Birding Journal - 22nd Nov 2022 - Windsor Nature Park, Singapore.

Tuesday. 

Weather forecast : Rain clearing in the morning.
 

Windsor Nature Park Boardwalk.
A boardwalk within the MacRitchie Reservoir park. A park that is not famous for birding except for 1 or 2 occasions when some kingfishers arrived. I only realised recently that the Upper Thomson MRT station is located at Thomson Plaza, which is 1.5 bus stop away from this park. This makes waking to this park from the MRT possible for me. Birders has posted that there are 3 cuckoos sighted here 2 days ago. I tell myself to just visit within a week from 1st sighting and not to keep my hope too high.  Usually, migrants will leave after 1 week upon 1st landed.

Windsor Nature Park entrance, where the toilet is.
It took me at least 15mins to walk from Upper Thomson MRT here. When I arrived at near to 9am, I saw a group of photographers aiming their camera into the green. This is a common sign that birds were spotted and I joined them right away.

Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo.
True enough, this black bird was on a tree. It was quite tame. Just perched on the tree without moving. However, it was perched within twigs and plenty of leaves making it hidden underneath the dark shade that made it difficult to take a clear shot. My 1st bird spotted barley seconds upon arriving this park. Wow.

Stork-billed Kingfisher.
There was another group of photographers at the bridge that leads to the board walk area (opposite the toilet). I went over and noticed the uncommon resident is perched high on top of a tree. Actually, I do not want to take of picture of it, because it was very high up the tree. An elderly birder told me "There is nothing a birder cannot do. Every birder must take a picture of any bird you come across in their best effort". OK lor. I went over to take a shot. He is correct. This picture turns out good woh.

Where the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher is.
I went to check out the boardwalk for the Blue-eared and Oriental Dwarf Kingfishers. None can be found and returned to the main entrance thinking "That is it. Nothing more here. Time to proceed to Singapore Botanic Gardens".

The bridge that leads from the toilet to the boardwalk.
When I reached to bridge at the entrace, I noticed a large crowd has gathered at this bridge.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo.
A look into the streams and I found some movements in the bushes, I spotted another cuckoo. The so skittish cuckoo kept the whole group waiting for it to come out of the bushes. I used my camera to zoom in, and witnessed it foraging for caterpillars, one after another. I wondered where did the caterpillars came from? In the end, everyone has to make do with pictures taken from a short hop here and there.

This is my picture taken from a short hop, the Chestnut-winged cuckoo.
One senior birder saw the Hodgson's Hawk-cuckoo flew over to the entrance area and informed me, knowing I have not taken a picture of the Hodgson's Hawk from this park yet.

Hodgson’s Hawk Cuckoo.
I went back to the entrance area (where the Square-tailed Drongo cuckoo was) to look for the Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo. Initially, I can only spot the Square-tailed Drongo cuckoo. After some wait, it finally appear. Love its big big eyes.

Hodgson’s Hawk Cuckoo.
The backview.
I have met the three cuckoo as sighted by the other birders. This place has turned into a cuckoo land with 3 cuckoos spotted in a single day. How amazing. I decided to walk into the boardwalk again hoping to meet the other 2 kingfisher before I call it a day.

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher.
I was surprised to find a large group of photographers at the place where the ODK was usually sighted.

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher.
This time, it caught a rare dragonfly for its meal. (I heard one photographer calling out when he saw the dragonfly).

Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo feasting on a caterpillar.
It was already 12pm and I decided to call it a day. Arriving the park entrance, the 2 cuckoos were still foraging for food at the tree here. I met a lady birder, younger than me. She shared with me that another birder has sighted the "iron boy" at a trail in MacRitchie Reservoir. Ferruginous Flycatcher is what we meant by the "iron boy". She asked if I would like to spot it with her, since she dare not visit the trail alone. Of course I agree. 

Amur Paradise Flycatcher.
Before we set off for the "iron boy" trail, we spotted 2 paradise flycatchers. Most of us were confused if it is a Amur or Japanese Flycatcher. Well, just take a picture and do the research later. Mine shows it is a Amur.
OK, time to set off. My 3rd time walking into the Windsor Nature Park Boardwalk. 
On our way into the trail, another male birder joined us. 3 of us, not knowing exactly where the Ferruginous Flycatcher was last sighted, went on to spot the bird together. Can you imagine we actually do not know each other and after the trip, we still do not know each other. It was really a "spot bird" kind of acquaintance relationship.

Dark-sided Flycatcher.
We did a check on the map on the 1st sighted location. We were on its track but cannot find any "iron boy". We decided to walk further a little bit to check out. It was 1.30pm, getting hungry and I took out my biscuit. Was joking with the lady birder that birds normally appear when I eat. After my 2nd biscuit, the lady birder spotted this flycatcher on top of a tree. She was so excited that she could not pronounce the name. So funny. 

Dark-sided Flycatcher.
Was so glad to spot this bird. My lifer. 

Dark-sided Flycatcher.
Then, we started to joke that my eating helps. Bird did appear when I ate. LOL.

Asian Brown Flycatcher.
I went back to the "iron boy" trail and only spotted this common migrant. It was perched high up on a branch. Still it is good to take a picture for a record.
The male birder sent out the notifications to the other birders from his chat group. A short while later, we saw a stream of birders coming into this trail. The first question they asked us were : did we spot the iron boy? 

The backview of another cuckoo.
We left the "iron boy" trail,  Lee (I found out her name) suggest to explore another ulu ulu trail since we got company. I agree. It was pass 2pm, I was really hungry and brought out my biscuit again. After popping 2 biscuit, I spotted something flying behind the bushes. There is a cuckoo, we suspect, but it refused to turn around and flew off later. 
The wild boars were the last wildlife we spotted at the end of this trail and I decided to call it a day. My legs were aching after 6 hours walk without rest. There are not chairs in this park for me to take a break and I can feel my waist aching.

Lee walked with me out to the entrance while both of us try to see if we can spot the Blue-eared kingfishers. Well, no luck today but we have a list of ticks for birds spotted today.

I have a fruitful and enjoyable birding trip today. Glad to meet Lee. We bid farewell and tell each other that we are sure to bump into each other in another birding trip soon. 

Check out this video for my trip to Windsor.