Singapore - June 2024 - Day 2 - Central Catchment Area, Botanic Gardens and Marina Bay

I got out of a bus in the dark somewhere along Upper Thomson Road. My destination was the Jelutong Tower above MacRitchie Reservoir, in the lower part of the Central Catchment Area, Singapore's largest green space and a critical part of the island. There is no quick way to get to the tower, and my choice of starting point was driven by where I could get public transport to. A 40 minute walk beckoned, which in fact turned out to be a one hour walk as I took a wrong turn about half way and started heading up towards Upper Peirce Reservoir before realising my mistake at the bottom of a long slope that I had to then climb back up.

The view south from the Jelutong Tower.

The tower is enormous, several storeys high and thus at or above the canopy, and commands fabulous views over the forest. You feel a million miles away from the vast city in the distance. I had missed first light by about a quarter of an hour, but the birding was still fabulous, helped in no small part by a couple of young Singaporean birders who knew what they were doing. Remarkably neither had binoculars but both sported lovely light-weight mirrorless cameras with telephoto lenses. Very envious.... Most of their birding was done by ear, with the occasional look at a dot of the back of the camera to check if they weren't sure. This is how birding happens in Singapore, there are probably fewer than ten pairs of binoculars in the entire city but well over a trillion zoom lenses. I was happy to join in the fun, and although we had to rapidly descend the tower a couple of times to dodge some intense downpours, I probably spent at least three and half hours observing. The full list is here, and perhaps I stayed too long as it only has 26 species, but what I did see was very good indeed. Violet Cuckoo was perhaps the highlight, but we also had flybys from Banded Bay Cuckoo, Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo and Grey-rumped Treeswift. In the trees around the tower itself were Dark-necked Tailorbird, Cream-vented, Olive-winged and Red-eyed Bulbul, Orange-bellied Flowerpecker, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Asian Fairy-bluebird and Blue-winged Leafbird. Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrots perched in semi-distant palms, and flocks of Pink-necked Green-Pigeon seemed constantly on the move. The majority of these birds were new for me so it had been a profitable morning.

Asian Fairy-bluebird - male

Asian Fairy-bluebird- female

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

Violet Cuckoo

Blue-rumped Parrot

I reluctantly dragged myself away late morning, retracting my steps east to the Country Club. Along the way I got soaked to the skin, caught in heavy rain with no nearby huts in which to shelter. I dried off a bit near at Windsor Nature Park, and then walked the Venus Loop a couple of times. It was very hot. The best birds here were a pair of Crimson Sunbird and my first Common Hill Myna, their bizarre calls drawing me in from quite some distance having no idea at first what on earth they could be. 

Colugo

Mid afternoon I was back in town at the Botanic Garden, a simply lovely spot whether for birds or not. As you know I enjoy tropical plants as much as I enjoy birds, and after a late lunch at the Green Pavilion I had a high-interest botanical amble from the Tanglin Gate at the bottom to the Cluny Park Gate at the top. I didn't see as many birds as I was hoping, but a pair of Lesser Whistling Ducks on the Eco Lake were a surprise as well as a world lifer, a Pied Imperial-Pigeon flew over at some point which was also new, and a Brahminy Kite was perched in a tree alongside Symphony Lake. 

Looking west from Marina East Drive

I just about had time to nip up to Pasir Ris to dip the Spotted Wood-Owls again before finishing the day at Marina Bay East. As time was running out I took a Grab taxi to the top of Marina East Drive and then walked out to the Barrage. On one side there is an uninteresting golf course, but to the east of the road is some excellent wetland habitat and I was able to stock up on Masked Lapwing, Little Egret, Medium Egret and Grey Heron. Best of all an Asian Openbill had taken up residence some time before and was still out on the marsh. As dusk fell and I approached the MCE Ventilation Building I caught some movement above me. Yes! A Large-tailed Nightjar was hunting from a lamp post. Very difficult to see as it sat directly above the light, but there was no doubt about it when it started calling.

Masked Lapwing

Asian Openbill

I spent a bit of time mucking about with a long-exposure shot of the Marina Bay Sands from the bottom of the Barrage, and then crossed over and into the Gardens by the Bay. Fully dark by now this was full of people here to enjoy the light show from the Supertree Grove. I enjoyed it too as I hobbled along now somewhere north of 35k steps for the day. I found my way to the excellent and enormous food court underneath the Marina Bay Sands complex and had Dim Sum for dinner before catching a bus back to Lavender. What a day! Only 52 species but some high quality and 15 world ticks.

Marina Bay Sands from the Barrage