Birding Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore (Part 1)

This is Part 1 of my Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore birding trip report, covering the first three days of the trip, which we spent birding in Singapore. The Singapore leg produced an excellent selection of Southeast Asian birds, with visits to several of the country’s best birding sites and habitats.

In this section, I’ll cover the birding locations, notable sightings, and highlights from the three days in Singapore before continuing into Peninsular Malaysia in the following parts of the trip report.

For a broader overview of the trip, including trip planning, transport, accommodation, costs, logistics, and the overall itinerary, see my Singapore and Malaysia birding trip overview.

Sites visited: Bukit Batok Nature Park

After an uncharacteristically pleasant 10-hour flight from Johannesburg, we arrived in Singapore just after 13:00. We cleared passport control, picked up our bags, and made our way to the bus terminal. On the way to our accommodation, we kicked off our list with two introduced species, Javan Myna and House Crow, along with a soaring White-bellied Sea Eagle and a roadside Medium Egret. After checking into our accommodation, we took the bus to Bukit Batok Nature Park for our first birding session (eBird checklist). Singapore has abundant access to excellent parks, and upon arrival at Bukit Batok, we heard our target species calling from the car park. We couldn’t believe our luck when the first birds we saw were a group of Critically Endangered Straw-headed Bulbuls – arguably the main reason for our Singapore extension. We spent about an hour wandering around the various paths through the park, finding several more individuals, and other species seen included Asian Koel, Crested Honey Buzzard, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Common Myna, Ornate Sunbird, and a few introduced species such as White-crested Laughingthrush and Lineated Barbet. Another major highlight was seeing a Sunda Colugo clinging to the stem of a large tree.

Our first Southeast Asian birding session had been an incredible success, and we had dinner in the Central Area before heading back to our accommodation.

Overnight: K2 Guesthouse, Singapore

Day 2. 01 December 2025. Full day birding in Singapore

Sites visited: Singapore Botanic Gardens, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Marina East Park

Today, we caught the bus to Singapore Botanic Gardens (eBird checklist), arriving at the Tyersall Gate just after sunrise. From the car park, we saw our first flock of Pink-necked Green Pigeons, Pied Imperial Pigeon (Robbie’s 1000^th global species), Plume-toed Swiftlet, Common Hill Myna, and Asian Glossy Starling. First, we walked around the lakes near the Learning Forest, adding White-breasted Waterhen, Long-tailed Parakeet, Olive-winged and Yellow-vented Bulbuls, and Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker. We also heard Straw-headed Bulbul while walking in this section of the gardens. Another particularly productive part of the gardens was the Healing Garden, where we saw a stack of new birds, including Blue-throated Bee-eater, Ashy Minivet, Black-naped Oriole, Common Iora, our only Black Paradise Flycatcher of the trip, Common Tailorbird, Eastern Crowned and Arctic Warblers, Pin-striped Tit-Babbler, Asian Brown and Mugimaki Flycatchers, and Brown-throated Sunbird.

The botanic gardens were full of bird photographers, and we found that by following the groups of birders, we could find some good birds, the highlight of which was a roosting Collared Scops Owl (1.316371, 103.818263). It was also great to see large numbers of Grey-rumped Treeswifts flying overhead – a family lifer for all of us.

After the gardens, we took the metro, followed by a bus, to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (eBird checklist). We started the walk at Kranji Coastal Nature Park and were thrilled to find a pair of Red-legged Crakes along the trail through the forest (1.441877, 103.735847). This was one of our most wanted species in Singapore, so we were delighted to call a responsive pair into view. We then explored the paths and boardwalks through the mangroves on our way to the Wetland Centre (1.446204, 103.729122), picking up Asian Openbill, Milky Stork (introduced), Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Heron, Collared Kingfisher (my 2000^th global species), and Pacific Swallow, among others. Our only Great-billed Herons of the trip were seen in the mangroves here (1.445876, 103.732865). We spent some time scanning the ponds at the Wetland Centre, which yielded our only Blue-eared Kingfisher of the trip, and Aadam brilliantly spotted a continuing vagrant Von Schrenck’s Bittern.

This tricky global bird was the main reason for our visit to Sungei Buloh. Another noteworthy sighting was a Reticulated Python that had taken up temporary residence in the roof rafters at the Wetland Centre. Lastly, we scanned the wetland in front of the hide (1.447122, 103.728053), which produced our first Common Redshanks, Common Greenshanks, Eurasian Whimbrels, and a Common Sandpiper. We also saw a Saltwater Crocodile from the bridge (1.447137, 103.728559) and our first Common Treeshrew.

In the late afternoon, we made our way to Marina East Park (eBird checklist), adding an Oriental Pied Hornbill while waiting at the bus stop. We spent an hour birding along the shoreline (1.282342, 103.878119) with the iconic backdrop of the Singapore skyline and added several new birds. A flock of aerial feeders yielded Pacific and House Swifts, and we saw our first Common Kingfisher. The main attraction here, though, was the plovers, and we quickly found our main targets – Malaysian and White-faced Plovers. We had good looks at these birds as they foraged along the sea wall, joined by Kentish Plovers and a single Tibetan Sand Plover. An area of marshy grass here (1.282808, 103.878277) produced flushed views of a Pin-tailed Snipe, and a surprise Red-throated Pipit,which turned out to be the 29^th record of the species for Singapore. We also had our first look at the common Paddyfield Pipit this evening.

We had a delicious stir-fry dinner at Gardens by the Bay and discussed our plans for our final full day in Singapore.

Overnight: K2 Guesthouse, Singapore

Sites visited: Punggol Park, Pasir Ris Park

Again, we had a pre-dawn start today, this time heading northeast and stopping first at Punggol Park (eBird checklist). We had seen on Facebook that local photographers had recently seen two pitta species at the park and decided that it was worth investigating. Unfortunately, a torrential downpour ensued as soon as we arrived at the park and showed no sign of abating. We took shelter at a restaurant, where we had breakfast while waiting for the rain to clear – it didn’t. So, we decided to endure the weather and waited under a roof (1.378638, 103.899595) in the park, when, to our surprise, a Blue-winged Pitta started foraging on the lawn – in the rain! Minutes later, we spotted another pitta in the distance – a Western Hooded Pitta. We could not believe our luck: two pitta species in the space of ten minutes in the pouring rain. Drenched, but over the moon, we took the bus to Pasir Ris Park (eBird checklist).

The rain had subsided by now, and we wandered around the park for three hours, adding species like Green Imperial Pigeon, Japanese Sparrowhawk, Large-billed Crow, and our first Oriental Magpie-Robin. The roosting owls are the park’s main attraction, and despite having excellent views of a Buffy Fish Owl feeding on an eel, we had no luck finding the resident pair of Spotted Wood Owls. Overall, bird activity was low at Pasir Ris.

As we were making our way back to the bus stop, we noticed several photographers huddled together and decided to investigate (eBird checklist) (1.374665, 103.95238). This produced another Blue-winged Pitta. We had exceptional views of this individual; what a bird!

We returned to our accommodation after a successful day out and packed our bags in preparation for an early start and a border crossing tomorrow morning.

Overnight: K2 Guesthouse, Singapore