Four spots, two snakes

We started off from Mandai Orchid Gardens, Kiat, Steven (our first time meeting; he figured I was Husky from the butterfly-pal forums! He was Birdwing) and I. We had high hopes for MOG, having heard and seen the great sunbird shots – especially of the Crimson sunbird and the spiderhunter – that other photographers managed to get from that place. It was tooo quiet. Hardly anything besides the Olive-backed and my good friends the Changeable lizards. I bumped into Keith there… a pleasant coincidence! We seem to have a tendency of bumping into each other in places.

We went on to the Kranji dam in search of the terns. Funnily enough, I see them every time I pass by on my way to Buloh, but when I go there specifically to shoot them, they're never there. No terns, no raptors. So… onwards to Buloh. Bob's smaller croc cousin was there by the main bridge, and there was a Paradise Tree snake in the main hide. Saw the tailorbirds, sunbirds, and the Common Iora. Lepidoptera-wise, the sunbeams and lascars were out in full force – 'tis the season for them perhaps.

Nothing much else, so we went to Sembawang after lunch to a former bee-eater hotspot. The long grasslands were trimmed, the bee-eaters were nowhere to be found. No luck whatsoever! Next, to Sringleaf. A Stork-billed kingfisher, and a Purple heron in the canals. Nothing special. We picked up a Painted Bronzeback – it was dead with two punctures in its sides and its innards were spilling out – in one of the smaller drains. Not a bad end to a bad birding day, but it would have been more exciting had it been alive.