Tag: Jurong Lake Gardens

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

The quest for the Watercock

I was still feeling quite tired from all the traveling so I took the previous weekend off from birding to chill. Now that I’m feeling better, I was off to Jurong Lake Gardens for another shot of sighting the Watercock which I previously missed. 

At 7AM, I arrived at the viewing platform overlooking Alstonia Island where the sighting was reported the day before on eBird. However, there was no sign of the bird. I made a brief detour to the grasslands area but there was nothing of interest (only the usual Ruddy-breasted Crakes) so I went back to wait at the platform.

I was chatting with another birder to kill some time when I noticed a bird foraging on the ground in the distance between two trees. Initially, I had dismissed it as a White-breasted Waterhen but decided to take a closer look with my binoculars anyway. 

“It’s there, it’s there!” 

It was an awkward shot of the back from a distance, but it was good enough for identification. The bird continued to forage in the area sporadically appearing in the open but mostly hidden from view by the trees and bushes. 

Unfortunately, the noise from some nearby grass cutters may have spooked it to remain hidden. After waiting for awhile in vain, I decided to call it a day.

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S323978095