Birding Journal 9th Jan 2023 (Monday) - Hampstead Wetlands Park.

 

Hampstead Wetlands Park, a little park in Seletar Aerospace park. Though the park is small, I find it charming.

The little pond here thought nothing much, provides food for visiting birds.
I love taking a walk here, even if there are no birds sighted, if I happened to pass by.

I decided to do a solo visit to the park today to check out the Buffy Fish Owl baby by public transport. The park is just opposite this bus stop.

Took a bus (number 117) from Punggol MRT station and it will pass by this place before reaching Hampstead Wetlands Park. This was a secured area previously. If I happened to hop into a double decker bus, I would take the front seat of the upper deck and enjoy its scenery before reaching the park.
I was lucky this time. Baby Buffy Fish Owl has just woken when I reached.

10am, Baby Buffy Fish owl has just woken and was standing at its nest. Mum was seated near baby, watching it few branches away. There were a few birders whom cannot spot them as the lights were quite low that day. So I became the park ranger that day, telling them where the 3 owls were. LOL.

Baby Buffy Fish owl.
Look at its feet. Seems to be waving at birders below the big tree.

Mummy Buffy Fish Owl.
The bigger and rounder of the 2 adults. 
Dad was sleeping at its same old place, 2 trees away, at a low branch.

It was about 10.45am that I decided to call it a day. Went back to check the Baby Buffy Fish owl and was having a chat with another lady birder when we suddenly spotted a big bird in front of us, at a low branch next to the pond. (Lower frame for picture above). The lady birder thought it was a Honey buzzard. I told her it is the buffy fish owl and we both started to click on our camera facing away from the baby owl. Other birders cannot spot it and started asking us what have we spotted. All joined in the action when we inform them.
We were not sure which owl was that then, then we noticed the other owl joined in. This time it perched on a branch above the 1st owl. 
Then, I realised the bigger owl was having its meal, so I shouted "Food in mouth". Everyone is so excited and one birder asked "what is it eating?"
I replied "Fish"
Another lady replied "Dried fish"
Yes, we could see that the fish tail was quite stiff and dry. Did owls store food for later consumption? We did not see any birds dive into the water and it was feasting on a dried fish tail. No answer can be found.
While everyone were so excited clicking away, I was observing the other owl that was perched above the 1st adult owl.  (Upper frame of the above picture). It was smaller in size and was looking upwards towards the baby and backwards towards the adult owl that was feasting. Observing its surroundings. 
Realised the male was watching out while the female was having a meal.

After a while, mummy buffy fish owl flew back to its nest followed by the daddy buffy fish owl. While all the birders there thought show has ended, I was still observing the owls form a distance. I realised the parents were watching the baby eating. I informed the birders and all started to point their lens towards the nest again. So funny.
You can see that mummy is watching the baby eating while daddy is looking around, keeping his family safe from intruders.

Mummy Buffy Fish Owl flew to the lower branch of the tree next to the pond after feed. I am sure it is trying to encourage the baby to fly over. 
As for daddy Buffy Fish Owl, he went back to his mango tree to sleep.

A trip that was well rewarded that I wanted to record it down. While most birders were just bird photographers, trying to capture the best pictures they can, I am more into observing what the wildlife did and take a picture to substantiate my records, which made the birding journey more meaningful. No use having so many pictures but do not understand what is their behavior.