petrels and Short-tailed Shearwaters. Our hunch proved correct. The Short-tailed Shearwater is listed as a rare passage migrant for Singapore, and we were glad to see 3 of them in this trip, with a close view of a pair quickly flying past our boat. Short-tailed Shearwater at Singapore Strait The Swinhoe’s Storm Petrel is a reliable and common passage migrant at the Singapore Strait. We expected bigger numbers to show up, but we did manage to see at least 6 birds. Distant shot of Swinhoe's Storm Petrel at Singapore Strait What was unexpected was an appearance of a faraway Gull-billed Tern, which was a bonus bird. Unfortunately, it was only seen by a few people on board. Distant shot of a non-breeding Gull-billed Tern at Singapore Strait Other terns seen were the usual Black-naped Terns, Lesser Crested Terns, Greater cRested Terns, Little Terns and Bridled Terns. A pair of Bridled Tern at Singapore Strait A juvenile Bridled Tern at Singapore Strait Lesser Crested Tern at Singapore Strait A Black-naped Tern lit by the warm glow of the morning sun. Photographed at Singapore Strait Here is the table of the bird count for the trip: Bird Name Count Short-tailed Shearwater 3 Swinhoe’s Storm Petrel 6 Bridled Tern 19 Little Tern 30 Gull-billed Tern 1 Black-naped Tern 2 Greater Crested Tern 2 Lesser Crested Tern 29 Tern sp 10 Swiftlets sp 6 Route for the Pelagic Bird Survey – 5 May 2018