Story
The Raptor-watch-2020 team is glad to be taking part in Global Bird Weekend. On October 17th and 18th we will be taking part to celebrate our passion for raptor and birding while helping BirdLife International Stop Illegal Bird Trade. Please support us as we join in the fun, help set two new world records and raise money for BirdLife. By contributing to our team's fundraising you will be helping to save some of the world's most threatened birds from extinction too.
Below is the update of our global bird weekend on 17th October 2020 :
The first team to start the action is our Taiwan team Irving Lu and her partner. He started raptor watch on 5am at Kengting Gangkou with a sighting of 2700 Gray-faced Buzzard. Below is his ebird record :
https://ebird.org/checklist/S75132696
On this day Taiwan break the previous record with the total count of 82988 of Gray-faced Buzzard for this season . The highest number in decade.
For Singapore team we started our raptor watch at Kent Ridge Park . It is one of Singapore four popular birdwatching sites on mainland Singapore along with Pasir Ris Park, Fort Canning Park and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
Our first raptor sighted at about 9am is a Changeable Hawk eagle that flying quiet low .
We sighted our first migratory raptor which is a Oriental Honey Buzzard at 10am.
The raptor is mostly flying high up. We have a good time exercise our neck to look for the raptor but every time we sighted a raptor we are very happy even thought is mostly a few dot in a sky. I guess this is how raptor connect us.
We are lucky to have Alan with us. Base on his experties in raptor watch we are able to reduce some sighting of accipter sp to Japanese Sparrowhawk or Chinese Sparrowhawk.
At about 12pm we are entertain by two Changeable hawk eagle in flighting mode .
I am glad to know a few new friend who join us for the raptor watch
Below is the ebird list for our raptor encount
at Kent Ridge Park:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S74996843
Below is the ebird record for our Malaysia team :
https://ebird.org/checklist/S75132116
https://ebird.org/checklist/S75114626
We have counted 15 species of raptor as below :
Common Name Scientific Name
Osprey Pandion haliaetus
Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus
Oriental Honey-buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus
Crested Serpent-Eagle Spilornis cheela
Changeable Hawk-Eagle Nisaetus cirrhatus
Blyth's Hawk-Eagle Nisaetus alboniger
Gray-faced Buzzard Butastur indicus
Eastern Marsh-Harrier Circus spilonotus
Crested Goshawk Accipiter trivirgatus
Chinese Sparrowhawk Accipiter soloensis
Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis
Accipiter sp. Accipiter sp.
Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus
White-bellied Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster