It's For The Birds

Something which many people don’t realise is that despite being a small, densely populated and built up island, there is an amazing variety and number of birds in Singapore. According to Wikipedia, there are 400 different types of birds here including indigenous and naturalised varieties and escapees from places like the zoo and Jurong Bird Park.

We are often surprised ourselves by the birdlife we see out our windows, considering we are less than one kilometre from Orchard Road. Of course the huge gardens of the Black and White houses behind us is what attracts many of the birds, as their mature trees and grounds have remained untouched more or less since they were built about 80 years ago. One of my favourites is the Black Naped Oriole (first picture), which is bright yellow with black markings and has a very distinctive, musical call.

Another popular favourite, especially with the boys is the white egret. For some reason we often see these seemingly living a risky life picking in the grass looking for bugs in median strips on the highways or on traffic islands!

Other colourful visitors are green parakeets which seem to nest in large family groups, and their bright plumage supplements the more common families of sparrows, thrush, blackbirds, swallows, finches and other song birds we don’t know the names of.
Occasionally we also see one of the big birds of prey prowling its territory here. There seems to be a resident bird of prey – it may be a black kite – (second picutre) which often lands on the neighbours lawns and stalks with a very impressive gait along the hedge line, now and again stabbing its hooked beak into the undergrowth to grab prey, probably lizards and beetles. When it’s done it roosts on the roof of the house for a while before flying off.
The family living in the house owns two Labrador dogs and at least two cats, all of which keep a healthy and respectful distance from this rather fierce looking visitor.

Occasionally I also spot what I suspect is a huge Red Backed Sea Eagle floating over, his white belly shining in the sun (picture 3). These birds are mostly scavengers but I haven’t seen this one land; he or she sails over on an updraft at high attitude, presumably looking for food. It's wing span is certainly impressive and it's so great to be floating on your back in the pool gazing at the deep blue above and have one of these huge predators slowly glide into view.




A couple of years ago our neighbour at level 2 even spotted a crested hornbill out the window one day! This is a very unusual looking bird, so she promptly range the local bird park to enquire if they had lost one. However apparently this is another native bird although it is only spotted wild about 4 or 5 times per year. Imagine seeing one here so close to the inner city! I’ve included a photo of a hornbill below but I don’t know if this is the same variety as was spotted here.

Anybody planning to visit Singapore should definitely schedule in a trip to the Jurong Bird Park which is one of the islands best attractions. Check out http://www.birdpark.com.sg/ for information and pictures.