Red Junglefowls thriving at Pasir Ris Park

“I noticed the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) population at Pasir Ris park has been gradually increasing with various flocks foraging along the two rivers, Sungei Api Api and Sungei Tampines and the open park space between the 2 rivers (above).

“But there is also danger lurking nearby. In late Nov 2016, I photographed a Japanese Sparrowhawk (Accipiter gularis) predating a young Red Junglefowl chick, which it caught and perched on a tree (above) at Pasir Ris park. The Red Junglefowl chick was identified by a distinctive black eye stripe, which will disappear when a chick matures to a juvenile bird.

“I was fortunate to photograph an interesting image of 3 male Red Junglefowl birds standing together (above). It showed the gradual colouration of the breast feathers of the three birds (from left to right), from a light brown, to a mix of black and brown, to a totally complete set of black breast feathers.

“In the same picture, we could also see how the wing feathers eventually developed into various colours on a matured male bird, namely a glossy dark greenish/ bluish sheen on the greater covert feathers, dark maroon on the lesser and median coverts feathers and dark orange feathers on the primary feathers.

“Another interesting observation was the white ear patch of the 3 male birds. They don’t seem to develop proportionately according to their age, assuming the youngest male bird is on the left and the most matured male bird is on the right.“

Thong Chow Ngian
Singapore
24th December 2016