Bright and Early Day Out
Another day of bird photography with the Nikon Coolpix P1000, this time at Jurong Lake Gardens, Singapore. We reached about 8.30 am since it takes ~1 hr 15 mins for us by public transport but I think it was excellent timing as we could hear birds chirping all around us. And weather was excellent! Some construction activities are ongoing so parts of the Gardens were blocked off but that doesn't stop the birds from landing on trees within the restricted area!
Tiny Birds Are Difficult To Photograph
We spotted the Juvenile Tiger Shrike near the entrance, flitting around from tree to tree. This Tiger Shrike was so active and moved around so much that other photographers (who also stopped to photograph the bird) gave up trying to get good shots, haha! I'm embarrassed to include a photo here but for the sake for helping you identify the bird, here it is...
Challenge of the Koels
In another tree a few meters away, a pair of male Asian Koels seemed to be having a battle! Not sure what they were fighting over but both males were crowing and flapping their wings at the other, displaying their superiority I think? It was pretty interesting and they made a tonne of noise, and ended up drawing a huge audience, all wondering what would happen!
Hidden Purple Heron
We didn't actually spot the Purple Heron on our own! A group of ladies pointed it out to us when we went down one of the lookout decks and suggested that I could probably take a good shot with a good camera, lol So did the Nikon Coolpix P1000 do justice? It stayed pretty hidden the whole time it was there; the only way to get a clear shot would involve me swimming out to the middle of the lake!
Fortunate View of the Blue-tailed Bee-eaters
We spent the whole morning craning our necks, looking towards the trees, and decided to leave after > 3 hours of patiently trying to photograph the many little birds around Jurong Lake Gardens. Just after packing my camera back into the bag, I spotted tiny black birds sitting in the top-most leaveless branches of a tree. Turns out it was a group of Blue-tailed Bee-eaters. The shots aren't very sharp, but the birds are beautiful, so it would be shame not to share them here.
What Birds Can You Spot at Jurong Lake Gardens?
It was a pretty fruitful day, in my humble opinion, lol We spotted at least 13 different birds, some more common than others, but the birds are still beautiful to look at. So next time you head over to Jurong Lake Gardens in Singapore, see if you can spot the following:
- Asian Brown Flycatcher
- Asian Glossy Starling
- Asian Koel
- Blue-tailed Bee-eater
- Brown Shrike
- White-collared Kingfisher
- Brahminy Kite
- Common Tailorbird
- Purple Heron
- Tiger Shrike
- White-breasted Waterhen
