25 Apr 2026 – Jurong Lake Gardens, Singapore

The quest for the Indian Pond Heron

For the second successive week, I headed to Jurong Lake Gardens for my weekend birding. I thought I’d try my luck at spotting the Barred Buttonquail. They are known to live in the grasslands area of the park but the last eBird reported sighting was back in January.

After 2 hours of waiting, I gave up. But at least I’m not walking away empty handed as I got some decent photos of other common birds that frequent the grasslands.

Next, I moved on to find another target, the Indian Pond Heron. There are three species of Pond Herons which migrate to Singapore namely the Chinese, Javan and Indian Pond Herons. What’s interesting is they can only be told apart after the birds develop their breeding plumage some time from March to June. Otherwise, they look the same during the non-breeding months.

After much walking, I found the lone Indian Pond Heron (lifer) foraging on a grassy patch at the south end of the park. It was quite skittish so I kept my distance at all times and tried to hide behind trees or bushes to photograph the bird.

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S327124345