Given how small Singapore is, I’ve been surprised by the wildlife here that appears in urban life.

My Singapore wildlife bingo card of animals I want to see or come across looks something like this:

1. Otters. DONE
2. Monitor lizards. DONE
3. Monkeys. DONE
4. Boar. DONE
5. Snake. DONE
6. Crocodile. Yet to spot one here, but determined to see one (from afar, of course!) during my time here.
7. Pangolin. Rare. Yet to spot one….but hoping to encounter a pangolin in Singapore or at least somewhere in South East Asia.
8. Oriental pied hornbill. DONE

So far, I’ve managed to see most of the above in my random wanderings here, often when I least expect to see them.

One of my earlier encounters in Singapore was a really interesting looking bird, one that I had never heard of before. I had only learned about this bird through a work colleague and so whilst I had just learned about them when I moved here, I was able to identify it when I encountered one. They are such an interesting looking bird.

One weekday morning, I unexpectedly came across this bird perched on my apartment balcony. Such a rare sighting especially in a residential urban area.

Check out this Oriental pied hornbill that was on my balcony (at the time I lived on the fourth floor) near my laundry washing stand. It freaked me out to see such a large bird on my balcony, within a condo complex. I was able to catch a fleeting photo before it flew off. But it was super cool to see one so close. (This encounter was back in November 2021)

This is the one and only photo I got of it, although have seen them since in trees from afar. Their bills are so fascinating – it’s a like a doublebeak. Anyway this was a very cool bird spotting from the comfort of my then apartment.

I’ll continue to post more of my wildlife bingo encounters.