The Salaryman Birder

Category: Birding Flashbacks

  • Birding Flashbacks #02: The Brown Shrike of Bukit Gombak Park

    Date: Oct 2023 to Mar 2024, Nov to Dec 2024
    Location: Bukit Gombak Park

    Over the winter migration seasons of 2023 and 2024, I would frequent my “backyard” Bukit Gombak Park to photograph a lone wintering Brown Shrike.

    Brown shrike @ Bukit Gombak Park
    Brown Shrike (taken in 2023)

    I do not know if they are the same bird across both years. But I assumed they are since both were not skittish and allowed me to photograph them at a relatively close distance.

    Brown shrike @ Bukit Gombak Park
    Brown Shrike (taken in 2024)

    I managed to get many photographs of the bird during that time including a flight shot and pictures of it with various prey in mouth.

    Brown shrike @ Bukit Gombak Park
    Brown Shrike in flight (taken in 2024)
    Brown shrike @ Bukit Gombak Park
    Brown Shrike with katydid(taken in 2024)

    The most memorable encounter had to be the time I observed it pull an earthworm out of the ground before settling on it’s favorite perch to finish it’s meal. As a child, I’ve seen so many picture books of birds pulling worms out of the ground but witnessing it in real life is quite something.

    Brown shrike @ Bukit Gombak Park
    Brown Shrike with earthworm (taken in 2024)

    Unfortunately, I have not seen the bird in recent years. It may be wintering elsewhere but it’s also possible that it may have perished. Winter migration is a perilous journey and birds die for various reasons from predation, exhaustion to window strikes.

    Brown shrike @ Bukit Gombak Park
    Brown Shrike (taken in 2024)

    Wherever you may be, I hope you are in a better place.

    eBird checklist: Various (too many to put here)

  • Birding Flashbacks #01: My First Rare Species

    I’ll be on hiatus from birding for a few weeks due to other commitments in life. Hence, I thought I’d blog about some past birding experiences prior to 2026 (before this blog was born). I’ll start with my first sighting of a rare species in Singapore.

    Date: 25 Nov 2023
    Location: Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG)

    It was my first time at SBG for birding. I remember arriving at the Eco Lake very early at 7AM. As I was photographing some Black-crowned Night Herons, two ducks flew in and landed on the surface of the lake.

    Black-crowned Night Heron @ Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore
    Black-crowned Night Heron

    This was about 1 month after I started birding. I was still learning to identify most of the common species seen in Singapore. I had assumed those ducks were Lesser Whistling Ducks, an uncommon species, but can be sighted reliably in some locations. I took a few photos and then just stood to watch them before they disappeared among some foliage.

    Cotton Pygmy Goose @ Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore
    Cotton Pygmy Goose

    There was another photographer with me on that morning but we did not speak with each other. He had no interest in the ducks which reinforced my conviction that they must be Lesser Whistling Ducks. Any seasoned local birder must have seen them to death.

    I went about my day after the birding session. When I arrived home in the evening, I used Merlin (a bird identification app) to identify what I’ve seen for the day. At that point, I realized the ducks I saw looked nothing like the Lesser Whistling Duck.

    After going through the list of ducks that have been spotted in Singapore before, I identified them as a pair Cotton Pygmy Goose. I asked for further confirmation on the Bird Sightings Group in Facebook and was given the affirmative. I was asked to submit an official sighting to the Bird Society of Singapore.

    Cotton Pygmy Goose @ Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore
    Cotton Pygmy Goose

    Only then did I realized how incredibly lucky I was that morning. My sighting was only the 7th recorded sighting of the bird in Singapore. If I ever wanted proof of beginner’s luck, here it was staring me in the face. My only regret was not realizing the gravity of the situation earlier.

    eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S289268461