Birding/ Bird watching in Singapore

Birding/ Bird watching at Pasir Ris Park, Singapore

Friday 3^rd of November 2017 and it was about 20 to 30 minutes to get to Pasir Ris Park. I got out of the car and I discovered a place to rent a bike. They were also selling snacks, good to know if I get thirsty. There is a walking/ bicycle track along the Api Api River.

A beautiful area and I spotted 2 Black-naped Orioles. Sitting low in the bushes so I had them in the eye level. Of course, they were covered behind twigs etc. I walked after the birds for a while, but I had to run away. Mosquitoes, so if you come here, don't forget your repellent. It was terrible and I had to run away, well, walking really fast.

Rent a bike

Pasir Ris Park

Bridge over the Api Api River

Pasir Ris Park is a dangerous place

Pasir Ris Camping Area #3

I crossed the bridge over Api Api River and I ran in to a guy with a Canon camera with a 400mm lens. They grey L-series so I knew that he was using the real stuff. I asked him if he was looking for birds. He told me that they were here to save an Otter. There was an injured otter that they were going to catch and bring to the Veterinarian.

Canon L lens

Canon's series of L lenses (Canon Luxury Lenses) are a professional line of SLR photography lenses made by Canon. Canon has sold zoom and prime L-series lenses for the discontinued FD lens mount and for the current EF lens mount used on all Canon EOS cameras.

Characteristics
Most L series lenses share a number of common characteristics not found in Canon's line of lower-end lenses. L lenses tend to be more durable, incorporating dust and water-resistant rubber seals on some models. L lenses also contain optics of higher quality, with many lenses containing a spherically ground, fluorite or ultra-low dispersion glass elements. Their front elements do not rotate for the proper operation of some filters, such as circular polarizers.

L lenses are often "fast", with maximum apertures commonly f/2.8 or f/4 and never exceeding f/5.6. Standard prime lenses have a much higher maximum aperture, with both of Canon's current 50mm and 85mm L lenses which open to f/1.2. All current L-series lenses have ultrasonic autofocus motors (USM) and extra communication pins, except for the specialist tilt-shift lenses which do not provide autofocus.

Larger sized L-lenses, such as the 70–200 mm, 100–400 mm zooms, and longer focal length primes (300 mm+), usually have an off-white barrel to reduce heat absorption under the sun that may otherwise affect the performance of the lens, as well as to identify Canon's lenses (for example at sporting events), though these can be confused with Sony A and Pentax K-mount lenses which are also offered in (pure) white.

However, shorter focal length L-lenses can be black (such as the Canon EF 24–70 mm f/2.8L) and all L-lens primes under 200 mm are black. L-lenses can be identified by the distinctive red ring on the lens barrel. The off-white colour of the lens barrel is not exclusive to L lenses, since the Canon 400mm f/4 DO non-L lens is off-white with a green ring.

Canon lens codes
On the back of Canon lenses is a six-digit code, which indicates where the lens was manufactured and when.

Example of a code "UV1212"

The first letter, 'U', represents the factory that made the lens. Three possible first letters are:

U = Utsunomiya
F = Fukushima
O = Ōita

The second letter, 'V', represents the year of manufacture:

A = 1960, 1986, 2012
B = 1961, 1987, 2013
C = 1962, 1988, 2014
D = 1963, 1989, 2015
E = 1964, 1990, 2016
F = 1965, 1991, 2017
G = 1966, 1992
H = 1967, 1993
I = 1968, 1994
J = 1969, 1995
K = 1970, 1996
L = 1971, 1997
M = 1972, 1998
N = 1973, 1999
O = 1974, 2000
P = 1975, 2001
Q = 1976, 2002
R = 1977, 2003
S = 1978, 2004
T = 1979, 2005
U = 1980, 2006
V = 1981, 2007
W = 1982, 2008
X = 1983, 2009
Y = 1984, 2010
Z = 1985, 2011

The next two digits represent the month of the lens is manufactured:

The last two digits are for internal Canon use.

Therefore, the example (pictured) of UV0512 means the lens was made in the Utsunomiya, Japan factory in May 2007.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I discovered several people on the bridge. Nets and bag nets and a few people with video cameras and cameras. When I came back to cross the bridge again they were just about to try to catch the otter. But they were unlucky and they failed to catch the otter. I was surprised to see the otter “gang” as I thought that there would be one otter only. But there was around 10 of them. But only one was injured.

I looked at the group swimming out to sea. The team followed them because they knew that they would come back to the beach/ river again. I continued to walk towards East to the bridge across the Tampines River. It is 3 to 400 meters between the bridges.

Trying to catch a Otter in Api Api River, Pasir Ris Park

Trying to catch a Otter in Api Api River, Pasir Ris Park

Otters swimming out to sea

Otters swimming out to sea

Otters swimming out to sea

Otters swimming out to sea

Mouth of the Tampines River

Not many birds in Pasir Ris Park. Some Parakeets and I could hear the Asian Koel. When I came to the Tampines River I discovered an opening in the bushes. I went in and I ran in to a Kingfisher. Looked like the Forest Kingfisher I had seen in Australia, but this bird should not be available here in Singapore. So I have to put it down like a very dark Collared Kingfisher.

I saw many of the parakeet but I never got a picture. I saw more of the Black-naped Oriole. I walked towards the mangrove and I walked on the board walk back to the parking place. I booked a UBER car and I was soon on my way back to my hotel.

Collared Kingfisher

Collared Kingfisher

On the board walk through the mangrove

To see the map in a full window click HERE

It was dark when I was back at Holiday Inn. I went to have my dinner, spaghetti meat sauce a pot of tea and chocolate cake for dessert. 80 Dollars!!!!! What the Actually, I got a wee bit angry. I have had many meals costing way more than 80 Dollars, but never spaghetti. This was a robbery!

Very nice and friendly staff, but right there and then I decided to never come back to stay at Holiday Inn - Atrium Singapore. I was in bed early as I have a standing wake-up call reservation in the reception. 05:00 and 05:10 and tomorrow it will be bird watching at Hindhede Nature Park/ Bukit Timah nature reserve.

This promise to be exciting, so click HERE to find out exactly how exciting it gets.


Tweet



OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

You are visitor no.

To www.aladdin.st since December 2005

Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011