Seletar Chronicle

We hardly seem to have had a dry season this year, but June and July were comparatively dry and now it’s starting to look more like the monsoon proper. Before the rain set in, we had weeks of pleasure with a family of what we think were eagles nesting in one of our trees. I checked with the Nature Society bird expert Ju Lin and she assured me that it was notoriously difficult to identify birds of prey. The baby (there seemed to be only one, or maybe it was the united cry of several) only cried at night (some human babies are fond of doing this too!). At first I thought it was a wounded animal. I came home one night, heard the noise and searched the garden with a torch, expecting to find the poor creature. It was only when I was under the tembusu tree that I realised that the sound came from above. We sat many nights listening to its cry. Then suddenly, the parent’s strong cries would be heard and a rather overjoyed sounding baby replied. Lately, we heard the baby’s cries from different trees, I suppose as it was learning to fly. Now I think it has taken wing and found a life up above. I really hope that it will come back to visit its birthplace and that my grand tembusu tree will still be standing for the babies to be born in.