Bird Photography @Satay By The Bay

Early 2013 ~ Sandwiched between the picturesque domes of Gardens by the Bay and Marina Barrage is Satay By The Bay, a food court surrounded by lush greenery. With a pond beside it & an artificial river running nearby, it's quite a lovely place for eating out.

Lush greenery

Serenity

Been there a number of times, but food was not what drew me there. It was also not the many Dragonflies & Butterflies which flirt around the pond that attracted me to that area. All are common species & the only Butterfly I bothered to take pic of is a Yellow Palm Dart.

Male & female Blue Percher (Diplacodes trivialis).

A male Common Scarlet (Crocothemis servilia) & a Yellow-barred Flutterer (Rhyothemis phyllis).

A male Saddlebag Glider (Tramea transmarina) & the lone Yellow Palm Dart (Cephrenes trichopepla) that I bothered.

However, I noticed some strange lizards which flick their orange throat flap at me whenever I approached too close. After some research on the internet, I discovered that they are Brown Anoles. The first record (Nov/Dec of 2012) of the Brown Anole in Singapore is at Gardens by the Bay. The many individuals, hatchlings, and courtship activities observed at that area strongly suggest that the Brown Anole has already established a population in Singapore, at least around the Marina Bay area. It was accidental introduced most probably by the importing of plants for building Gardens by the Bay. The Brown Anole is the first reptile from the Americas that has done so there & is possibly the second introduced species of lizard that has established a feral population in Singapore. The first species to have done so is the Changeable Lizard.

Brown Anole @Satay By The Bay.

A juvenile Brown Anole.

What actually brought me to that little garden is a lovely first-time visitor to our shore. Because of her, Satay By The Bay became a favorite haunt of many local birders (bird photographers) for a number of months. A female Daurian Redstart was sighted at that area on late (Nov/Dec) 2012 & this was the first time a Daurian Redstart is recorded in Singapore. An accidental visitor (most probably it was blown off-course from its usual migratory route by a storm), the little bird became some sort of a celebrity among local birders. It's very friendly, letting birders approached very close & it was always around at a certain small area. Many birders returned times & times again, snapping thousands of photos of this little star. I believe this lone Daurian Redstart is the most photographed bird of Singapore in the year of 2013.

Daurian Redstart (female) @Satay By The Bay.

Birdie Celebrity of Year 2013.

Another bird at Satay By The Bay which caused a stir in the local birding community is a Willie Wagtail. The Willie Wagtail is not native to Singapore. It originate from Eastern Indonesia, New Guinea & Australia. This particular bird, a lone escapee, was first sighted on April 2013. No one know how it got there.

Willie Wagtail @Satay By The Bay.

Beside these 2 foreign birdie celebrities, there are many species of birds at that area, some local residents, some migratory.

Wandering Whistling Ducks.

White-breasted Waterhen with chick.

Zebra Dove & Yellow Bittern.

Asian Koel (male) & Common Tailorbird.

A juvenile Eurasian Tree Sparrow & Pied Triller.

Little Bronze Cuckoo & Oriental Magpie Robin.

Scaly-breasted Munia & Black-headed Munia.

Asian Brown Flycatcher & Dark-sided Flycatcher.

Coppersmith Barbet & White-throated Kingfisher.

Oriental Reed Warbler.

Brown Shrike & Long-tailed Shrike.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater & Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot.

When Satay By The Bay was newly opened to public, it appears that many wild birds were drawn to that area. What I believe is that these birds were driven out from the original forest which was there all along before that area was developed. When the construction was finished, some of the birds returns. Most of these are park/garden species. I can safely bet that there were many more species before the forest was destroyed. What happened to those forest species, I dunno. What I could never understand is this: Why do we need to destroy a natural forest to build an artificial garden over it? The natural forest needs no maintenance. How much money did it take to build & maintain that artificial Garden By The Bay? Is that progress? The stupidity of human beings know no bound!