Sight, Sound, and Colors of Birds

On the morning July 21, we went to Sungei Buloh for nth time. It was high tide. Birds were mostly in trees, and on lands. It was a dull day  as far as bird watching and wild life viewing were concerned , no crocodiles at the reserve, no owls, no sight of eagles, or even the collared kingfishers. 

But as walked on the trail of the reserve, we noticed a large group of big birds soaring in the sky, circulating over the Buloh Basar River. Through high zoom via my camera, they turned out to be painted storks, a large wading birds. Painted Storks, like egrets and herons, they typically stand by water's edge, and fly short distance in solo or pair. It was a rare sight to have the painted storks flying in group in the sky for substantial time.

painted storks soaring in the sky

painted storks standing by water's edge

On the trail, I heard an unfamiliar, very bright, loud bird chip a few times, but could not locate the birds. When I heard the bird chirp one more time at Mangrove boardwalk, I finally spotted the bird. To my surprise, the chirp was from an ashy tailorbird.  In memory their sound were not this loud, but a short and sweet voice in series. I had my big lens on already, and got some very good photos of it since it stayed at its perch for quite sometime making calls. 

an ashy tailorbird singing loudly

There were a lot of house crows at Sungei Buloh, making loud noise. The color of a house crow is typically grayish black. Near the Buloh Basr river, we saw red dot in the air. Looking again, we saw a pitch black crow with a red fruit in its beak, quietly perched on a tree branch, after a few seconds it flew away with the red fruit.  If it was not the red fruit in its beak, I won't see it.

Can you see the crow?

Flame woodpecker is a quiet bird. I have not heard its chirp yet, not even the sound its pecking tree barks. But it has bright colors - red head, black neck and yellow plumage/wings. It seems to hop, not walk or fly on the tree trunk. Last week we saw it for the first time at Singapore Botanic Garden. 

The lineated barbets, on the hand, make calls for extended stretch at a time. But they are really hard to spot because they are so well camouflaged with green leaves of the trees they make call from. 

Can you see the lineated barbet in this photo?