Spotting them Glorious Birds – a look at the Mid Year Bird Censusby Lim Kim Seng
Our 8th Mid-Year Bird Census (MYBC) was conducted on the weekend of 14-15 July 2007 and saw 48 people participate. A total of 25 sites were covered, one less than last year. Bishan Park and Bukit Brown were reinstated after being missed in 2006 but Simpang and Katib, now under the control of the Ministry ofDefence, could not be surveyed, as permission to enter was not granted. Similarly, Marina City Park was not counted because it was closed to the public. Other sites like Gambas and Sunset Way were left out as well due to lack of counters. We hope coverage will improve as more birders become aware of the need for consistent counts of our wild birds.
MYBC2007 saw a tally of 7,280 birds comprising 116 species compared with 7,158 birds from 124 species. In short, numbers are up (by 122 birds) but diversity is down (by 8 species). Looking at the overall data over the last eight years, the species diversity of MYBC 2007 was slightly below the mean of 117 while species abundance was significantly below the mean of 7,679.
Site-wise, the richest in terms of both numbers and diversity was Ubin Central (same as last year) with 736 birds and 50 species. Following closely behind in species richness was Neo Tiew Lane 2 and Halus both with 46 species. Sites with the lowest bird diversity included Bukit Brown with the other 18 species, followed by Telok Blangah Hill Park (23) and Kent Ridge Park (24).
In terms of abundance, the richest sites after Ubin Central were Bishan Park (467 birds), Botanic Gardens (466) and Sungei Mandai (455 birds). In contrast, the lowest in terms of numbers was Nee Soon with just 135 birds counted. Sites with lower numbers included Telok Blangah Hill Park (147 birds) and Bukit Brown (152 birds). Of the 116 species recorded, two were migrants and included both Little and Great Egrets. Surprisingly, there were no migrant shorebirds, terns or passerines. The rest were resident.
Once again, the White-vented Myna remained the most numerous as resident with 1,242 birds counted. In second place and quite a distance behind was the Asian Glossy Starling with 599 birds. Next in the top five were the Yellow-vented Bulbul (436), the Grey Heron (a whopping 345!) and the Pink-necked Green-pigeon (292). The list of birds and their sighting record is in the accompanying box. Of mention, is the Striped Tit Babbler (162), which made it to the Top Ten for the first time.
In the 11th to 20th positions, most noteworthy was the Cattle Egret, which came from 47th position in 2006 to hit 17th position (106 birds), due to the presence of naturalised populations present in the northwest of Singapore. Other than the Grey Heron, none of the nationally threatened species made it to the Top 20.
Of 114 residents counted, 19% were nationally threatened species. Some of these included Red Junglefowl, Lesser Whistling-duck, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Violet Cuckoo and Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot. Most noteworthy perhaps were a Mangrove Pitta at Pulau Ubin and a Greater Paintedsnipe at Neo Tiew Lane 2. The most threatened resident was the Grey Heron (345), mostly form Pulau Ubin. The globally threatened Straw-headed Bulbul maintained its stand droppingslightly to 47. Likewise, Oriental Magpie-robin numbers fell from 40 to 33 birds.
Of the seven raptor species recorded, White-bellied Sea Eagle was most numerous (32) island-wide. A Lone Crested Honey Buzzard recorded at Bukit Batok West, was interesting as it was too early to be a migrant and indicated the presence of resident populations in or near Singapore.
We are grateful to the following participants who helped either as leaders/assistants in MYBC2007:
Doreen Ang, Arturo Baluyot Jr. Cai Yixiong, D Chan, Chan Kim Cheng, Paul Chan, Alfred Chia, Avian Chia, Andrew Chow, Lena Chow, Grace Chua, Geoffrey Davison, Vinayagan Dharmarajah, Con Foley, Willie Foo, Leslie Fung, Goh Si Guim, Margie Hall, James Heng, Ho Hua Chew, Ali Jaafar, Kenneth Kee, Maurice Kwan, Nessie Khoo, Danny Lau, Ben Lee, Lee Ee Ling, Lim Kim Keang, Lim Kim Seng, Lin Yangchen, Cyril Ng, Alan Owyong, Peng Ah Huay, Gloria Seow, Soon Tze Chien, Sutari Supari, Tan Ju Lin, Tan Kok Hui, Tan Siew Kwang, Tan Soon Im, Wee Sau Cheng, Wing Chong, Wong Chung Cheong, Yang Pah Liang, Margaret Yeo, Sunny Yeo, Jess Yip and Rehan Yusoff.
Once again, thanks to everyone for making MYBC2007 a success! We hope to see you again at the next census in 2008!
2007 RANKING / SPEICES / 2007 COUNT / 2006 COUNT / 2006 RANKING1 / WHITE-VENTED MYNA / 1242 / 1076 / 1
2 / ASIAN GLOSSY STARLING / 599 / 673 / 2
3 / YELLOW-VENTED BULBUL / 436 / 516 / 3
4 / GREY HERON / 345 / 116 / 13
5 / PINK-NECKED GREEN-PIGEON / 292 / 369 / 4
6 / PACIFIC SWALLOW / 241 / 223 / 6
7 / SPOTTED DOVE / 199 / 173 / 9
8 / HOUSE CROW / 183 / 193 / 7
9 / BLACK-NAPED ORIOLE / 179 / 231 / 5
10 / STRIPED TIT-BABBLER / 162 / 98 / 18
11 / COLLARED KINGFISHER / 149 / 147 / 11
12 / LONG-TAILED PARAKEET / 141 / 75 / 23
13 / EURASIAN TREE SPARROW / 130 / 190 / 8
14 / COMMON IORA / 123 / 169 / 10
15 / SCALY-BREASTED MUNIA / 121 / 86 / 20
16 / OLIVE-BACKED SUNBIRD / 120 / 138 / 12
17 / CATTLE EGRET / 106 / 25 / 47
18 / STRIATED HERON / 103 / 79 / 22
19 / BROWN-THROATED SUNBIRD / 102 / 108 / 16
20 / COMMON MYNA / 96 / 55 / 18