Chinese New Year at Chinese Garden

Is a long week end for most in Singapore last week due to the Chinese New Year falls on Friday (23 & 24 of Feb). I take this opportunity to visit Chinese Garden for birding.

A pair of Pink Necked Green Pigeon welcome me at the entrance of the garden. The male pigeon is on the left.

 Follow by this very striking black-naped oriole.

 I usually see this zebra dove on the ground but this one was on a tree branch. Uncommon for me...

 A  blue-tailed bee-eater perch at the vantage point waiting for it's prey.

 A female oriental magpie-robin was singing out loud.

 Another of my favorite bird posing for me, a stork-billed kingfisher.

 A non-resident common kingfisher hiding under the shade.

A female olive backed sunbird feeding on ixora plant. A short trip but with so many sightings. Not a bad way to spend the holiday. To be continued...

Purple Sunbird of Thailand

One of the last bird watching session before we end our North Thailand trip is to XX for the Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus). This is not plan for and we are just trying our luck as we are told that the purple flower that are blooming and attracted the sunbird  may have over. Since is on our way back to Chiangmai, we decided to stopover and try our luck.

 We stop over at Mae Taeng and the tree that attracted the purple sunbird is near a paddy field.

These are the trees that attracted purple sunbird otherwise not easy to photograph them as they move very fast from branch to branch.

 Yes. They are still around although only a few of them still visit these trees.

 A female Purple Sunbird that lack of the purple colour.

The male with purple iridescence under the light otherwise will appear as black.

Cherry Blossom Birding

When travel to North Thailand, one of my must visit is the garden at Doi Lang.

 The garden are filled with all the beautiful flower & plants!

 This hut must be quite cooling during summer.

 Cherry blossom is the main attraction during this period.

 There are lots of birds among the flowers...

 Such as this chestnut-flanked white-eye

 Cherry blossom is also attracting lots of birds and Mrs. Gould's Sunbird is one of them.

 An sub-adult Mrs. Gould's Sunbird

White-headed Bulbul is the "Must see" during cherry blossom period. They are the perfect match!

Birding at Fang Hotspring

I have been to Fang several time but have never been to the hot-spring. This is my first visit to this place.

I was told the main target here is to look for Spotted-winged Grosbeak. If they do turn up, they will come in flocks. The birds are here to collect mineral deposits on the tree branches caused by the hot spring. The mineral appear whitish in the photo above.

Since there is no sign of the grosbeak, I walk around the park look for other birds. Spotted this Fairy Blue Bird on the fruiting tree.

 There are quite a number of Black Crested Bulbul too.

Follow the direction of the call, saw this Blue Throated barbet.

 Saw another barbet - Lineated Barbet.

 This was a surprise find, a small bird of prey - Shikra

 Black Drongo taking flight from rock to rock.

 Also on the rock... Blue Rock Thrush!

 Saw this Grey wagtail on top of the visitor center.

 After about 10am, the Spotted-winged Grosbeak started to come in flock.

 This is the female bird.

 Male bird with striking yellow colour.

 They fly from branch to branch scrapping collecting their much needed mineral.

I am not sure if this is courtship feeding or sharing resources or simply fighting or robbing for mineral. Both birds are female in the photo above.

Both are male bird. Unlikely a courtship behavior. Any idea?....Anyone?...