My original plan to tack a few days onto the end of the International Conference on Robotics and Automation was aborted a few weeks prior to the conference when I realised how much other time I’ll be forced to have away from home due to work commitments later in the year. This was a bit of a disappointment given how many tantalizing birding destination are within an hour or two’s cheap flight from Changi Airport (previously I’ve visited Panti Forest in Johor, Malaysia and have had a cheeky couple of days in Manila, and on the Kinabatang River in similar circumstances).
Even so, I carried optics with me in the hope of nipping out pre- or post-session. In the end I only birded one morning, but achieved my main objective: Black Bittern. AFAIK this is not a regular Singapore bird, but a single bird had been seen regularly for a few weeks prior to my arrival in the last week of May near Satay by the Bay, a food court in the striking new gardens near the marina — and only a few minutes walk from the conference hotel. I have only seen Black Bittern twice before, both in New Guinea in 2008, and not obtained any decent images, so I decided to twitch this bird.
Wednesday morning before the session started (and the day got too stinking hot and sticky) I wandered down from the conference hotel, Marina Bay Sands, through Garden by the Bay to a lily pond near Satay by the Bay. Here I scanned the fringes and reeds in the hope that a Black Bittern that had been seen regularly over the last few weeks was still around.
First heron of the morning was a Striated Heron on the banks of the marina, while a Yellow Bittern was very conspicuous, though distant. Then, as a scanned the far reeds I saw a dark shape leaning forward on a rock and I . I fired off the obligatory record shots then walked around to see if I could get a view from a closer vantage point — fortunately I found a spot I could duck into the vegetation off the main path and get a nicely camouflaged view.
On my way back, just in time to catch the first session I heard some squeaking on the marina bank. I peered over the bushes and was delighted to see a family of 7-8 Smooth-coated Otters playing and feeding by the bank. Apparently this very same family featured in Planet Earth II in the urban wildlife episode!
