Saturday, February 14, 2009

Egrets aplenty at NUS

If you study or work in NUS campus, you would have noticed that egret sightings are common all over places especially in grasslands. As for me, I usually find them at the SRC field area foraging for food in the grasses.


According to Ivan, these are cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis) where the brown streaks appear only when they are breeding.

Ivan added "I've read on the Bird Ecology Study Group that the cattle egrets in the western side of Singapore are likely to be free-flying birds from Jurong Bird Park, supplemented with migrants during this time of the year."

Thanks Ivan for the correction. I first thought it was an intermediate egret which has quite different body proportions as compared to the cattle egret.


The staircase at the back is the one leading to Lower Kent Ridge Road from the AYE across the SRC field. It's nice to see birds in the wild even at places that are not that wild.

More sightings of egrets at NUS here and here.
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4 comments:

  1. IvanFebruary 15, 2009 at 12:19 AM

    Ah yes, NUS is a good place to spot egrets.

    I think the egrets in both photos are cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis); the intermediate egret has quite different body proportions. The brown streaks appear on the cattle egrets only when they are breeding.

    I've read on the Bird Ecology Study Group that the cattle egrets in the western side of Singapore are likely to be free-flying birds from Jurong Bird Park, supplemented with migrants during this time of the year.

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  2. Kok ShengFebruary 15, 2009 at 9:04 AM

    Thanks for the correction and sharing! :-)

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  3. Brandon ChiaFebruary 15, 2009 at 9:21 AM

    Breeding seasons for egret & other bird.... Happens when it's after the migratory seasons :)

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  4. Kok ShengFebruary 15, 2009 at 10:53 PM

    Breeding seasons! Cool!

    ReplyDelete