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We've all seen animals such as otters and chickens crossing the road in Singapore.

But have you ever noticed a tiny white-breasted waterhen chick dashing across the road with all its might?

One wildlife photographer, Loke Peng Fai, noticed this small creature adapting to the city life and shared the interesting sight on Facebook on Mar. 19.

Surprise surprise, the white-breasted waterhen chick is a black feathery ball.

Waterhen family looking for food across the road

Loke told Mothership that the photo was taken in the morning on Mar. 18 at Woodlands Waterfront Park.

There were two adult white-breasted waterhens leading two chicks across the road, possibly to look for food, he suggested.

One of the chicks was more timid, so it hesitated to cross the road.

When it realised it was left alone, the small black puff mustered courage to dash across the road to rejoin its family.

Loke captioned the post as "One small step for bird, one giant leap for hen" as he felt the little chick's "road ahead seems long and scary".

He lauded the chick for being able to overcome its fear of crossing the road and joining its family.

The wildlife photography community also praised Loke for capturing this moment.

Other observations

According to Loke, he noticed the bushes rustling while waiting to photograph raptors.

That day, he photographed a Brahminy kite as well as a rare Peregrine falcon at the waterfront park.

Another wildlife photographer, Rovena Chow, who also witnessed this scene, shared more footage of the family with Mothership.

The photo below is the said waterhen family starting to cross the road.

After the photograph was taken, the chick was safely reunited with its family, but not before facing another obstacle of crossing multiple drains.

Such is the life for wild animals living in a city.

What are white-breasted waterhens?

According to the Singapore Bird Project, white-breasted waterhens have a white face and underparts, and dark grey upper parts.

They have a chestnut undertail-coverts and a distinct yellow-green bill with a red base.

Coverts are a type of feather which covers a base of a main feather of the bird.

Juvenile waterhens have browner upperparts, dark spots on ear-coverts and less white over their eyes.

According to NParks, the birds forage in the open, and live in mangroves, parks, gardens, and ponds.

It is a common resident bird.

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Cover image via Loke Peng Fai.