10th Raptor Watch Report

10th Singapore Raptor Watch Report

Autumn 2017 Migration - 5 Nov 2017

compiled by TAN Gim Cheong

Chinese Sparrowhawk, juvenile, at Puaka Hill, , 5 Nov 2017, by Jacky Soh

The 10th Singapore raptor watch was held on Sunday, 5 November 2017 and involved 65 participants. Apart from a bit of drizzle at the start of the day, the weather was fine. There were 8 raptor watch sites and the numbers counted at each site varied from a high of 289 to a low of 21 birds. A total of 781 raptors were counted, including 567 raptors representing 7 migrant species and 113 raptors of 7 resident species. A further 101 raptors could not be identified to species level.

Summary: Number of raptors - 781 - 567 migrant raptors. - 113 resident raptors. - 101 un-identified raptors.

Number of species - 14 - 7 migrant species. - 7 resident species.

Site Tuas Japanese Kent Telok Halus Ubin Marina GRAND South Garden Ridge Blangah Wetlands Puaka Business Barrage TOTAL Ave 12 Park Hill Park Hill Park Site Totals 29 152 289 104 49 109 28 21 781 Figure 1 : Total count by Site

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Seven of the sites were the same ones as previous years, thanks to all the site leaders for their faithful support! The minor changes were the shift of the Tuas site slightly north to Tuas South Avenue 12 due to construction works at Tuas South Avenue 16, and the addition of .

Halus Wetlands Puaka Hill, Pulau Ubin

Changi Business Park Japanese Gardens

Kent Ridge Marina Barrage Tuas South Ave 12

Figure 2 : 2017 Raptor Watch Sites. (source of basemap – maps.google.com.sg)

After a slow start in the morning, with less than 20 birds each in the first three 1-hour periods (probably due to the drizzle), the numbers of migrant raptors surged to 224 birds in the 12pm-1pm period, then dropping gradually, to 146 birds in the next hour, 80 in the following hour and 60 in the last hour of the count.

Raptor Watch 2017 - Numbers by 1-hr Time Period (Migrants only)

250 224

200

150 146

100 80

60

50 17 17 19

0 9-10 10-11 11-12 12-1 1-2 2-3 3-4

Figure 3 : Raptor numbers by 1-hour time periods (migrant raptors only)

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The Black Baza reclaimed the top spot, a position it last held in 2009, with 252 birds counted. The largest number of Black Bazas were at Park (148 birds), Telok Blangah Hill Park (36 birds) and Pulau Ubin (28 birds). The largest groups were a flock of 61 birds at 12:29pm and another flock of 60 between 1pm-2pm, both at . As for the Oriental Honey Buzzard (OHB), after 7 years as the most numerous migrant raptor during our Raptor Watch, it dropped to second place with 166 birds counted. The largest number of OHBs were at Kent Ridge Park (57 birds), Japanese Garden (45 birds) and Telok Blangah Hill Park (32 birds).

Black Baza, at Puaka Hill, Pulau Ubin, 5 Nov 2017, by Jacky Soh

The Japanese Sparrowhawks come out in force, with 126 birds, almost double its previous high of 67 birds in 2014. The main bulk of the Japanese Sparrowhawks (65 birds) were counted at, coincidentally, the Japanese Garden! There were 18 Chinese Sparrowhawks, and most of them (14 birds) were recorded at Puaka Hill, Pulau Ubin. Only two Western Ospreys were recorded - one at Japanese Garden and the other at Puaka Hilll, Pulau Ubin. For the uncommon Common Buzzard, two were recorded at Lorong Halus Wetlands between 12pm-1pm. A single Peregrine Falcon was recorded at Kent Ridge Park at 3:10pm.

S/N Species (Migrants) Count 1 Black Baza Aviceda leuphotes 252 2 Oriental Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilorhyncus 166 3 Japanese Sparrowhawk Accipiter gularis 126 4 Chinese Sparrowhawk Accipiter soloensis 18 5 Western Osprey Pandion haliaetus 2 6 Common Buzzard Buteo buteo 2 7 Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus 1 Total Migrant Raptors 567

1 Un-identified Accipiter 66 2 Un-identified Raptor 34 3 Un-identified Eagle 1 Total Unidentified Raptors 101 Figure 4 : Migrant and Unidentified Raptors Counted

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Japanese Sparrowhawk, juvenile, at Puaka Hill, Pulau Ubin, 5 Nov 2017, by Jacky Soh

For the resident species, the total count was 113 birds of 7 species, one more species than the year before - the addition being the Crested Serpent Eagle. The count for the resident raptors comprised 53 Brahminy Kites, 33 White-bellied Sea Eagles, 16 Changeable Hawk Eagles, 5 Grey-headed Eagles, 4 Crested Goshawks, 1 Black-winged Kite and 1 Crested Serpent Eagle.

S/N Species (Residents) Count 1 Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus 53 2 White-bellied Sea Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster 33 3 Changeable Hawk Eagle Nisaetus cirrhatus 16 4 Grey-headed Fish Eagle Haliaeetus ichthyaetus 5 5 Crested Goshawk Accipiter trivirgatus 4 6 Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus 1 7 Crested Serpent Eagle Spilornis cheela 1 Total Counts of Resident Raptors 113 Figure 5 : Resident Raptors Counted

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The figure below provides a snapshot of the number of raptors according to the three categories - migrant, un-identified & resident raptors, at the 8 sites. A larger proportion of the migrant raptors were detected in the southwest stretch from the Japanese Garden to Kent Ridge Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park, with a peak of 229 migrant raptors at Kent Ridge. The highest number of un-identified raptors, also at Kent Ridge, were probably migrants flying too high for positive identification. Rather surprising was the low numbers at Tuas. Could the birds have avoided that area due to the ongoing constructions works?

RW 2017 - Raptor sub-totals by Site Migrants Un-Identified Residents

250 229

200

150 130

100 86 54 61 50 20 21 19 23 24 24 21 8 8 10 14 11 6 7 0 7 1 6 0 Tuas South Japanese Kent Ridge Telok Blangah Halus Ubin Puaka Changi Marina Ave 12 Garden Park Hill Park Wetlands Hill Business Park Barrage

Figure 6 : Raptor Sub-totals by Category (migrant /unidentified /resident) by Site

A complete breakdown of the species counted at each site is shown in the table below: SITE Tuas Japanese Kent Telok Halus Ubin Changi Marina Grand South Garden Ridge Blangah Wetlands Puaka Business Barrage Total Ave Park Hill Park Hill Park 12 SITE TOTAL 29 152 289 104 49 109 28 21 781 Migrants = 567 Total Osprey 1 1 2 Black Baza 3 19 148 36 4 28 14 252 Oriental Honey Buzzard 7 45 57 32 11 7 7 166 Chinese Sparrowhawk 1 2 1 14 18 Japanese Sparrowhawk 9 65 21 17 2 11 1 126 Common Buzzard 2 2 Peregrine Falcon 1 1 Residents = 113 Black-winged Kite 1 1 Brahminy Kite 6 8 2 3 10 10 4 10 53 White-bellied Sea Eagle 1 6 2 3 7 10 4 33 Grey-headed Fish Eagle 4 1 5 Crested Serpent Eagle 1 1 Crested Goshawk 2 2 4 Changeable Hawk Eagle 1 2 2 5 3 3 16 Un-identified = 101 Unid. Accipiter 1 32 5 4 23 1 66 Unid Eagle 1 1 Unid. Raptor 1 22 3 2 1 5 34 Figure 7 : Raptor numbers by Site and break down of Species

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The 'afternoon shift' of raptor watchers/counters at Kent Ridge Park, by Lee Ee Ling

Thanks to all the 65 wonderful birders, both leaders and participants, which included staff, for spending their Sunday out in the open to count raptors. The following fantastic people led or assisted in the raptor count:

Alan OwYong Jacky Soh (Nparks) Oliver Tan Alex Lim Jane Tan Patricia Lorenz Alyce Ang Jason Morris Peach Won Andy Dinesh (Nparks) John Spencer Poon Kein Boon Art Toh Joseph Lin (Nparks) Richard White Arthur Voo Juliana Wong Ridhwan (Nparks) Atsuko Kawasaki Kenneth Kee Saket Sarupria Bao Jun Kerry Pereira Steven Lee Bernadette Rankine Lau Jia Sheng Subha & Raghav Narayanasamy Chan Nguang Hoong Lawrence Cher Tan Kok Hui Celia Woo Lee Ee Ling Thio Hui Bing Chee Yu Han Lee Whye Gwan Timothy Reyes Constant Hughes-Treherne Leow Yoon Li Tok Sock Ling David Mikendrick Leslie Fung Virginia Cheang David Tan Lim Kim Keang Veronica Foo Elizabeth Liau Lim Lee Lee Wee Kheng Li Esther Ong Low Choon How Wilson Leung Francis Yap Maggie Lim Woo Lai Choo Glen Liau Mahesh Krishnan Yanfang Mao Han Yong Kwong Marian Ang Zulkhairee Ho Hin Min Monica Chan Hui Choo Myrna Lam

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