Old Holland Road Canal and Bog

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Old Holland Road Canal and Bog Birding , Singapore

November 2021. 9am Hot and clammy

Having been incarcerated in Singapore for nearly 11/2 years with COVID imposed restrictions, I have been doing mostly gardening at home and didn’t really venture out much to bird at all. But with the situation improving gradually globally Omicron notwithstanding, we ventured out to the Old Holland Road Linear Park Canal with a view to seeking out a little bog on Holland Plain. This is my first blog post for 18months!

As usual, the canal and nearby areas gave us a few pretty birds…

A pair of stork billed KFs were perched on the canal side waiting for breakfast
Stork billed KF with its rich orange, turquoise green and red combination of colours
on the edge of the canal were a few red wattled lapwings
resplendent in the glow of the morning sun..the red wattled lapwing
and on the track leading to the bog, a family of white crested laughing thrushes entertained us
this bare tree to the right of the metalled road stretching between the canal and MGS school is where a few birds are always perched…and show where the bog is…
pretty nondescript reeds around the bog
the bog is more a collection of small puddles but is interesting enough that a number of birds welcomed us…..a couple of white breasted water hens took flight as soon as we neared
the migrant blue tailed (previously brown throated) bee eaters were active and posed for us in the sunshine
and in the good light the brown throated which distinguishes it from the blue throated bee eater is apparent…..wonder why the much more appropriate name of brown throated BE was dropped in favour of the blue tailed BE when the blue tail is much harder to see!
in a nearby tree another bee eater beckoned….this time the resident blue throated BE
there were also several of these blue throated BEs around and it made our study of these 2 types of Bee eaters much more fun
This little lineated barbet perched quietly near the bee eaters…
Likely a juvenile lineated barbet, it sat there with its mouth agape as if waiting for its parents to return and feed him…
As the sun rose and it got hotter, a flash flew past us and perched on the far side of the bog…a lovely white throated KF who bade us farewell

So this is my first birding blog post since COVID rudely interrupted my birding journeys…..I hope that the global situation settles down to a safe and secure environment for all of us to start travelling and enjoying the bountiful joys of our natural world…stay safe everyone! The Natural Traveller

5 thoughts on “Old Holland Road Canal and Bog”

  2. Thank you for this post with your usual great shots. It’s good to see you back after all this time. Are you still using your trusty P900?

    Reply

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