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Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot (Part 1 - Singapore)

Aug 26
28 min read

8/25/2026 - 9/2/2026


Singapore and Malaysia were really not on our radar for our next trip. We had other priorities lined up but balked on actually getting anything planned. We discussed fallback options, and Singapore looked like an easy trip to plan. From Singapore, Malaysia is only one bridge away, and it hosts one of my most-wanted birds in the world. This would be the iconic Malaysian Rail-Babbler. With some of our higher priority trips out of reach for the year, we decided on spending a week in Singapore and a week in Malaysia. Singapore activities were mostly planned by Carmen; although I had two mornings reserved with a bird guide. Malaysia would be spent on tour with a local guiding company.


Singapore was a place that I had expressed interest in visiting a few times. The birding looked interesting. The city seemed interesting. I would say that I was mildly curious. In the end, I was happy I went. We had a great visit. As you read this post, you might get the impression that this is my first trip out of country. I assure you, it is not. For some reason, a lot of mistakes were made; mostly due to poor planning and accounting for the heat. You live and you learn. Maybe I had just grown to lax in my prep for this type of trip. If you are considering going, there are a few things you might want to know about, first.

  • Safety - Singapore is one of the safest places I have ever visited. Day or night, we never had a concern about safety.

  • Entry - Singapore does not require a visa, but you do need to fill out an entry/health safety card before entering Singapore. This card is only good for a single use. Leaving, say to go to Malaysia, and then coming back, say to fly back home, means you need to fill out a new card.

  • Parks - Parks in Singapore are free. They are clean. Many people go to the parks to exercise; so, they can be quite busy on any day of the week. As a country, Singapore has a very healthy fitness initiative. Most parks are open from 7 AM to 7 PM, but several are open before sunrise or after sunset, which allows a bit of night birding. Many parks also have clean water fountains with potable water. This can be a savior if you are not carrying enough water with you. See below.

  • Transportation - You can get just about anywhere (or reasonably close) using the metro (MRT). Trains run frequently but not 24 hours. All you need is a credit card (one per person, or just buy a metro card) to scan in and out of the stations. After a couple rides, it becomes second nature to navigate the trains. If you are relying on a credit card, be sure to have a backup. We had issues with one of Carmen's cards failing to scan halfway through the trip. Alternatively, you can download the Grab app and use it to hail taxis, which are affordable and have a fixed rate. You will need a phone with data access to use the app. I prefer to use an eSim (via Airalo) for setting up cheap data access. If you are doing this, you need to install the eSim before travelling, then activate it once you arrive.

  • Food - If you are worried about food, do not worry. Singapore is a mecca of different styles of food, and you can find anything you are looking for. Try the durian at your own risk. Start with the ice cream and work your way up (or do not) from there. Of note, napkins are not overly abundant in Singapore. Many places had none. Plan accordingly.

  • Heat - It is hot in Singapore. 90+ degree Fahrenheit weather with 100% humidity is fairly normal. If, like me, you think you are going to walk around in a cotton t-shirt all day, you are mistaken. Find some nice poly blend shirts. They breath better. You will feel cooler. You will thank me. Take more water than you think you will need. Escpecially if you are going on a long hike in the Central Catchment. Yes, this is the voice of experience. Be sure to pack some electrolytes or plan to buy Gatorade. It helps. We were told it is a few degrees cooler during the rainy season - November and December. It rains heavily every day though. On the plus side, just about every place has air conditioning. So, once you are inside somewhere, you are better off.

  • Medications - Singapore is very particular about what medications you are brining in. You need to be prepared with copies of prescriptions, and medication needs to be in original containers. Over-the-counter meds should be in original packaging. Yes, this is bulky and a pain. We actually were not questioned, but it is better to be prepared.

  • Gum - The rumors are true-ish. You can have and chew gum. Spitting it on the sidewalk will get you fined. Bringing in large quantities is forbidden. I am not a gum chewer, but I had always wondered about this; as I had heard rumors about it being illegal. You cannot buy/sell gum in the country. Personal use is allowed.

  • Vaping - Vaping is now illegal. Smoking is still allowed. There are fines if you are caught vaping. The signs also indicated that you could be put in rehab for up to a year, if caught. Probably not how you want to spend your time in Singapore.

  • Drugs - Are absolutely not tolerated. Even small quantities are punishable by hanging. Again, not an issue for us, but, in the age of edibles, it is worth mentioning.

  • Birding Equipment - This is what we were actually stopped for in customs and questioned about. There were questions about my camera and whether it had a flash or not. It does not. Carmen was stopped for her binocs. They wanted to ensure they did not have night vison or thermal. They took them out and looked through them to ensure they did not. I am not sure what the outcome would have been for answering yes to either of the enquiries; thankfully, it was a non-issue. Just something to be aware of.


From Indianapolis, it was around 23 hours in the air (this does not include layovers) to get to Singapore. Eye shades, ear plugs, and a dose of Nyquil Z can get you through the longer sections of the flight. You just need to plan your sleep so that you are on the right schedule once you arrive. Staying awake the first day goes a long way towards easing the transition to a different time zone. Singapore, for the record, is exactly 12 hours different than Indiana. So, the difference is literal night-and-day.


We got into Singapore on the night of 8/26 and got to sleep a bit after midnight. Carmen had planned out most of our time in Singapore. This meant morning and afternoon plans nearly every day. There were two mornings allotted to birding. Other than that, there were two "windows" in the schedule where I could squeeze in other birding. The morning of the 27th was one of them.


8/27 -

After 4-5 hours of sleep, I got up on the 27th to go birding at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. There is an MRT station at the entrance of the gardens. I am short on sleep and quite a bit dehydrated from the air travel. I am wearing a cotton t-shirt. It is a recipe for disaster, really, and... it was. I managed to get to the gardens a little before sunrise. I am already sweating a bit from the humidity. I also have no idea where I am going. I am just walking into the park and going to find birds. Not a terrible plan, but it would fail me in this instance. The park consists of three sections. I am coming in from the north entrance, and there is a parking lot that sits between this section and the next two sections. Once I hit the parking lot, I assumed I was at the extent of a very small set of gardens. This is lack of sleep working against me. I know there are three lakes in this park, and I had only passed one. I birded the area around Eco Lake and had a number of common birds. My studying paid off, and I had little to no trouble IDing most birds; flyover parrots and swifts excluded. I was mostly finding common birds. Photographing them was another issue. I had made a rookie mistake. The A/C in the hotel had chilled the camera and lens. The minute it hit the humidity, the entire camera fogged up and took a very long time to clear. Photos were minimal. Birds included: Javan Myna, Spotted Dove, Pink-necked Green-Pigeon, Pied Imperial-Pigeon, Malaysian Pied-Fantail, Common and Ashy Tailorbirds, Olive-winged and Yellow-vented Bulbuls, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Black-naped Oriole, Stork-billed Kingfisher, and a few others. I recorded 19 species, and a lot of them were new to me.


I did manage a surprise wildlife sighting while here. Smooth-coated Otter was out of the water and rolling in the grass when I walked past Eco Lake. I knew these were high on Carmen's wish list of mammals to seei in Singapore. I felt bad that she was not here to see them with me.


Having arrived around 7:00, I was out of water by around 8:30. With the humidity, I have sweated through my t-shirt. The cotton shirt is not evaporating water. It is just soaking it up and making me hotter. I struggled through until 9:00, but I was starting to get sick from the heat. The lack of sleep and dehydration are working against me. I had planned to stay much longer, but I am beat. I grabbed the train back to the hotel, showered, and rested until lunch time. My morning one was not an overly successful one. The rest of the day was spent having lunch at the hotel, heading back to the airport to tour The Jewel (a large indoor waterfall and high-end shopping complex), followed by a tour that took us on a riverboat cruise and visited two evening light shows (one at Gardens by the Bay and the other back at Singapore Bay). We were dropped at La Pa Sat food center, where I had some really good chicken rice - one of the specialties of Singapore. We got back to the hotel late, showered again, and chalked up a semi-successful day as tourists.


8/28 -

This day was also a disaster. Frankly, I did not even think about the heat/humidity here when packing. I did not pack well. I planned regular t-shirts for my time in Singapore. I had purchased some shorts, but I also assumed that some evenings could be done in jeans. Shorts were a good idea, but the cotton tees were not. Jeans were not even a consideration. I tried this morning's hike in another cotton tee.


Carmen had planned a hike to the canopy walk in the upper part of the Central Catchment. The Central Catchment is a large freshwater reservoir located in the middle of the island. It is surrounded by forest and has a number of hiking trails and points of interest. One of these points of interest is an elevated canopy walkway. I was excited. This should be good for birding. Carmen's main goal was to see monkeys. There are troops of Long-tailed Macaque here and elsewhere on the island. She would finish the morning a lot more successful than me.


Getting to the area was not overly easy. We did not know about Grab until near the end of the trip; so, we were solely relying on the MRT to get there. The closest MRT station is a 10 minute walk away from the start of the trail to the canopy walk. Then it was a mile or so to get to the canopy walk. Of course, we got lost. We headed the wrong way on a loop trail, which added a lot of extra time to the hike. I overheated, again, and had not brought enough water. You would think this was my first trip I had ever taken. We eventually made it to the ranger station. Carmen found a couple groups of monkeys along the way; so, she was pretty happy. At the ranger station, I found my savior. There was a water fountain there. I ran through three bottles of water before I felt I could move again. We started off towards the canopy walk, which was still a 1/2 km away, when I noticed the map. The walkway was a one-way loop that would put us kilometers away from where we needed to exit the forest. There would not be anymore water. Carmen offered to turn back, and I, wisely, took her up on it. I pounded a fourth bottle of water at the station, refilled my bottle, and started the trek back. Knowing where we were going this time helped.


Strangely, or maybe not, we saw almost zero birds along the way. We heard a few, but I do not know the calls of the birds. Mostly, we had monkeys. These are a bit of an issue. Bags (paper, plastic, or otherwise) are discouraged on the trails. The monkeys know there is food in them, and they will attempt to snatch them. Begging is a thing. One followed Carmen for a little while, whimpering the entire time. We were warned that these can be the more aggressive ones and should be avoided. While at the ranger station, one tried to sneak up behind me while I was getting something out of my pack. They can be cute, but they are devious and have some big teeth.

Long-tailed Macaque

I saw six birds this walk and photographed one: Laced Woodpecker, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Olive-winged Bulbul (photographed), and 3 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. The drongo can usually be found hanging around monkeys.

Olive-winged Bulbul

We got back to the hotel, and I continued what would become a ritual for my time in Singapore. I took my first of the two-to-three showers I would take daily in Singapore. The evening was fairly pleasant and easy. We caught the MRT out to Sentosa Island. There is a beach here, but I could not find any birds along the shore. We tried durian ice cream. Carmen thought it was disgusting. I actually did not mind it. She thinks is smells like sulfur. I thought it smelled faintly sweet. We ran a few races down the "luge" track before heading over to catch an evening light/fireworks show. Dinner was at a mall. It was late, and places were closing; so, options were limited. I had some very meh teriyaki chicken and rice. Back to the room afterwards for another shower and a short night before our first morning of birding the next day.


8/29 -

Before heading to Singapore, I had reached out to the Facebook "Birding Travel" group to ask about who to contact for a guide. The response was, overwhelmingly, Lim Kim Seng. If you own "A Field Guide to the Birds of Malaysia & Singapore", the name might look familiar. His name is on the cover. We have two mornings booked with Kim. We are starting with a trip to the Dairy Farm Nature Park. The park is the site of a former dairy farm and is now home to the Wallace Education Center - honoring Russell Wallace, who conducted research in the area in 1854. Wallace independently co-developed the theory of evolution at the same time Darwin was working on his theory.


Anyway, we met Kim at our hotel, and he drove us to the park. We would be walking a short trail to a quarry and birding along the way. The park is located near the Central Catchment, and we are birding the southern part of it. We accessed the area through a smaller park and immediately had a number of good birds. A nearby bottlebrush bush was flowering, and it was full of sunbirds and Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot. The sunbirds consisted of mostly Ornate, but we did have one female Brown-throated. A male Crimson Sunbird skulked in and out but never popped out for a photo. Apparently, they are bullied by the Ornate Sunbirds. A female Crimson did pop up for photos in a nearby bush, but it really is not the same. I probably could have spent all morning here and been happy.

We started our walk towards the quarry and slowly added to our list. As with most places we visited, there were monkeys here. These were at least a bit more shy and less troublesome.

Long-tailed Macaque

We got to the quarry and spent some time waiting and watching. Gray-headed Fish-Eagle was perched distantly across the quarry. A Stork-billed Kingfisher finally appeared but remained stubbornly distant. Closer, we had several flocks of Asian Glossy Starling. I was thrilled when a pair of Blue-throated Bee-eaters flew in, but they stayed high in the trees. Scarlet-backed and Orange-bellied Flowerpeckers were more cooperative, but I only managed pics of the Orange-bellied.


Walking back, we had a bit of a surprise. A few birds were quite worked up right next to the path, and Kim spotted the cause. A Red-tailed Rat Snake was hanging out in a tree, and the birds were harassing it. Mostly, it was a lot of Pin-striped Babbler, but a female Crimson Sunbird and a Little Spiderhunter showed up briefly, too.


I was very excited about the spiderhunter. I was even more excited about what we saw next. Asian Fairy-Bluebird is a large bird with an exotic-sounding name. Normally more of a mid-story species, we were walking along the path when one flew in front of us and landed low. The bird initially landed in some cover, but it soon popped out onto an open perch and posed for a bit. Kim was astounded and then entirely frustrated; as his camera battery chose that moment to die.


We had a few woodpeckers on the trail and a few flyover parrots. The Coconut Lorikeets moved through way too quick for me to get a countable look, but I did get good looks at Long-tailed Parakeet. Kim helped me get an ID on all of the swifts I had been seeing - Plume-toed Swiftlet. I did not get eyes on the Banded or Laced Woodpeckers Kim heard. In fact, the only woodpecker I saw was a Common Flameback. Not a bad looking bird.

Common Flameback

We wrapped up here and drove to breakfast at a pastry shop. I wandered off to find some more water and a Gatorade. The Gatorade helped immensely.


We had a quick stop after breakfast before heading on to our final stop of the day. Carmen had mentioned wanting to see the "flying lemur" or Colugo while we were in Singapore. Kim knew of a spot, and we pulled into Hindhede Nature Park. The park was packed. It was the weekend, and runners were everywhere. We had not walked far before we found our first Colugo. Then we found another, and another, … and another. Kim explained that there are quite a few in this park. I was glad to see this mammal. Carmen had written of any hope of seeing one before we started the trip; thinking they would be too difficult to find. They are crazy looking animals. They spend their day roosting on the sides of the trees. They are gliders, like flying squirrels, but they are just much, much larger; somewhere around the size of house cats.


I was wracking my brain trying to think of why the name of this park sounded familiar. Then I finally remembered. This park was the best place on eBird to look for Brown Boobook. Boobook looks like a cross between a hawk and an owl. They are basically an earless owl. We walked down to the park bathrooms and Kim peered into a tree where it is known to roost. No joy. We started scouting around, and I finally spotted it a bit higher up and on the back side of the tree. I had a small window to look through, and the bird was facing away from us. Decent photos were impossible. Too bad, because it is a spectacular bird.


After breakfast, we headed to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Unfortunately, it is getting a bit late in the morning by this point, and it is also high tide. The place is better with low tides and before the heat of the day sets in. This is one of the wilder locations in Singapore, and it is possible to run across crocodiles and cobras here. I had looked forward to my visit here, but activity was low. The high tide had pushed out most shorebirds and waders. We had a few Asian Openbill, a single Gray Heron, a single Purple Heron, and a few Little Egrets perched in the trees. Shorebirds were limited to Eurasian Whimbrel, Common Redshank, and Common Greenshank. A few Milky Stork were also hanging around. These are quickly hybridizing with escaped Painted Stork and getting difficult to find. I had high hopes for finding photographable kingfishers here. The Blue-eared did not show while we were here, and the Stork-billed and Collared remained quite distant. We had a single White-bellied Sea-Eagle fly overhead. It was a beautiful full adult. The only other bird of note was a female Copper-throated Sunbird that I pished in. With the low activity, I did not get many photos from here.


This finished up our first day with Kim. We discussed plans for the next day. Kim was proposing a trip to Pulau Ubin to look for Mangrove Pitta. I probably should have stuck to this plan, but I asked about Jelutong Tower, and he mentioned that that was going to be his other proposal. I asked to go there instead, and he agreed.


The afternoon was spent showering, grabbing lunch, and then heading out to look for some places Carmen had found on the internet. We headed to Haji Lane and explored. It seems a bit overhyped. It is a very touristy area featuring a bit of street art and a lot of cramped street cafes crammed into an alley. The nearby Sultan Mosque was much more impressive. We cooled off with a drink at a nearby shop and then headed back. We had planned to eat in Chinatown, but when we got to the Maxwell Food Center most of the shops were closed. They apparently are not open on Saturday evenings. I was looking for a place that sold crispy duck and none were open. It was also about a hundred degrees in the place, and we left in frustration. It was getting late, and we still had to find food somewhere. I was disappointed to later learn that Anthony Bourdain had done an episode at the food center. It would have been cool to eat somewhere he had been. We ended up grabbing some food at the mall and heading back to prep for the next morning.


8/30 -

This was a very disappointing day. We were up and in the lobby to meet Kim when we noticed the lightning. Here is where picking the tower turned out to be an even worse idea. Hiking a mile into the forest and then climbing an observation tower in a lightning storm is not going to happen. Kim proposed going to look for Straw-headed Bulbul at a park and seeing if the storm blew over. It was dark and still threatening rain when we arrived back at the Dairy Farm Nature Park (a different area than last time); so, I left my camera in the trunk. This was a mistake. I thought we were just dashing in to look for the bulbul before heading elsewhere, but we ended up spending the whole morning here. The bulbul is flagged as a sensitive species in eBird. It is coveted by a very active caged bird market in Southeast Asia. Several of the birds I will see on this trip are flagged as sensitive species for this reason. The bird is also threatened; so, seeing one is not overly easy. Kim knew were to find a more cooperative pair.


There was a large fruiting tree here. It was filled with Pink-necked Green-Pigeon. We also found a single Thick-billed Pigeon mixed in with them. They are high up against a dull gray sky; so, pics would not have really worked out. The bulbuls, on the other hand, would have been very photographable. Even more photographable would have been the White-crested Laughingthrush that were perching low and on a photogenic moss-covered log.... It was great to see the birds, but I was feeling a bit down about not having my camera. I did ask at one point about heading to the tower, but Kim said it was too late to start the trip.


We headed from here to an Indian place to grab breakfast. We had dosa, a type of pancake.


After breakfast, we headed to another location that was high on my list. Pasir Ris is "famous" for its resident Spotted Wood-Owl. The bird can usually be easily found handing out in the trees at the park. However, much like the Buffy Fish-Owl I had also inquired about, the bird had disappeared recently. Young have fledged, and the birds are moving around a bit, making them difficult to locate. We walked a good portion of the park but failed to find the bird. As a consolation, Kim drove us to a nearby water treatment plant. Here, Savannah Nightjars roost in a field filled with waist-high bushes. You just have to walk until you flush one. Within a minute, one flushed up, and we got excellent views as it slowly circled and then found a new place to bed down. I am not sure why I did not try to photograph the bird. I just looked at it and admired it as it lazily sailed by. Our only other new bird of the morning was a Long-tailed Shrike perched on a lamp post.


Kim dropped us off, and we said goodbye. It was not how I had imagined the day going. I especially did not imagine not getting any photos for the day. Sometimes, this is just the way things go. The afternoon was open. After a bit of discussion, we juggled the itinerary a bit to open a morning later in the week to go birding. We were going to visit Jelutong Tower. First, I had to survive Carmen's afternoon hike.


We spent the afternoon hiking the Southern Ridges trail. This is a series of four parks on the south side of the island connected via a path over 3 miles in length. We hiked (not entirely happily) the whole thing. It took hours. Parts of it were really pretty cool. There was an extensive catwalk system that meandered down a hillside and gave tree-top level views along the way. We spotted a small flock of Oriental Pied-Hornbill here. We also had our first Asian Koel and Dollarbird on this trail. Birding this section in the morning would probably be pretty good. We hiked and hiked, and it got dark. I was ready to call it quits. There was a nearby MRT station, but Carmen wanted to press on. We finally finished the trail but got lost trying to figure out how to get to the closest MRT station. The instructions she had gotten from ChatGPT were not overly accurate. It turned out to be another 20 minute walk from where we were at. We were not the only ones lost; other people asked us how to get to the closest MRT station. I mapped out the route using my phone. The other party just headed off in the direction they thought they should go. We did not see them at the MRT station. Dinner was a few pastries from a shop so that I could get to bed. We had another full day in the morning.


8/31 -

Carmen had actually slotted a little birding time for me this morning. We planned to get to the park by 7:00 AM, but her itinerary did not start until 9:00. The only issue is that it was pouring rain when we arrived. The rain eventually stopped, and we set out to bird. She had a specific area that she wanted me to check out, and we slowly worked our way there.


I ran across a large fruiting tree that was full of Pink-necked Green-Pigeon and Asian Koel. I spent quite a bit of time here and returned a bit later, once the light got better. Aside from the pigeons and koel, there were Red-whiskered Bulbul, Zebra Dove, Spotted Dove, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Oriental Magpie-Robin, and a single Oriental Pied-Hornbill in the tree. I was happy to get pictures of most of them.


The area Carmen wanted me to visit was the Kingfisher Wetlands. It sounded promising. It even had large kingfisher statues. What it did not have was kingfishers. The ponds were choked with lotus. Pretty, but not very conducive to hosting kingfishers. There were plenty of White-breasted Waterhen, though. The occasional Oriental Magpie-Robin and Yellow-vented Bulbul also came by. A Malaysian Pied-Fantail even popped up in the reeds for a bit.


We checked bags into lockers and started Carmen's day a little after 9:00. We were actually a little early waiting for things to open, and I snapped a couple Javan Myna shots before putting things away. If I have my story correct, Javan Myna (along with the Painted Stork) were introduced to the area from the Singapore zoo. A storm had somehow released them into the wild. Now, Javan Myna have replaced Common Myna in both Singapore and Malaysia as the dominant species. They are everywhere.


Gardens by the Bay features a set of "super trees". These are basically large technical structures that are setup to resemble baobab trees. At night, they light up as part of a light and music show. Mostly, they function as solar energy and rain collectors. In addition to the super trees, there are two large atriums. One houses plants from around the world. The other was hosting a large lily display. The fist place was pretty cool. They were running a Jurassic Park theme and there were huge animatronic dinosaurs spread throughout the space. The second was just a lot of lilies setup in displays. Both venues had the added bonus of being air conditioned; so, it was nice not to be sweating constantly. After we toured these, we headed over to the super trees. There is a catwalk that winds between two of the trees. It gives you a nice view of the park. I watched from here as a Collared Kingfisher flew underneath with a fish. Apparently, they fish the ponds near the entrance - not the Kingfisher Wetlands. We enjoyed a snack at the concession at the end of the walk before heading to the next item on Carmen's list. The largest super tree has a 360 degree observation deck built into it. We walked around the deck as Carmen snapped photos of everything.


Carmen's final event of the morning was back at the entrance to the park. We grabbed a tram ride and headed over. The skies were still overcast, and I was thinking I had had enough flower displays for the morning. The final place was Disney-themed flower displays. She said the ticket here did not cost her anything extra; so, I was dismissed. We set a meeting time, and I grabbed my camera to go shoot some more. As soon as I stepped out to go shoot, the sun came out. I snapped some harsh light shots of Ashy Tailorbird anyway. The sun retreated a bit, and I got better looking shots of Ornate Sunbird and the cute Orange-cheeked Waxbills here. The waxbill is another exotic (Singapore has many) and is flagged as a provisional species; so, I am not sure how/if it will count at a future date.

I was walking around looking for kingfishers when I spotted Carmen walking the path across the water from where I was at. I flagged her down and met up with her. The Disney exhibit was overrun with families, and she had bailed early. We walked around a bit and then grabbed a late lunch at the local cafe. This was my least favorite meal in Singapore.


The afternoon was devoted to looking for Smooth-coated Otter. Carmen had a location to check and had pulled together instructions on how to get there. They were way off - Chat GPT strikes again. Gardens by the Bay has a sandy beach-like area where the otters are known to show up in the mornings. We had checked the spot, but the area has a lot of construction right now; so, there were not any otters there. The place she was heading in the afternoon actually sounded like the area across the river from Gardens by the Bay. We ended up just north of there and backtracked to get to Gardens by the Bay and the bridge to take us to the other side of the river. We got super lucky and spotted an immature Violet Cuckoo in a tree along the river near the bridge. As we crossed the bridge, a few Little Tern flew across in front of us. The pathway on the other side was packed with runners. We felt out of place walking. We found an area marked for otters but did not find any. I, belatedly, had gotten my camera out of my pack and did not want to waste having carried it all afternoon; so, I shot a few more Javan Myna shots.


Dinner was at Satay by the Bay. Carmen got some falafel, and I got some satay (basically chicken skewers with a spicy peanut dipping sauce). Middling, at best. We got back to the room and prepared for our next big outing in the Central Catchment. We were going to attempt Jelutong Tower.


9/1 -

Morning started early, again. We grabbed a taxis around 6:15. The crazy cab driver hot-footed it through all the camera traps and got us there in 20 minutes - 10 minutes faster than Google said it should take. It was dark. The trail is not lit, and it is a dense forest. We spent about 15 minutes waiting around before attempting the trail. The hike back was relatively easy. I was excited though. That helped, I am sure. As "fast" as we were walking, we were easily overtaken by someone half our age on the trail.


We got to the tower a little after sunrise. It is six stories up to the top. The tower puts you at the tops of the trees. I was a bit mad at myself, because I forgot to turn back the air conditioning in the room, and the camera had fogged again.


I love canopy towers. You are just up where the birds naturally are. All those birds that are usually too high to shoot are suddenly at eye-level. The person who passed us on the trail turned out to be a herper/birder from the Netherlands. He was spending his nights looking for snakes (he had some amazing viper photos) and his mornings looking for birds. This was his first solo trip, and he was enjoying it. He had even spent some time in the US doing field work. For his age, he was getting to be well-travelled. He was at the tower to see Violet Cuckoo and Blue-throated Bee-eater.


The morning was not overly busy, but we finished at 24 species. This included my lifer Asian Emerald Dove. I happened to be looking down when I saw the bird at ground level; as it is definitely not a canopy species. I missed shots of the Chestnut-bellied Malkoha that came through. Pink-necked Green-Pigeon were everywhere. The Thick-billed Green-Pigeon stayed distant and buried, which is unfortunate. They are a stunning looking species. Olive-winged and Red-eyed Bulbul flitted about various trees. We had decent looks at Banded Woodpecker and Common Flameback. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker ticked (they make a ticking call) through a couple of times. I got identifiable but buried looks at my lifer Red-crowned Barbet. As the reservoir is not too far away, we also had fly-over White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Gray Heron. Of the three parrot species we had this morning, Long-tailed Parakeet was nice enough to perch at a photographable distance.


It was starting to get late in the morning, and the Dutch birder was lamenting that we had not seen any bee-eaters. I had told him they would not be out until it had warmed up a bit. At some point, I realized that we had been hearing a bird call from close by but had been ignoring it. I turned around to look for the source and found a Blue-throated Bee-eater perched in the tree behind us. I got the other birder on it, and we got a few shots before it flew off. There turned out to be a couple, and they flew off but eventually circled back to the same tree. I was just as excited as the other guy. This is a super-beautiful species.


We birded a bit longer, but things were pretty dead by 10:00. I feel like I could come back to this location every day. No two days would be the same. While we caught a taxi in, we were going to have to catch the MRT to get back. This meant walking to the ranger station, filling up on water, and then hiking back out the same trail we had last time. Along the way, we met a group of monkeys that had either snatched a paper sack from some walkers or had been fed by the walkers. Carmen wanted to snap some pics. I kept an eye out for trouble. They all looked like trouble, though.


The afternoon was spent relaxing and repacking. We transfer to Malaysia tomorrow afternoon. We had a late lunch at a restaurant with pizza. I had missed pizza. We did a walkthrough of Chinatown in the evening. Chinatown was next to the place we were staying, and we had not seen much of it. We settled on Thai for dinner.


Somewhere in the days spent here, I actually had my favorite meal of the trip, and it was in the mall at Chinatown Pointe, which is where our closest MRT station was. I had seen a place that made hand-pulled noodles, and Carmen and I went there for lunch. You picked your bowl (I just got the beef and noodles) and the size of noodle. They bring you a steaming hot bowl, and you can add soy sauce and chile to your liking. It tasted amazing. The bonus was watching Carmen eat with chopsticks. She claims she is terrible with them. While she is a little slow, she is not that bad. But it was entertaining watching her fret over it, at first. We had planned to come back here on our last day for lunch, but things did not work out. As good as this was, I wonder how many other great places we missed out on while here. The next time we are in a location like this, I may have to look up a food guide for an evening tour.


9/2 -

Last morning in Singapore. This was my other "window" in Carmen's itinerary for some birding. Our transfer does not arrive until noon, and she did not have anything planned. I had pulled together a small list of birding locations to consider for this morning before the trip. Another run to Pasir Ris for the Spotted Wood-Owl? Maybe a trip to Jurong Lake Gardens to see what new birds could be found there? Luckily, Kim had taken us to a couple of the locations; so, I could easily scratch them from the list. What I settled on was trying to help Carmen see her otters. We were going to go back to the Botanical Gardens. I was going to go investigate the rest of the park. She was going to hang out near the lake where I had spotted them on the first day.


We were at the gardens around 6:30 AM, a bit before sunrise. This worked out for us. As we were walking the path, I saw a large dark bird settle onto the ground. Looking at it, it was a Large-tailed Nightjar. If only I had had a flashlight and my camera out. By the time I could even dig my binocs out, it flew. We relocated it later and got slightly better looks, but it did not hang around long. As it was early, Carmen walked back to the second lake (Symphony Lake) with me. This area features a large set of heliconia beds where the sunbirds come to feed. When we arrived, there was a tree nearby full of peacocks. At least, that was the calls coming out of it. It was a large fruiting tree, and it was loaded with Common Hill Myna. These mimics have apparently been hanging out at the zoo and are enamored with the calls of the peacocks. It was still a bit dark at this point. As it got lighter, the myna flew out and were replaced by Pied Imperial-Pigeon. I did not think that I would have an opportunity to shoot these large beautiful pigeons, but I am glad I did.


The sun came up and warmed things a bit, and the sunbirds started showing. Ornate Sunbird dominated the area.


While looking for sunbirds, I looked down and was amazed at what I saw. A Red-legged Crake was practically walking across my toes. I had to backup to get a shot at it. Nice way to encounter your lifer with such a shy species.

Red-legged Crake

It was not until I remembered Kim telling me that the Ornate Sunbirds bullied the other sunbirds that I thought to start checking the outskirts of the heliconia beds. Sure enough, I found my main target. I had wanted nice pictures of a male Crimson Sunbird. I found one feeding at the extreme edge of the flower beds and managed a few shots before it flew off. A little while later, I found it again. I only had two encounters with this bird, but I feel I made the most of it.


About this time, a Stork-billed Kingfisher flew by and landed across the pond. I took some distant shots and then walked over to look for the bird. It had flown before I even got there. I did grab a few photos of the sleepy Pacific Swallow hanging out there.


It was starting to get a little close to time to leave, and I was thinking I was missing something. Then it occurred to me that I had not seen a Brown-throated Sunbird yet. Checking the same outskirts of the heliconia beds, I found what I was looking for.


I still had some time left, but I wanted to get back and check on Carmen. I found her sitting dejectedly on a bench. I sat with her a bit and then walked a couple of laps around the lake with her; hoping we would see some otters. It was just not going to happen, though. It eventually came time to leave, and we headed back to the room to cleanup and start the next phase of our journey.


That is it for Singapore. We had a good time. Yes, it was hot, and yes, we had troubles figuring things out (mostly where to eat) at times. This is just part of travel and experiencing things and places you are not familiar with. It is not always easy. It is usually rewarding. We found a beautiful city with friendly, courteous people and good food. Not that we always found good food, but that was on us. The birding was easy; even if I did not always do the best at capturing photos. I would love to go back, but I am not sure that we will make it back. It is a big world, and we saw and did a lot here. It is hard to say. After all, we had not initially planned to come here in the first place.


Up next is Malaysia and a tour of the southern regions. It will be a completely different experience.


Thanks for reading,

Mike



 
 
 

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