Pasir Ris Park and Beach

Pasir Ris Park is a park at Northeast of Singapore, at the bank of Johor Strait. Pasir Ris means fine sand in Malay. It has long stretch of sand beaches with fine sands, palm trees line the bank, the trails from east end to west end is ~ 3.5km, paved, mostly shaded. 

Pasir Ris Beach

shaded trail

The park is divided into 4 areas, and the areas are separated by rivers and connected by pedestrian bridges.  In addition to hiking, biking and running, another popular sport is water sport, including kayaking, water biking, and standup paddle boarding.

A river separating areas of the park

Johor Strait

Buoys help to keep people from entering main waterway for cargos

There are plenty palm trees and other fruit bearing trees, flowering plants. With trees and plants, there are many birds there, in addition to the ubiquitous Javan Myna, we saw red junglefowl, doves, parakeets (long tailed green bird - saw them many times but did not get good photos), collared kingfisher,  black naped oriole,  common flameback (woodpecker) and oriental pied hornbill.

hanging flowers

Barn Swallows

Red Junglefowl - rarely see a rooster rest like this

common Mynas

mutated myna?

common flameback 1

common flameback 2

Sighting of oriental pied hornbill was the highlight of our visit to Pasir Ris Park and Beach. Shortly after we entered area 1 of the park, we saw a few photographers congregated around a tree, and then we saw the big horbill - the oriental pied hornbill, which is actually the smallest of all Asian hornbills. 

A quick web search reveals that the oriental pied hornbill's diet consists of wild fruits such as figs (Ficus spp.), berries,  palm fruit, papaya and fruits of liana plants. They are secondary cavity nesters, meaning that they typically do not excavate their own nesting sites but use those created by other birds or by branches breaking off. When females have selected and entered their nest, they seal the cavity with a mixture of saliva, mud, fruit, droppings and tree bark, leaving only a small opening through which food may be passed in. The male forages for the female and chicks, and the female feeds the nestlings. Chicks remain inside the nest with the female for several months until there are ready to fledge.

These descriptions matched what we observed - the male hornbill fetched the red fruit, and flew to the tree cavity opening to feed the female and chicks. 

daddy hornbill foraging

to feed baby hornbill in the cavity of the tree

foraging and feeding

Time flew as we stopped frequently to watch birds, and enjoy the vista. It was ~ 1pm when we were halfway to parking garage and in front of the Restaurant Georges at the Coves. We had a late lunch there, in fact brunch for Saturday. The food was fresh and delicious, the view was beautiful. The price was at high side, but was worth it. :)

view from Georges @ Cove