Where is the "Dollar" in Dollarbird?
I'm always looking out for bird watching locations in Singapore, and a friend of mine suggested going along the East Coast Cycling Road where she had spotted many birds while out cycling with her family. So I headed over after work, hoping to spot eagles and shore birds 🤞.
So I strolled along the cycling path, carrying my Nikon Coolpix P1000 camera. It was rather quiet and there were not many birds to be seen, not even the very common Javan Mynas or Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Perhaps it was the late evening timing?
I walked on and saw a couple of "crows" on the topmost branches of a tree, but I zoomed in and noticed a tinge of blue on the underside of the wings. I had spotted a pair of Oriental Dollarbirds for the first time! The Oriental Dollarbirds sat bathing in the evening sun for a while, giving me sufficient time to take a few photographs of the pair.
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| Oriental Dollarbird near Gardens by the Bay |
The Oriental Dollarbird has black eyes, a bright orange beak, black head, and a lovely blue throat. The feathers are a lovely blueish-green shade all over, and the underwing has a lovely light-blue tinge which you can observe when the Dollarbird takes flight.
Finally, the Eagle has Landed
It was not a long walk, but I had a bit of luck and managed to capture a (rather) clear shot of a Brahminy Kite that was circling in the skies.
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| Brahminy Kite in Flight |
And just when we were about to head off, around 7 PM, a White-bellied Sea-eagle landed in a bare tree, less than 50 meters away. It was my first time seeing a White-bellied Sea-eagle, and the first time an eagle had landed in a tree instead of flying above in the high skies. Unfortunately the Nikon Coolpix P1000 is not the best camera for low-light photography, and after about only 4 shots, the Eagle took off.
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| White-bellied Sea-eagle near East Coast Cycling Road |
All in all, it was a happy trip for me. I didn't take the perfect eagle shot, but it was exciting having seen an eagle at such a close distance, so I'll definitely be heading back again soon!
