pulau semakau landfill - bird watching

joined the nature society of singapore(nss) to go pulau semakau landfill. the group went for bird watching, but he went to take pictures.
azmi was the leader, gerard the bird expert(a poly lecturer) and ee ling, another keen and experienced bird watcher, and angmoh couple, a pair of gal frens and a lone ranger uncle.

it was a very hot day. the island is not for touristsor anyone who wants to pop in for a visit, only for people belonging to a couple of public societies(like nss)with pre-arrangements. that's why he had to join nss to come to semakau. the landfill island has 1/4 of the planned cells dumped already, by another 34 years, all cells will be filled up and singapore will need another landfill.

there's a tar-mac road leadng from the terminal to the other end of the island. they walked for about more than half of the dsitance of the whole road, then it was time to go back, at about 1pm.

they managed to spot the following birds:
Common myna
scaly breasted munia
brahminy kite
paddyfield pippit
blue-tailed bee eater
pied imperial pigeon (4)
common sandpiper
little ringed plover
whimbrelmarsh sandpiper
greenshank
black shouldered kite
changeble hawk eagle (pale morph)
brown shrike
Great-billed heron
Olive-backed sunbird
Black-naped oriole
Pacific swallow
Barn swallow
Spotted dove
Lesser coucal

they also detoured into the jungle trail, where tons of mosquitoes swarmed on them, sticking their proboscis into any exposed skin, even onto the clothes. at the end of the trail, they came to the shore with a beach which was cover with sea water from the high-tide of the day.

bird watching takes patience, and physical strength and tenacity to lug along tripods, bag-pack, and binoculars, and a pair of sharp eyes to spot the birds 100m away, need to remember the birds they have spotted, and recognise the birds' calls. but the joy is when the bird watcher spots a new bird he has not seen before.

he's no bird watcher - perhaps bird watching for him is, no need to force himself to learn anything more about nature, or get any clearer view of it.... just to get nearer to it.