Straw-headed Bulbul, Hindhede NP, Birding Singapore

24 -30 April 2019

Where on earth can you step out of a shopping mall right into a rainforest? In Singapore. Where can you take your family to a safe, well organized and hassle free Asian city? In Singapore. Where can you see a critically endangered species that has its stronghold in a big city? In Singapore (Straw-headed Bulbul). Where can you see Spotted Wood , Sunda Scops Owl and Buffy Fish Owl, within 10 to 15 minutes by taxi from a big international airport? Again, in Singapore.

Singapore is an ultra-modern and highly urbanized extremely safe city, well-known for its strict laws and with a surprising variety of wildlife to be found within city limits. Singapore is the greenest city on earth and boasts a list of 390 bird species; some of them that are easier to see here than in any other country in the region include Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, Red-crowned Barbet, Chestnut-bellied Malkoha, Long-tailed Parakeet, Sunda Scops Owl, Spotted Wood Owl, Savanna Nightjar, Red-legged Crake, Great-billed Heron and especially Straw-headed Bulbul.

Acting as a large green lung, situated right in the center of Singapore are the Central Catchment Nature Reserve with 2,000 hectares of rainforest and neighboring Nature Reserve. They both once formed a contiguous forest before the six-lane Bukit Timah Expressway separated the nature reserves into two fragments. Smaller buffer parks like Butik Batok Nature Park and to the west and to the north fringe these forests and give easier access to a wide variety of forest species. The Singapore Botanic Garden is in the city’s center as well and is also a very good place to connect to quite a few of the sought after species.

We did not book lodging in the center of Singapore, but stayed at a fine hotel called D’Resort Downtown East with my wife and two sons (16 and 13) close to the airport. We did not only do this for budget reasons, but also because the hotel is next to my favorite park in Singapore: Park. This is the place to find the Spotted Wood Owl and Buffy Fish Owl mentioned earlier, and this is where I spent most of my birding time. The hotel is a little far from the city center and the rainforests of the Bukit Timah area, but luckily taxis are cheap in Singapore. It takes about 40 minutes and around 22 Singapore dollars from Pasir Ris (Singapore East) to the rainforest sites at Bukit Timah in the west. The SMRT (Subway Metro System) trains are far cheaper, for a few dollars they take you anywhere in Singapore, but they take a little longer. Taxis are easily obtained at hotel desks and every mall has a taxi stand, but is also easy to wave one down or find a taxi stand in the streets of downtown Singapore. Malls are everywhere in Singapore, to get to Hindhede Nature Park for instance, part of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Singapore’s green core and one of the best area we went to (hosting the highest number of interesting species in a relatively small area), you only need to walk ten minutes from the taxi stand at the Beauty World Center and you are inside the rainforest.

Even some time at the airport between transfers could give you good species, when you tell your taxi driver to go to nearby , fifteen minutes by cab. The Botanic Gardens are 30 taxi minutes away; Singapore’s rainforest reserves take 40 minutes. Pasir Ris Park also has a SMRT Station and is just 5 stops away from the airport SMRT Station.

Pasir Ris Park

Pasir Ris Park is a park with a large stretch of coast and is located in the northeastern part of Singapore. Car park C is my favorite part of the park, check the daily accounts in this trip report for the many good I have seen in Pasir Ris Park. It is a pleasant tranquil park where you can go birding in the company of joggers, inline skaters and Tai Chi and Yoga enthusiasts. The park has a stretch of coast that often has Smooth-coated Otters in the mangrove parts of the park (especially reliable near the PRP Connector bridge) and there is a butterfly garden that hosts Blue Glassy and Plain Tigers and many more colorful butterflies. PRP also includes a tidal river called Sungei , lightly wooded lawns, ornamental gardens, a mangrove boardwalk and a four-story bird viewing tower. PRP has toilets and some shops and restaurants, 500 meter from the SMRT train station.

Pulau Ubin

From Pasir Ris Park you can see the island of , a small boat ride away. These are bumboats and they leave from . You pay three dollar for the ride that will take you back in time. Pulau Ubin is what Singapore once was in the 1960’s. Pulau Ubin is a great day trip spent walking or pedaling in a rural setting through rustic roads under swaying coconut palms, exploring shady trails in overgrown rubber plantations and in flourishing mangroves. There are no ATMs on Ubin and businesses on Ubin do not accept (credit) cards, so be sure to withdraw cash from the Changi Village ATMs, close to the well-known Changi Village hawker center. We cycled around the island, again check the daily account section (30 April) for the sightings and details on site info.

Straw-headed Bulbul

Pulau Ubin is also the place with the highest densities of Straw-headed Bulbul on this planet today. Straw-headed Bulbul was uplisted from endangered to critically endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2018 as it is one of the world’s most threatened songbirds due to soaring demand for the pet trade. Across much of Southeast Asia, the Straw-headed Bulbul has been relentlessly trapped from the wild to be sold in the bird markets of Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra and Peninsular . The species has now gone extinct from Thailand and most parts of Indonesia where it used to be found, including the whole island of Java. There are also no recent records from Sumatra. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland and mangrove forest, plantations and rural gardens. In a recent study published in the journal Bird Conservation International led by members of the Nature Society (Singapore) Bird Group, wild populations of the Straw- headed Bulbul in Singapore were found to have steadily risen over the last 15 years, and are now be the largest in its entire distribution. Using data gathered from more than 15 years of the Annual Bird Census, the study found that populations on the island of Pulau Ubin have increased at nearly 4% per year. It is estimated that at least 110 individuals of the Straw-headed Bulbul now survives on Ubin, making the island a global stronghold for the species. On the other hand, trends in mainland Singapore were less clear, appearing to remain unchanged over the study period. The population of the Straw-headed Bulbul in Singapore as whole is estimated to be at least 230 individuals based on existing data. Given that the global population of the species is now estimated at 600-1,700 individuals, Singapore may easily hold 20-35% of the world’s remaining wild Straw- headed Bulbuls.

Butik Batok Nature Park is the best place to connect with this species; we easily saw five birds around the playground. A singing male at Dairy Farm remained in cover, but the Lookout Point at Hindhede had three birds on the banks of the quarry that showed well. At Pulau Ubin we also heard and saw three birds.

Other things you might want to know about birding in Singapore:

 We did not visit any of Singapore’s wetland reserves. Many people go to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve in the northwest corner of Singapore to see the Milky Storks that gather there, but since they are proven escapees or at best originated from Singapore Zoo, I could not be bothered.  The weather is warm and humid with the anticipated heavy downpour almost daily this time of year.  Singapore is also a good place for butterflies, we easily found 41 species (and photographed 26 of them) while birding.  We visited Singapore in spring, after the majority of winter visitors and migrant birds had left, but in winter Singapore also hosts good birds such as Jerdon’s and Black Baza, Chestnut-winged and Indian Cuckoo, several hawk-cuckoos, Hooded and Blue-winged Pitta, a variety of Asian flycatchers, Siberian Blue Robin and White-shouldered and Daurian Starling.

24 April

We departed from Amsterdam yesterday and arrived in Singapore around 3 pm today. After airport formalities a friendly cab driver took us to our D’Resort Downtown East hotel where Louise and Brent unpacked and Tom and I went for a stroll in the nearby park. We took the elevator and then found ourselves opposite a door that gave access to Pasir Ris Park with our hotel room card. We walked a small part of Pasir Ris Park and saw some of the more common birds of Singapore such as Zebra and Spotted Dove, Collared Kingfisher, Black-naped Oriole, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Oriental Magpie Robin, Olive- backed and Brown-throated Sunbird and a lifer Ashy Tailorbird. Red Junglefowl is hard to miss here and Pacific Swallows and collocali and aerodramus Swiftlets hawked the air. Early evening we went for dinner to the local shopping mall and did some groceries, walking back I heard a Sunda Scops Owl calling from a small plot with some old trees near our hotel, just outside PRP. At the hotel I enjoyed a fine cup of coffee on the balcony viewing a starlit Pasir Ris Park when a Large-tailed Nightjar started singing. I soon learned there was more than one and that they could be glimpsed in the streetlights and that a second species was involved: Savanna Nightjar was also heard.

Red Junglefowl Collared Kingfisher

25 April 20

I woke up at 4 am to the sound of a Large-tailed Nightjar calling very close to our room, probably from a big tree right in front of our hotel. When I got out to the balcony, my son Tom was already there, asking me what sound this was. We tried to get some sleep, but failed and decided to go the park a little earlier than anticipated. It was still completely dark when we entered Pasir Ris Park at 6am, an Asian Koel was the first bird that started calling. When we reached car park C dawn set in and we could see singing Large-tailed Nightjars perched on bare branches atop big trees. Then Tom pointed out a big owl on the lawn adjacent to the parking. It was a Buffy Fish Owl! When it flew up it sat there on a big low branch with a mouse (!). I forgot to bring my flashlight and my camera was too damp to take any pictures anyway, so I have no pictures to prove it, but it definitely was an early highlight for this very fine park. When daylight had pushed away darkness we learned that Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker is one of the residents here, together with bright Common Flamebacks and a handful of noisy Pied Trillers. Walking away from the car park into the park proper, we saw a Blue-throated Bee-eater and a singing Rusty-breasted Cuckoo. The mangrove boardwalk held little birds, but plenty of butterflies and at the end of the boardwalk we climbed the watch tower, where we were treated to close and eye-level views of Pink-necked Green Pigeons and Black-naped Orioles.

Common Flameback Pasir Ris Park, hotel room balcony view

Walking back, with our hotel balcony already in sight, we ran into a roped off area around a big tree, with fifteen photographers pointing their lenses to a tree trunk hole. We soon learned a female hornbill was inside and that it was irregularly fed by its partner. When the male Oriental Pied Hornbill appeared a cheer went through the crowd, a fine celebration to species number 3000 for my world list.

In the afternoon we and shopping in Little India, where a tiny park held large number of Pale Grass Blue and a neat adult summer Brown Shrike.

26 April Tom and I were up early again and we revisited Pasir Ris Park. At car park C we flushed a Crested Goshawk and a big fruiting tree held eight Oriental Pied Hornbills with White-throated, Collared and Stork-billed Kingfisher nearby. My first Long-tailed Parakeet came over and two exotic Tanimbar Corellas and a Yellow-crested were also seen here, but then it started raining and we went back to the hotel for breakfast. When the sun reappeared the sound of a singing Common Hill Myna drifted to us on our hotel balcony, but soon it started raining again. We decided to go the , the southern green lung of Singapore. Here you can spend a cloudy day inside the huge greenhouse-like glass domes of Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. We enjoyed the world’s tallest indoor waterfalls, the climate controlled moss-covered cloud forest environment and most of all the stunning architecture. When the rains had stopped we had lunch outside and crossed the bridge to Marina Bay where I spotted a lifer Tiger Shrike in a small tree in what is called The Meadow. We visited the luxurious Marina Bay Sands Mall, had an Indian diner in the local food court and enjoyed the light shows, first at Marina Bay, followed by the one at Gardens by the Bay. The lights and the music were quite entertaining, a Large-tailed Nightjar tried to sing along with the music.

27 April The Botanic Gardens have produced plenty of remarkable birds in recent years. Pittas show up in winter from time to time and Red-legged Crakes have nested annually in recent years, the Ginger Garden being their favorite haunt. Today they were not to be found. Heavy rains prevented us from going early in the morning and when the rains stopped the gardens had already filled up with big crowds on this Saturday afternoon. I managed to find a skulky Yellow Bittern in a quiet corner of Eco Pond and a Grey-rumped Treeswift came overhead, but most birds were seen in the Rainforest section of the park where we saw a singing Lineated Barbet, two White-crested Laughingthrush and a pair of Olive-winged Bulbul. Late afternoon we skipped nearby and took a cab from the gardens back to our hotel.

Asian Glossy Starling Striated Heron

28 April Lim Kim Seng, author of many books and articles on the avifauna of Singapore helped me with the preparations for this trip and guided us one morning on 28 April. He commented on my initial itinerary and gave some advice on how to connect with hard-to find species, such as Blue-rumped Parrot and Red-crowned Barbet. We decided I would try to find most species myself on my first three days and used our morning to find the species that were still missing. Since we had not been into the rainforest proper it needed to be an action-packed morning, so Lim Kim picked us up from our hotel at 6am early morning and drove us to a little shop for a nice prata breakfast. At 7.30 we headed for the fruiting trees in Dairy Farm Nature Park north of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. The first part of the trail gave a Changeable Hawk-Eagle, two Asian Fairy-bluebirds, some Common Hill Mynas, four Asian Red-eyed Bulbuls and my first Straw-headed Bulbul. A Violet Cuckoo came flying over and a Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo was singing high up in the canopy with three delicate Van Hasselt’s Sunbirds, close to where a party of bird photographers had gathered near some fruiting trees. We joined the group and after a Black-crested Bulbul patience was rewarded with two gorgeous Blue-winged Leafbirds and a lingering Little Spiderhunter. A Banded Woodpecker was working a tree right in front of us and looking to the right I suddenly set eyes on a big bird very close to us that slowly moved through the vegetation: a very fine Chestnut-bellied Malkoha. Blue-rumped Parrots and Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots zipped by from time to time and Crimson Sunbirds and Scarlet-backed and Orange-bellied Flowerpeckers proved common.

At 10.30 we left the park and went to a nearby stake-out for Spotted Wood Owl and luckily they were home; two adults and a downy fledgling looked down on us from a tall suburban roadside tree. With another good bird on the list, our next destination was Nature Park, where our guide pointed out an uncommon Plume-toed Swiftlet over the lake and where Straw-headed Bulbuls were easy, we saw at least five of them around the park’s playground, a very reliable site for this species. White-crested Laughingthrush cannot be missed here and Dark-necked Tailorbird and Pin-striped Tit- Babbler are also common.

Blue-winged Leafbird Little Spiderhunter

Driving back to our hotel we agreed that we found most of our target birds today, only Red-legged Crake and Jambu Fruit Dove did not cooperate, and that we had a very pleasant morning. Early afternoon we joined Louise and Brent and went shopping in Chinatown, where we enjoyed an excellent lunch and visited some temples too.

Late afternoon Tom and I walked Pasir Ris Park once more and this time the focus was on butterflies. Highlight however, was a flock of sixteen Oriental Pied Hornbills that raided a fruiting tree, feeding at arm’s length.

29 April

Tom and I had been in the rainforest yesterday, but I wanted to share the experience with Louise and Brent and what better place to do this than at Hindhede Nature Park, in the western section of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. We took a cab to and did some shopping in the Beauty Center shopping mall, then crossed the road by bridge and walked right into Hindhede NP, where we walked the small loop that included the Lookout Point at Hindhede Quarry, from 3 to 6pm.

Hindhede Quarry, Lookout Point Stork-billed Kingfisher My family and I loved the Sunda Flying Lemur (or Calugo as the locals call it) clinging to a tree and the Clouded Monitors, Long-tailed Macaques and Plantain Squirrels. A park warden showed us two Wagler’s Palm Vipers and he told us about a Blue-winged Pitta and a Malaysian Night Heron that had been seen on and off this week. The Look Out Point regularly gave Blue-eared Kingfisher this week, but all three birds proved too difficult to find on a brief family afternoon visit. However, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and Straw-headed Bulbul showed really well at the Lookout Point, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Red-crowned and Lineated Barbet, Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, Pin-striped Tit-Babbler, two Cream-vented Bulbuls, Common Hill Myna and several small Hume’s White-eyes flocks were there too.

30 April Pulau Ubin is an island off eastern Singapore that can be reached by bumboat off Changi village; it takes three dollars and fifteen minutes to get there. Boats wait till they have twelve passengers and then set off for Pulau Ubin. Birders are attracted to a wide variety of good birds and unspoiled countryside, mangroves and lush tropical forest, tourists and locals go for a trip back in time to experience nostalgic rural Singapore of the ‘60s.

Chek Jawa view from Jejawi Tower Great-billed Heron

We saved the trip to Pulau Ubin for our last day in Singapore and it was a big success. After a late breakfast at the well-known hawker center in Changi Village, we walked from there to the jetty in ten minutes. I checked the tides table and read that today’s lowest tide was at 3 pm, the best time to connect with our target Great-billed Heron from the watch tower at on the easternmost part of the island. We worked the island by bike, Brent and I sharing a tandem bike. Bikes are easily obtained at Ubin, close to the boat jetty, there are bicycles for rent to suit every preference. We set off westwards towards aptly named Butterfly Hill where we saw the first of today’s many Oriental Pied Hornbills, Ashy Tailorbirds were also common here. We flushed a roadside Large-tailed Nightjar and at Pekan Quarry we were happy with a bonus Blue-eared Kingfisher, a good find. We circled the lake clockwise and then headed northeast towards Check Jawa. En route we heard and then saw some Straw-headed Bulbuls and a Little Bronze Cuckoo in an abandoned plantation and at gps 1.410, 103.979 we saw our first pair of Copper- throated Sunbirds, while sheltering for fifteen minutes of torrential rain. On our way to Check Jawa further east dense forest produced a singing Abott’s Babbler and the area around the Check Jawa Visitor Centre brought us several White-rumped Shamas. We climbed the seven-storey high (20m) Jejawi Tower to view the tree canopy and the mudflats and mangroves, where we managed to see two more Copper-throated Sunbirds males, some White-bellied See Eagles and Brahminy Kites flying around and two of the hoped for Great-billed Herons down below, accompanied by eight Grey Herons and a Eurasian Whimbrel.

We used the mangrove boardwalk to get closer to the Great-billed Herons, while a pair of noisy Collared Kingfishers tried to make us clear we were in their territory. Heading back to the boat jetty we had another Great-billed Heron, flying over just before we returned our bikes. We then boarded the boat back to Changi Village where we saw at least 23 Red-breasted Parakeets and two nesting Tanimbar Corellas when trying to find a taxi. It did not take too long and talking to another very nice and reliable taxi driver we agreed that Singapore is a good place to be, a very safe and well-organized city. After dinner our wonderful holiday in Singapore came to an end, we packed our bags and later that same evening we flew back to Amsterdam.

Species list following IOC 2019.

Lifers in bold print, PRP = Pasir Ris Park.

1 Lesser Whistling Duck, dendrocygna javanica; two flying over our hotel at PRP.

2 Red Junglefowl, gallus gallus; common at PRP.

3 Yellow Bittern, ixobrychus sinensis; one at Eco Pond, Botanic Gardens.

4 Striated Heron, butorides striata; common.

5 Chinese Pond Heron, ardeola bacchus; one adult summer plumage at Changi village.

6 Grey Heron, ardea cinerea; there is a heronry at PRP, we could see the birds go in and out of their trees right over our hotel balcony.

7 Great-billed Heron, ardea sumatrana; two on Pulau Ubin, seen from the tower at Chek Jawa at low tide. One flying over near the public jetty at Pulau Ubin.

8 Little Egret, egretta garzetta; one at PRP.

9 Changeable Hawk-Eagle, nisaetus cirrhatus; one at Dairy Farm NP.

10 Crested Goshawk, accipiter trivirgatus; one near car park C, PRP.

11 Brahminy Kite, haliastur indus; common.

12 White-bellied Sea Eagle, haliaeetus leucogaster; common.

13 White-breasted Waterhen, amaurornis phoenicurus; common.

14 Whimbrel, numenius phaeopus; one at Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin.

15 Great Crested Tern, sterna bergii; several at sea off PRP.

16 Spotted Dove, spilopelia chinensis; common.

17 Zebra Dove, geopelia striata; common.

18 Pink-necked Green Pigeon, treron vernans; common.

19 Chestnut-bellied Malkoha, rhopodytes sumatrana; one up close at Dairy Farm NP, great bird!

20 Asian Koel, eudynamys scolopaceus; common.

21 Violet Cuckoo, chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus; one calling and flying over at Dairy Farm NP.

22 Little Bronze Cuckoo, chrysococcyx minutillus; singing at PRP and Pulau Ubin.

23 Rusty-breasted Cuckoo, cacomantis sepulcralis; singing at PRP and Pulau Ubin.

24 Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo, surniculus lugubris; singing at Dairy Farm NP.

25 Sunda Scops Owl, otus lempiji; singing close to our D’Resort hotel at PRP.

26 Buffy Fish Owl, ketupa ketupu; one at dawn at car park C, PRP. It caught a mouse from the lawn and ate it in a tree right in front of us.

27 Spotted Wood Owl, seloputo; two adults and a fluffy fledgling near Butik Batok NP.

28 Large-tailed Nightjar, caprimulgus macrurus; a handful heard and seen at PRP, also heard singing at Gardens by the Bay and one was flushed from the roadside at Pulau Ubin midday. 29 Savanna Nightjar, caprimulgus affinis; one heard singing at PRP on our first evening.

30 Grey-rumped Treeswift, hemiprocne longipennis; one over the Botanic Garden and one over Hindhede NP.

31 Plume-toed Swiftlet, ollocalia affinis; Lim Kim Seng pointed us to some swifts that showed sufficient characters of this hard to identify species at Butik Batok.

32 Glossy Swiftlet, collocalia esculenta; some close observations at Dairy Farm together with our experienced guide Kim Lim Seng convinced me this species was involved.

33 Black-nest Swiftlet, aerodramus maximus; big flocks of swiftlets were seen daily from our balcony at D’Resort and the assumption was that most of the swiftlts concerned Germain’s, but that some were Black-nest Swiftlets.

34 Germain's Swiftlet, aerodramus germani; common.

35 Asian Palm Swift, cypsiurus balasiensis; widespread in small numbers.

36 House Swift, apus nipalensis; three just east of PRP, flying around buiding complex, most likely nesting there.

37 Stork-billed Kingfisher, pelargopsis capensis; a noisy pair encountered daily at car park C at PRP and one seen at the quarry at Hindhede NP.

38 White-throated Kingfisher, halcyon smyrnensis; common.

39 Collared Kingfisher, todiramphus chloris; common.

40 Blue-eared Kingfisher, alcedo meninting; one at Pekan quarry, Pulau Ubin.

41 Blue-throated Bee-eater, merops viridis; one at car park C, PRP.

42 Oriental Pied Hornbill, anthracoceros albirostris; these birds are doing well in Singapore. From Pulau Ubin, where we saw six, the spread out to PRP, where our maximum was a flock of 16 birds feeding on fruit; a pair was nesting near our hotel, the nesting tree was roped off to keep photographers at bay.

43 Lineated Barbet, psilopogon lineatus; one singing at the Botanic Garden and one was around a nest hole at Bukit Batok NP and at least one was heard at Hindhede NP.

44 Red-crowned Barbet, psilopogon rafflesii; one (heard only) at Hindhede NP.

45 Coppersmith Barbet, psilopogon haemacephalus; heard calling at the Botanic Garden.

46 Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, yungipicus moluccensis; two at PRP.

47 Banded Woodpecker, chrysophlegma miniaceum; a photogenic bird at its favorite tree at Dairy Farm NP and one at Hindhede NP.

48 Laced Woodpecker, picus vittatus; a flying bird was seen in the Botanic Garden and an adult male showed really well at Bukit Batok NP. This species was also present at PRP.

49 Common Flameback, dinopium javanense; several noisy and conspicuous pairs were at PRP (especially at car park C) and we observed a pair at Dairy Farm NP.

50 Rufous Woodpecker, micropternus brachyurus; only heard, at PRP.

51 Tanimbar Corella, cacatua goffini; two birds were seen in PRP, together with a Yellow-crested Cockatoo. Two nesting birds were seen at Changi village.

52 Yellow-crested Cockatoo, acatua sulphurea; see nr. 51, both species have been introduced.

53 Blue-rumped Parrot, psittinus cyanurus; two fly-bys at Dairy Farm NP.

54 Long-tailed Parakeet, psittacula longicauda; only seen in flight over PRP on three subsequent days: one on 26 April; four on 27 April and one on 28 April.

55 Red-breasted Parakeet, psittacula longicauda;common in PRP, very common in Changi village.

56 Rose-ringed Parakeet, psittacula krameri; widespread.

57 Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, loriculus galgulus; fly-overs at the Botanic Garden and Dairy Farm NP.

58 Golden-bellied Gerygone, gerygone sulphurea; heard at Pulau Ubin.

59 Common Iora, aegithina tiphia; common.

60 Pied Triller, lalage nigra; common at PRP, especially easy around car park C.

61 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, dicrurus paradiseus; common in forested areas.

62 Malaysian Pied Fantail, rhipidura javanica; one at Hindhede NP.

63 Asian Fairy-bluebird, irena puella; two female birds at Diary Farm NP.

64 Tiger Shrike, lanius tigrinus; one at Gardens by the Bay.

65 Brown Shrike, lanius cristatus; an adult bird in a tiny park in Little India and one in PRP.

66 Black-naped Oriole, oriolus chinensis; common.

Black-naped Oriole Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

67 House Crow, corvus splendens; common.

68 Large-billed Crow, corvus macrorhynchos; I did not check all the crows, but this species seemed (far) less common than House Crow.

69 Straw-headed Bulbul, pycnonotus zeylanicus; this bird has been recently updated to Critically Endangered on the Red List and this makes this bird a major target for birders visiting Singapore. Fortunately, this species is still easy to see here. Best place is Butik Batok Nature Park, where we easily saw five birds around the playground at GPS 1.350 – 103.764. A singing male at Dairy Farm remained in cover, but the Lookout Point at Hindhede had three birds on the banks of the quarry that showed well. At Pulau Ubin we also heard and saw three birds.

70 Black-crested Bulbul, pycnonotus flaviventris; one at Dairy Farm NP.

71 Red-whiskered Bulbul, pycnonotus jocosus; one at the Botanic Garden.

72 Yellow-vented Bulbul, pycnonotus goiavier; common.

73 Olive-winged Bulbul, pycnonotus plumosus; PRP Botanical Garden, Hindhede

74 Cream-vented Bulbul, pycnonotus simplex; two at Hindhede NP. 75 Asian Red-eyed Bulbul, pycnonotus brunneus; four at Dairy Farm NP.

76 Pacific Swallow, hirundo tahitica; common.

77 Arctic Warbler, phylloscopus borealis; one at the Botanic Gardens.

78 Common Tailorbird, orthotomus sutorius; common.

79 Dark-necked Tailorbird, orthotomus atrogularis; common.

80 Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, orthotomus sericeus; one at Hindhede NP.

81 Ashy Tailorbird, orthotomus ruficeps; two pairs at PRP, common at Pulau Ubin.

81 Pin-striped Tit-Babbler, macronus gularis; often heard at Dairy Farm NP (one seen), at Butik Batok NP and at Hindhede NP.

82 Abbott's Babbler, malacocincla abbotti; one singing on Pulau Ubin.

83 White-crested Laughingthrush, garrulax leucolophus; two at the Botanic Garden, a flock of about ten at .

84 Hume's White-eye, zosterops auriventer; six + two at Hindhede NP.

86 Asian Glossy Starling, aplonis panayensis; common.

87 Common Hill Myna, gracula religiosa; one singing at PRP, three at Dairy Farm NP and one at Hindhede NP.

88 Common Myna, acridotheres tristis; common.

89 Javan Myna, acridotheres javanicus; very common.

90 Oriental Magpie-Robin, copsychus saularis; common.

91 White-rumped Shama, copsychus malabaricus; three at Pulau Ubin.

92 Blue-winged Leafbird, chloropsis cochinchinensis; one at its favorite fruiting tree at Dairy Farm NP.

93 Orange-bellied Flowerpecker, dicaeum trigonostigma; two at Dairy Farm NP.

94 Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, dicaeum cruentatum; common.

95 Brown-throated Sunbird, anthreptes malacensis; common.

96 Van Hasselt's Sunbird, leptocoma brasiliana; three at Dairy Farm NP.

97 Copper-throated Sunbird, leptocoma calcostetha; a pair and two males in the eastern part of Pula Ubin.

98 Olive-backed Sunbird, cinnyris jugularis; very common.

99 Crimson Sunbird, aethopyga siparaja; common at Dairy Farm NP.

100 Little Spiderhunter, arachnothera longirostra; four at Dairy Farm NP, one gave prolonged views, the others zipped by.

101 Eurasian Tree Sparrow, passer montanus; common.

Butterflies

1 Chocolate Demon, ancistroides nigrita; Singapore Botanic Garden.

2 Yellow Grass Dart, taractrocera archias; PRP.

3 Common Pied Flat, tagiades japetus; Dairy Farm NP.

4 Banded Yeoman, cirrochroa orissa; Dairy Farm NP.

5 Common Mime, papilio clytia; PRP.

6 Lemon Butterfly, papilio demoleus; common in Changi Village.

7 Great Mormon, papilio memnon; Singapore Botanic Garden.

8 Common Mormon, papilio polytes; common.

9 Tailed Jay, graphium agamemnon; Dairy Farm NP.

10 Common Jay, graphium doson; Dairy Farm NP.

11 Common Bluebottle, graphium sarpedon; Dairy Farm NP.

12 Common Birdwing, troides helena; Singapore Botanic Garden.

13 Mottled Emigrant, catopsilia pyranthe; PRP.

14 Painted Jezebel, delias hyparete: PRP.

15 Eurema, eurema alitha; PRP.

16 Common Grass Yellow, eurema hecabe; very common.

17 Tree Yellow, gandaca harina; PRP.

18 Psyche, leptosia nina; Dairy Farm NP. 19 Common Tit, hypolycaena erylus; Hindhede NP.

20 Large Four-line Blue, nacaduba pactolus; Dairy Farm NP.

21 Tailless Line Blue, prosotas dubiosa; PRP.

22 Lesser Grass Blue, zizina otis; PRP.

23 Pale Grass Blue, zizeeria maha serica; common in a tiny park in Little India.

24 Plain Tiger, danaus chrysippus; common.

25 Common Three Ring, ypthima pandocus; Dairy Farm NP.

26 Small Orange Acraea, acraea serena; PRP.

27 Tawny Coster, acraea violae: PRP and Changi Village.

28 Rustic, cupha erymanthis; Dairy Farm NP.

29 Spotted Black Crow, euploea crameri; PRP.

30 Giant Crow, euploea phaenareta; PRP.

31 Striped Blue Crow, euploea mulciber; Pulau Ubin.

32 Blue Glassy Tiger, ideopsis vulgaris; PRP.

33 Gray Pansy, junonia atlites; widespread. 34 Brown Pansy, junonia hedonia; common.

35 Knight, lebadea martha; Pulau Ubin.

36 Dingy Bushbrown, mycalesis perseus; PRP.

37 Colonel, pandita sinope; Pulau Ubin.

38 Common Lascar, pantoporia hordonia; PRP.

39 Short-banded Sailor, phaedyma columella; PRP.

40 Common Leopard, phalanta phalantha; PRP.

41 Dark Blue Jungle Glory, thaumantis klugius; Singapore Botanic Garden.

Mammals

Sunda Flying Lemur or Colugo, galeopterus variegatus; one Hindhede NP.

Long-tailed Macaque, macaca fascicularis; common in the greater Bukit Timah area.

Plantain Squirrel, callosciurus notatus; common.

Slender Squirrel, sundasciurus tenuis; some in the greater Bukit Timah area.

Wild Boar, sus scrofa; five at Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin.

Reptiles

Red-eared Slider, trachemys scripta elegans; common.

Florida Softshell Turtle, apalone ferox; Hindhede Quarry.

Green Crested Lizard, bronchocela cristatella; Buti Batok NP.

Oriental Garden Lizard, calotes versicolor; common.

Common House Gecko, hemidactylu frenatus; common.

Clouded Monitor, varanus; widespread.

Water Monitor, varanus; common.

Wagler’s Palm Viper, tropidolaemus wagleri; two at Hindhede NP.

Dragonflies

Blue Dasher, brachydiplax chalybea; common at Singapore Botanic Garden.

Red Parasol, neurothemis fluctuans; common at Singapore Botanic Garden.

Jaap Westra [email protected]