boat-wreck along the coast at kranji
a white-bellied sea eagle at kranji coast
most times when i take to the kranji trail, i would be the solitary walker. today, i had the company of a group of about eight nature photographers, led by someone from nparks. they were taking close-up pictures of insects, plants and birds. for birds, in this case it was the collared kingfisher, they had to use the 200mm to 500mm telephoto lens.
while walking close to the coast, i saw three white-bellied sea eagles circling over the tall trees. it seems to me that the number of sea-eagles has increased. just yesterday, i saw five of these magnificent birds soaring and gliding over the upper seletar reservoir area. on thursday morning, i saw a pair over the sea off sungei buloh wetland reserve. closer to my home, over at pang sua stormwater pond, there used to be a solitary eagle. these days, i often see a pair of them.
as i watched one of the eagles, i could not help feeling envious of it - gliding effortlessly up there and crossing borders without having to bother about immigration check. it flew over the johor straits before turning back.
these fish eagles normally hunt for fish but they sometimes go for small animals like rats, frogs and sea snakes. i usually see them in the morning or evening or when it is about to rain.
from my bedroom window, i have watched how the eagle catch its prey. it would circle the stormwater pond a few times to look for its prey. sometimes it could be quite high up in the sky but at other times it would be just above the tree-top level. when it had spotted some potential food, it would glide over the surface and using its talons pick up the fish that had been swimming near the surface. it seldom misses.
it does not dive into the water as some people would imagine it to do. it is not a cormorant or an osprey. it just skim over the surface, pick up the target and fly off somewhere to enjoy its spoil.
you can go to this web-page to view some superb shots (by speedblade) of the white-bellied sea eagle at bukit panjang.
