Birding in Singapore

One of my favourite birding spots, the BAMK (Bishan Ang Moh Kio) Park is a haven for photographers wanting to shoot various species of birds. The park is easily accessible via a car park across from McDonalds and GRUB. Park your car there and walk across the bridge. With any luck, you should be able to see some birds from there already. Map of BAMK Park near GRUB and McDonalds Perched high up the trees on the left side of the bridge, you should be able to spot some nesting great herons [A]. Sometimes these herons will stoop down to the river banks especially around [B] and you can get some great shots there as well. Another place worth visiting is just near the Cleansing Biothope around a patch of tall reeds just next to some seats [C]. There you can patiently wait for munias, shrikes, waxbills and other small birds that fly in to feed on the seeds. On the left side of the Cleansing Biotope are some tall trees [D]. There you will find the lone White-rumped Sharma flying from the branch...

This was one of the first spots I went to shoot when I was starting off my bird photography hobby. The place at Punggol End is now a bit hard to get to and even harder to find a parking spot. With all the construction around the area, the direct access road is now blocked and you will have to detour a fair bit in order to get there. The bee-eaters will fly in from the open field (belonging to the Outbound School) with their prized catch and rest on the branch. There they will smash and break away all the inedible bits of the insects such as the wings. They then fly back towards the field to feed their young in nests built on the ground. Blue-throated Bee Eater with its prized catch One photo-taking technique you can try out is to shoot a sequence of high-speed shots as the birds are flying in and create a photo-montage. Photo montage of the flight of the Blue-throated Bee Eater To achieve this effect, place your camera on a steady tripod. Next pre-focus your camera at the branch and sp...

This is probably the easiest bird to shoot with a bit of good timing and luck. Here, you are able to get good close-up shots of the Golden-backed weavers at work at the Kranji Marshes.  Set your navigation GPS, Google Maps or Waze to Kranji Marsh or Kranji Gate and drive right into the car park.  The weavers are hard at work at this time of the year (around July-August) weaving their nests for their potential mate. The full breeding plumage of the male Golden-backed weaver is certainly majestic to behold, so do try to get a shot of this with the back of the bird facing you. Beautiful colours of the male Golden-backed Weaver  Although it is a bit challenging to shoot through the branches, leaves and tall grass, it is good practice to hone your focusing skills on the camera. You can try out the different focusing modes on your camera. Male Golden Weaver hard at work weaving the nest. It is also a good place to try out the effects of the different shutter speed settings to c...

Fancy a day out of Singapore Island during this Phase 2 of the Covid-19 Circuit Breaker period? Well a visit to Lazarus Island is just the perfect outing! There are several ways to get to Lazarus Island which is connected by a land bridge to St. John's Island. First get into the MRT and make your way to Marina South (TE21) and the Marina South Pier is just a stone's throw away. My recommendation if you want to go birding and shoot the Little Terns is to book a private boat (maximum of 12 persons) and ask the boatman to take you all the way to Lazarus Island jetty. That way instead of a grueling 45-minute walk, you can simply stroll to the shooting location in about 5 minutes. Head out of the jetty, turn left and another left. Then walk all the way to the promontory as shown in the map above. The minute you are there, you will spot the Little Terns flowing all around. Do note that as of this blog post (1st August 2020) it is nesting season and the open field in the mid...