Monthly Archives: January 2026

My Singapore First Bird Records: A 16-Year Retrospective

I have been birding for close to 16 years now. In that period of time, I have had a few Singapore first bird records; that is, being the first person to discover that particular bird species in Singapore. It’s one of the more sought-after achievements in birding, for it’s not every day you can come across a rare bird, much less be the first person ever to see the species in the country. So, naturally, I have been asked once in a while, “How many Singapore first bird records do you have?”

I can’t answer in a straightforward manner with a single number. Instead, let me tell you the individual stories behind each discovery and then give you my thoughts about them later.

1. Lesser Black-backed Gull / Taimyr Gull – Singapore Strait (20 November 2011)

Lesser Black-backed Gull at Singapore Strait

I was invited to join a pelagic boat trip with members of the Nature Society (Singapore) (NSS) Bird Group for the first time on 20 November 2011. At around 8:23 am, a medium-sized bird flew from a west to east direction, passing by our boat. I was positioned on the upper deck of the boat and saw it, getting a series of shots. Down below, the other birders also witnessed it, and another photographer, Lee Tiah Khee, photographed that bird as well. It looked like a gull, but at that time, I had no idea where to begin and deferred the ID to the other, more experienced birders. They all settled on it being a juvenile Larus gull type, but the actual ID was not easy until, upon advice from Dave Bakewell, I sent an email to Nials Moore, who is based in South Korea. Here is his reply via a blog post here (scroll down a bit).

The sighting and record was then accepted by the NSS Bird Group Records Committee (NSSBGRC) soon after, and the species was included into the new checklist. Yay! So what’s the problem? The inclusion didn’t last. A few years later, the committee changed its mind and removed the bird from the list. Apparently the exact location of the sighting became an issue as they relooked at some of the older pelagic trip records. I managed to retrieve the data from a GPS logger I had running then, and the location of the discovery is shown here.

For their part, the Bird Society of Singapore’s Records Committee (BirdSoc RC) decided to place the record on their Annex A instead of in Category A. This simply means it’s not in their main Singapore checklist either.

2. Red-footed Booby – Singapore Strait (13 May 2012)

Red-footed Booby at Singapore Strait

Another pelagic trip organised by NSS, and this time I moved to the front of the boat together with Lim Kim Seng. With a clear wide view of the sea ahead, we soon saw a large bird flying near a ship at around 7:06 am. I remember shouting “Bird!” to alert the rest who were seated at the back of the boat. They largely managed to see the bird, but our front views were the first and the best. The bird was following a ship named “Jin Hai Yu”. It was headed towards the Changi side while we were closer to the Pengerang, Johor side. Our exact observation location, based on my GPS logger, was here.

I don’t recall exactly whether the ID of the booby was confirmed immediately by others. I have a hazy notion that we thought it was a booby, pending my photos for an exact ID. In the end, back at home with a field guide in hand and the photo on the computer screen, it was obvious to me that it was a juvenile Red-footed Booby.

How did this sighting rate? Well, at that time, the record was considered legitimate, and we happily filed it under our respective national first achievements. However…

About a year later, Chan Yoke Meng and Melinda Chan realised a bird they had photographed on 9 February 2011 at the former Muslim Cemetery in Lim Chu Kang turned out also to be a Red-footed Booby, hence predating our sighting by a year. Their write-up can be found here.

3. Black-and-white Bulbul – Jelutong Tower (29 May 2012)

Black-and-white Bulbul at Jelutong Tower

A routine trip to Jelutong Tower led to the discovery of this bulbul. I have written about the circumstances of this discovery to the wildbirdSingapore Yahoo Group. You can have a read below. To summarise, I was observing a Green Leafbird perched on the bare branches at the canopy of a distant tree. It flew off, and another black bird flew in and perched on the same branch. I initially thought it was a Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo due to its size and small bill (hence ruling out the Crow-billed Drongo). I noticed that there was a white patch on the wing, which made me doubt the ID. I was the only observer at the tower and I don’t even recall informing anyone about it. Unfortunately, my WhatsApp message archive only extends to 2013. Back home, I processed the photo and asked around, hoping for more experienced birders to help identify it; the reply was that I had photographed a Black-and-white Bulbul, a rare bird even in Malaysia and known to be a wanderer.

Were there any controversies regarding the sighting? Firstly, there is an earlier observation made on eBird (that was for an observation on 9 October 2010 but submitted 12 years later in 2022). Secondly, in a personal conversation with the late Subaraj, he mentioned seeing this species a few times in the Central Catchment area. However, none of these observations by either party were submitted for further scrutiny and, as things stand, my record remains the first confirmed one.

Email to wildbirdSingapore Yahoo Group:

4. Shikra – Changi Reclaimed Land (8 November 2012)

Shikra at Changi Reclaimed Land

I have written about this in a recent blog post here. In summary, I saw a sparrowhawk while on a birding trip alone at what is now Changi Airport Terminal 5, but in the past was newly reclaimed land that was left temporarily fallow. The bird was backlit, and the resulting views and photos were not ideal. When I had a chance to process the photos after the trip, I sensed it was something out of the ordinary. Two attempts to ask for help drew answers that were incorrect. Finally, in 2021, re-examining my photo archive, I came across these photos and, at that moment, came to the self-realisation that I had managed to photograph a Shikra all those years ago.

5. Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike – Jelutong Tower (23 August 2013)

Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike at Jelutong Tower

On 11 February 2013, Chan Tsan Tsai and Geoff Lim encountered this species and submitted the record and photographs to NSSBGRC. Six months passed and there was no indication of it being included in the checklist. On 23 August 2013, I encountered presumably the same bird, photographed it, and submitted it to the Records Committee too. Two years later, in 2015, both our records were accepted and the bird was included in the NSS checklist. In this instance, there is little doubt that the earlier sighting was the national first and mine was the second. However, at the time, my record was more well-known; hence, this is a clarification about the sequence of events.

6. Sakhalin Leaf Warbler – Dairy Farm Nature Park (5 Mar 2014)

Sakhalin Leaf Warbler at Dairy Farm Nature Park

On 15 December 2013, an unusual warbler was observed by Lim Kim Keang on the trail leading from Dairy Farm Nature Park to the Bukit Timah summit. Without a good view and actual photos, the bird remained unidentified until the new year came; the first photographic evidence and sound recording ruled out the Dusky Warbler and pointed towards the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, and there were at least two birds present.

This would have been the second record for this bird species, as there was an earlier record at Lower Peirce in 2009. Here is a copy of that record submission. This particular record was accepted and subsequently the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler was included in our checklist. I do not know how the actual deliberation went, or how the similar-looking and calling Sakhalin Leaf Warbler was excluded. Perhaps it was because it was conventional wisdom back then that there had never been a Sakhalin Leaf Warbler found in the Thai-Malay Peninsula.

Back to the birds at Dairy Farm. There was a big interest in photographing the birds when the news came out, and some minor discussion on how to actually separate the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler from the Sakhalin Leaf Warbler in the field; but like many mega-finds, interest simply moved elsewhere and the birds were generally accepted as Pale-legged Leaf Warblers. Other mega-birds, like the first Band-bellied Crake for Singapore, occupied the minds of most birders instead.

In the meantime, I had purchased an app called AudioMemos to start recording bird calls. I had thought that ever since the Arctic Warbler complex was split, there was a necessity to record bird calls for documentation as well as ID purposes. For the next three months, I made it a point to periodically climb the trail from Dairy Farm to the summit and record the repetitive high-pitched calls of the “Pale-legged Leaf Warblers”, as well as the birds up on the summit, especially the Yellow-browed Warbler which I had recently ticked. On 5 March, during one of these trips up the hill, I heard and immediately recorded what sounded very different from the normal call. I have provided a copy of the recording below:

It was an incomplete song, but not at all like the song of the Pale-legged Warbler; instead, it was very similar to the Sakhalin Leaf Warbler. I realised there and then that we had been mis-identifying the birds this while. The warblers were Sakhalin Leaf Warblers, not Pale-legged Leaf Warblers. A paper was soon published in the BirdingAsia journal about this discovery. A copy can be read here.

Seeing through the lens of a birder in 2026, it seems silly that we could have had trouble differentiating these two species, as their calls alone should have been enough to separate them. The Pale-legged Leaf Warbler’s call has a measurably higher pitch than that of the Sakhalin Leaf Warbler. However, that misses the fact that the main paper describing this pitch difference as being diagnostic was only published in 2017 and was partly based on our analysis and data gathered back in 2014. Credit goes to Dr Yong Ding Li and Assoc Prof Frank Rheindt for doing the initial sound analysis that led to this conclusion.

7. Bulwer’s Petrel – Singapore Strait (12 Nov 2016)

Bulwer’s Petrel at Singapore Strait

I joined a pelagic trip along the Singapore Strait organised by Adrian Silas Tay on 12 November 2016. At around noontime (12:02 pm), at this location along the Singapore Strait, I spotted a blackish bird flying low on the water and quickly informed Lau Jiasheng, who was standing next to me on the boat. We managed to track what looked like a large storm petrel but gliding more like a shearwater. The rest of the birders heard our communication and joined in tracking and photographing the bird. Unfortunately for me, I was using my secondary camera, the Canon EOS 7D Mark II, and was not used to the autofocus system; as such, I only had one in-focus shot as it flew away. Thankfully, the rest managed to get better photos. On the boat after the event, our speculation was that it was a Bulwer’s Petrel. The identification proved straighforward when our respective photos were processed and passed around to the seabird experts. There were to be two other sightings of this species around the same area in the following months (29 April 2017 and 6 May 2017 respectively), believed to be the same bird.

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8. Wilson’s Storm Petrel – Singapore Strait (12 May 2018)

Wilson’s Storm Petrel at Singapore Strait

I joined a pelagic boat trip organised by Martin Kennewell on 12 May 2018. At around 7:58 am, I saw Martin Kennewell and Richard Carden looking intently at a distant bird and decided to join in. I really had trouble finding the bird due to its distance; it looked like a tiny speck on the viewfinder, and it didn’t help that we were on a boat that was bobbing up and down with the waves. I had an equally difficult time trying to get the camera to focus on said bird. In the meantime, both Martin and Richard had already nailed it as a storm petrel and either both or one of them mentioned Wilson’s Storm Petrel as they saw flashes of white on the rump. I was too busy trying to lock on to the bird to pay much attention to their dialogue. In the end, I had only two very poor-quality and distant photos, but crucially, it did look like a storm petrel with a white rump.

In all likelihood, what we saw and photographed was a Wilson’s Storm Petrel, but because of the distance and with only very poor photos, we can’t conclusively rule out other storm petrels. Furthermore, the coordinates of the sighting were around here, which meant it was more likely to be in Indonesian waters. Lastly, there was another sighting of the Wilson’s Storm Petrel by Tan Kok Hui from a ferry ride to Karimun, Indonesia, from Harbourfront Centre back on 3 March 2007 that preceded ours. Both of these sightings were not assessed by the Bird Society of Singapore’s Records Committee. As a result, the Wilson’s Storm Petrel is not currently on our checklist.

9. Large Woodshrike – Jelutong Tower (22 October 2018)

Large Woodshrike at Jelutong Tower

It was at the start of the raptor watching season in Singapore when I decided to trek to Jelutong Tower on a Monday morning. My usual birding partner Richard White was not joining, as that’s not our usual day of the week for going to the tower. At the tower, I met fellow birders Oliver Tan and Pary Sivaraman. By 8:50 am, we spotted our first raptor thermalling up in the distance. It was a honey buzzard. We were all prepared for other raptors to soon appear as the sun began to warm the forest. At 8:53 am, as we were chatting, I noticed a medium-sized bird flying in to perch on a palm frond near the tower. My first thought was that it was a Brown Shrike. I immediately repositioned myself to get a better photo angle and started to fire off a few shots, then quickly changed my mind and blurted out “Flycatcher-shrike!”. I unfortunately blocked Pary’s view with my repositioning. Before I could get more photos, the bird started flying away and made a call as it did so. Oliver, who heard the call, blurted out “Large Woodshrike!”. I could only get some out-of-focus shots of its flight before it landed on a tree about 30-50 metres away, out of our sight. A brief encounter, but we were somewhat familiar with the species, having seen them in Malaysia, so the ID was not in doubt, even at the tower. We waited quite some time for it to reappear, but evidently, it did not.

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10. Fairy Pitta – Dillenia Hut (8 November 2019)

Fairy Pitta at Dillenia Hut

This is the sighting I’m most famous for. And the reason is obvious. Unlike many of the birds that I found, this one is a looker and it’s also a rather unexpected find. So the crowd that gathered after it was reported was pretty big (by pre-pandemic standards).

It was Friday, 8 November 2019, at around the peak of the migration season, when Richard White and I trekked to Jelutong Tower from the end of Rifle Range Road via the Rifle Range Link trail. It was a dark, gloomy morning. Just before 7:00 am, we crossed the lone stream and started walking towards Dillenia Hut with Richard in front. He stopped 20-30 metres in, looked through his binoculars, and told me that there was a Blue-winged Pitta in the middle of the trail. Light was very low at that moment, but I made out the shape of the pitta in my viewfinder, and it promptly hopped away! Thankfully, we quickly relocated it and I started photographing the bird. Even at 1/60s, the viewfinder and the resulting photos were pretty dark. It was 6:54 am on the EXIF data. The pitta continued slowly hopping forward towards the hut and we periodically caught glimpses of it; I felt the underparts were paler than usual, but in that lighting, it was hard to confirm. Before it jumped out of view for good very near to Dillenia Hut, I had a good glance at the upperparts of the bird again and I immediately mentioned to Richard that it was paler than the usual Blue-winged Pitta. With the lighting conditions as they were and only some quick glances and glimpses, it was hard to call it, but we were sufficiently enthused about the prospect of finding a real rarity. We decided we should immediately head towards the tower where there is phone reception, download the photo to my phone, and seek some opinions from fellow birders. By then, we were already considering the possibility of Fairy Pitta or Indian Pitta and how to differentiate these species and their respective field marks. At the tower, with better light and with access to a search engine to do some image comparison, and some quick WhatsApp message exchanges with fellow birders, we narrowed it down to Fairy Pitta. Once we were happy with that, with big smiles on our faces, we proceeded to quickly head back to Dillenia Hut. The lighting conditions improved substantially and we refound the bird and could then clearly see it was a Fairy Pitta. Without an Internet connection in the area, I resorted to old-fashioned SMS and also trekked further out, holding the phone up for marginal reception to send some WhatsApp messages to our friends. We knew we were creating history (at least from a local birding perspective) and it felt good.

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11. Common Swift – Jelutong Tower (9 October 2020)

Common Swift at Jelutong Tower

Most people remember 2020 as the year of the COVID pandemic. By October, we were already seeing signs of loosening of the safety measures imposed to protect the population. However, safe distancing was still the standard operating procedure and on 9 October, with masks on, both Richard White and I travelled by car to the end of Rifle Range Rd to get to the trails with the goal of reaching Jelutong Tower. We would have arrived at the tower by around 7:30 am. At the tower, we met Martin Kennewell, who had the same idea of looking for migratory birds. Just because there was a worldwide pandemic going on didn’t mean we stopped our birding adventures, especially Martin, who was still eagerly doing his annual Big Year. The sequence of events that led to our discovery of Singapore’s first Common Swift was documented in a Facebook post that I have screenshotted below. The weather wasn’t great, being cloudy and with a slight drizzle. By 9:10 am, a few Pacific Swifts started appearing and I started photographing while Richard and Martin observed using their binoculars. I was just trying to get better photographs of Pacific Swifts rather than finding something different among them. Richard and Martin, on the other hand, were scrutinising the swifts more closely and at about 9:14 am, Richard remarked that he could not see the white rump of one of the swifts. That prompted both Martin and I to closely track that particular swift and I was tasked with trying to get as many photos of the swift as possible. I did not manage to photograph the swift with a clear angle showing the actual rump, but I had sufficient photos to show other features. As the swifts moved on, we were in deep conversation about the identity of the swift. Both Martin and Richard, who grew up in the UK, had a lot of experience in seeing and identifying this species. They discussed among themselves while I mainly listened, and they mentioned they both felt that what we saw must be a Common Swift. Having none of their experience, I could only look forward to processing the photos later when I got back. Sorting through hundreds of shots of swifts, it became clear after looking at the shots of that particular swift that we had enough details to conclude that we did indeed observe and photograph the Common Swift.

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Discussion and Conclusions
Writing this post has been harder than expected. As much as possible, I wanted to look at my actual write-ups and thoughts soon after the sightings, rather than rely on present-day recollections of events that happened a long time ago. Old Facebook posts were hard to track down, things like Yahoo Groups no longer exist, and some of the earlier WhatsApp messages have also been truncated; I had previously lost about two years of actual phone content due to a careless mistake on my part. All this is to say I am very glad I managed to compile all this information and complement it with whatever I can remember now. Who knows what will happen 5–10 years down the line?

So, again, how many national firsts do I have?

I can confidently list the Black-and-white Bulbul, Large Woodshrike, Fairy Pitta, and Common Swift as uncontroversial picks. That’s four birds.

For the Shikra, I consider that Alex Fok’s sighting was what prompted the Shikra to be listed in the checklist, but I can still claim that I saw the first confirmed record. The reverse situation is the case of the Red-footed Booby, where my sighting was the reason it was included in the checklist but someone else’s bird was the actual first record. One could say in such cases, we’ll just share things and I get two ticks for these two birds, which I think is pretty fair. But my current thought is that if I want to claim the Shikra, I should not claim the Red-footed Booby and vice versa. I’m happy for Alex and Chan Yoke Meng/Melinda to claim their firsts too, mind you, but I think I shall only permit myself one tick. So plus one bird, which makes it five birds in total.

For the Sakhalin Leaf Warbler, the original finder is Lim Kim Keang, but it was my recording and my realisation about its identity that were pivotal in getting it into the checklist. In this case, I’ll claim this one. So that makes the total count six birds.

For the Lesser Black-backed Gull, it was initially included in the NSS checklist but subsequently removed due to the location. And it’s been placed in Annex A for the Bird Society’s checklist. I thought hard about it and decided that for now, I will not list this. The operative words are “for now”. It’s pretty galling that we get to count something as a national first and the accolades that come with it, and then get it wrested away a few years later. Such is birding, and a reminder that there are decisions that are beyond our control.

Like the gull, the Bulwer’s Petrel is also controversial as it’s not included in the NSS checklist due to the location where it was found, but it is included in the Bird Society of Singapore’s checklist. This may very well change in the future and revert to the same status as the gull. For now, I will put this as a tick. So that brings my count to seven birds.

For the Wilson’s Storm Petrel, the bird was too far for a good observation or photos to rule out other storm petrels, there was another prior sighting, and it’s not on the checklist. Simple decision. Not counted.

Lastly, for the Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike, I consider my sighting as the national second, so not counted.

In total, my answer in January 2026 is I have a total of seven national first birds, but with big caveats. I think it’s not too shabby.

How I accidentally got a national first bird record for Singapore

Chasing Ticks: My December Mad Dash Through Singapore’s Birding Hotspots

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“…You are now at 240. Any chance you can try to get to 260 by year end? I know you are travelling soon too…“

A mysterious WhatsApp message came through from a friend while I was on top of my usual headquarters at Jelutong Tower. It was Friday morning, 12 December 2025. Let me rewind just a bit.

In November 2025, I did a “Big Month” and documented the adventure I had at the Birds of Singapore blog. In the twelve days since then, I had been on a personal mission to hit 250 birds for the year on eBird. Why? From what I gathered, that number would be sufficient to land me in the top 10 birders for the year. In the days leading up to that message, I had been scouring the island, looking for all sorts of easy birds I had missed. By the time I was on top of Jelutong Tower, unbeknownst to my friend, I had reached exactly 250, having heard the loud call of the Barred Eagle-Owl as I walked in via the Rifle Range Link trail.

I pondered that question for a while as forest birds whizzed past. Did I really want to find another 10 new birds in a few days? I was due to fly off on vacation on Monday, 15 December. It seemed unwise. In fact, trying to reach 250 was already pretty unwise because I was sacrificing photographic opportunities for rare birds in exchange for seeing birds that I normally don’t bother with. But the challenge got to me somehow, and I replied, “I can try.” The clock started ticking away…

Without wasting further time, I decided to proceed quickly to Chinese Garden, where a Large Hawk-Cuckoo and a Hodgson’s Hawk-Cuckoo had been reported earlier. I had no problem seeing the Large Hawk-Cuckoo, but photographing it proved a little challenging. Nonetheless, with a bit of patience, I finally got the photo I needed.

There was another, smaller cuckoo that landed on a high, obstructed branch. I thought it was a Hodgson’s Hawk-Cuckoo, but I could not be sure, and it slipped away unannounced. Such is life. It was approaching midday and the heat was rather unbearable. On a normal birding day, that would be a wrap, but I received news from Oliver Tan that there was a Little Ringed Plover at the Marina East breakwater. A quick sortie to that location was in order. The info proved reliable, and in no time, I had the Little Ringed Plover photographed and duly listed in eBird.

Just one last stop before I ended my day and had lunch: an Orange-headed Thrush had been reported at the Singapore Botanic Gardens for a few days already. I just needed to drive there from Marina East and get a quick tick. And so I did. The bird wasn’t very photographer-friendly that day, but I didn’t need a good photograph, just a record shot. These series of ticks all seemed relatively easy, yet each encounter was pretty rushed and photographically unsatisfactory. With three birds listed, I was on track to reach ten. What I needed was to keep the momentum going for the next day (Saturday).

Saturday, 13 December came, and I started the morning as I usually do with a good breakfast with my wife while strategising where to go. After sending her home, I decided to head to the Kranji NSRCC golf course where, in the past few days, both the Red-throated Pipit and White Wagtail had been reported. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t helping; it was still raining when I arrived. I waited a while in the car until the rain subsided. As I got out, I saw the Dutch birding delegation (JJ Brinkman, Chris, and Mark) marched in and began scanning the field in earnest. At a distance, JJ spotted a heavily marked pipit among all the Eastern Yellow Wagtails, which proved to be the Red-throated Pipit we were looking for. We spent a bit of time trying to get a closer look, but it remained relatively far away.

The White Wagtail proved elusive that day. So, onward to the next target: the Barred Buttonquail. My friend CN Lee helpfully provided a map of the last sighting of the buttonquail in the Neo Tiew area. Unfortunately, I did not manage to locate the bird despite my best efforts. Next on the list was the Sakhalin Leaf Warbler at Mandai Road Track 7. I arrived and met James Hogg, who had exactly the same goal. We walked around, and as we headed to a corner, we heard the distinct 5Hz pinging call of the leaf warbler. We both recorded the call. As I had already seen this species before, but it was one James wanted to see in person, I left him to hunt for it while I updated my eBird list and returned home for lunch and rest.

My plan was to wait until 5:00 pm and then head towards West Coast Park to look for the Black-capped Kingfisher. The bird is known to be very skittish, and I thought I would try later in the evening when no one else would be around. Unfortunately, just as I arrived at the location, it started pouring cats and dogs. I was prepared with my umbrella, but that wasn’t sufficient, and I had to retreat to a nearby shelter. Meanwhile, Dylan reported that the White Wagtail had been spotted at the golf course again, much to my chagrin.

It took about an hour before the rain settled to a drizzle. Battling the rain and aggressive mosquitoes, I returned to the watch area. I got a random notification on my phone and looked at my screen; sure enough, that was the exact moment the kingfisher decided to perch. It then flew back in, and I caught it out of the corner of my eye. I thought to myself, “Surely that’s insufficient to list,” so I stayed through more rain and mosquitoes. Mercifully, the kingfisher decided to grant me an audience ten minutes later, and I got some miserable shots before it flew in once again.

No time to rue, though, as I had a rendezvous with the Eastern Barn Owl in the city. A few folks doing a “Big Year” had already ticked the bird, so both the location and timing were known. The only inconvenience was driving to the city, finding a parking garage, and walking to the location. I couldn’t find the bird at its favourite spot, but thankfully I saw it fly gracefully towards me as the night progressed. For some reason, I decided to just watch it fly towards and above me; I didn’t raise my lens as I instinctively would. There is just something about an owl’s flight that gets me. It was, of course, sufficiently clear, and so my mission was completed for the night. All the effort for the day yielded four birds. I only needed three more on Sunday.

Sunday, 14 December arrived, and I started my birding trip with a bumboat ride to Pulau Ubin. My targets were the Cinnamon-headed Green Pigeon at the Ubin Living Lab and the Mangrove Pitta at Jalan Wat Siam. I won’t bore you with the details, but I found the pitta and failed on the pigeon.

So, onwards to the next possible bird: the Mangrove Whistler at Changi Bay Point. Thankfully, Jared had already given me the location. I arrived at the parking area, which was pretty deserted save for one guy reading a newspaper on a portable chair next to his car. I rushed out with my big lens and noticed he side-eyed me as I side-eyed him. We both thought: “What’s this suspicious other guy doing out here?” I searched for about 5–10 minutes to no avail when a message from Dylan informed me that he had photographed a female Asian Emerald Cuckoo at Bidadari Park.

I was in a dilemma: continue searching for the whistler or rush to the cuckoo? My instinct told me it was probably wiser to rush to the cuckoo and return to the whistler later. So, another “zoom-zoom” ride to Bidadari Park. I arrived at the car park and met CN Lee and Jo Ann heading back to their car, all smiles. “The cuckoo is still around” was what I needed to hear, and they gave me directions. I bumped into Dylan, who was also on the way out, and he informed me that the cuckoo had just flown off from its perch but that some guys further in were searching for it.

Well, what is there to do but walk in and try to figure out what to do next? Luckily, as I walked in, I saw Tony Wong pointing his binoculars at a distant tree; he remarked that the cuckoo was moving around in there. I could see the cuckoo with my own bins and took some photos. My bet had paid off. All I needed was just one more bird!

It was noon, so where should I go? I thought about the whistler but decided I needed to try for the White Wagtail instead. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn up, but a security lady did. She told me I needed to move to another area to look for the bird. I replied that I wasn’t in any unauthorised area, but hey, such is birding, and I left. There was no point explaining further. Instead, I drove to the Tuas South Junkheap where JJ and the gang had success flushing out a few Barred Buttonquails the day before. I went to the exact area and walked around in circles, but the buttonquails were sufficiently unimpressed and didn’t turn up. By then, I had covered the eastern, northern, western, and southern parts of Singapore. I only had two ticks for the day, and I was dead tired, so I called it a day.

Monday, 15 December was the day I was supposed to travel for my vacation. Thankfully, I had the morning free for birding. I only needed one more bird and I knew exactly where I needed to be. The Slaty-breasted Rail is a pretty common bird, but they are normally active early in the morning and prefer to skulk around after that. After a bit of research, I knew the best place to be was Jurong Lake Gardens. I arrived before 7:00 am and walked to the grassland area. Unfortunately, there was a slight drizzle. Fortunately, I was not bothered by that and walked in with my umbrella. Two rails were busy foraging for food alongside waterhens and Ruddy-breasted Crakes. Mission accomplished with time to spare.

I decided to take off my birder’s hat and put on my photographer’s hat instead, as I had been missing out on photographing the pair of Baillon’s Crakes at Marina Grove for the past few days. Unfortunately, they were not as cooperative as I had hoped. They had evidently fed themselves well during the days I was preoccupied with counting birds, and now they had reverted to their usual behaviour of being wary of appearing in the open. Nonetheless, I did get some shots despite the persistent drizzle and cloudy skies.

Funnily enough, while waiting for the crakes to appear, a lady birder asked me for help identifying a flycatcher she had seen earlier at a distance. She was not convinced that the “little brown job” was an Asian Brown Flycatcher. I took a look at her photo; it looked like a Taiga Flycatcher, and I told her of the possibility. However, her photo of the tail wasn’t conclusive, so I could not confirm it 100%. We then went on alert for the possible return of the flycatcher. It reappeared closer and showed its tail clearly. Another tick in the bag! That made it 261. With that bonus, the adventure ended and I went on my vacation in peace!

With enough time to reflect, I thought the whole thing was rather fun. But it also showed me that it’s not something I am keen to do again. I did not particularly enjoy the rushing, and I definitely resented the fact that I traded good opportunities for better photos of rarities for crappy photos of commoner birds I needed for the year. It’s not a good trade in my mind. But to balance things, I did like that the birding community was very helpful and kind in pointing me toward the various birds I needed in this silly game. Furthermore, I was pleasantly surprised that I still have the drive and the field-craft to get the birds I wanted.

I ended the year with 262 birds in eBird. The extra bird was the White Wagtail that had twice eluded me; I finally got that species after I returned from vacation thanks to a lead from Jared. I had to subtract one bird (a waxbill) from the list, so the total bird count according to the Bird Society of Singapore was 261 in the end.

Let’s put the 261 birds I had for the year into perspective. Eleven years ago, in 2014, I did my second Big Year and got a total of 261 birds too. That was sufficient for me to “win” the Big Year against some very good birders, and I genuinely tried a lot harder then.

In 2025, 261 birds enabled me to be placed number 10 on the list of active eBirders for the year. There were nine people ahead of me in the total number of birds seen. Some of them did a Big Year; some of them didn’t. It was a sobering thought. What has changed?

Well, the total number of active birders has exploded over the past decade, especially during the COVID years. I estimate we have anywhere from 5 to 10 times more birders than we did a decade ago. With that increase came an actual increase in coverage of birding areas in the country. The increase in the number of birders also means the “cream of the crop” of new birders are actually very good. It goes without saying that this leads to more areas being covered and fewer birds being missed than in the past.

The typical birder in Singapore in 2025 is also much more likely to share their sightings promptly compared to the typical 2014 birder, either because culturally it has become the norm to do so, or because social media and eBird have made it much more convenient.

Lastly, the quality of information about identification, behaviour, habitat, arrival dates, and locations for migrants has all improved and been consolidated, largely by the efforts of the Bird Society of Singapore and eBird. This has proved invaluable to the local birding community.

I believe all this means that we are now in the Golden Age of birding in Singapore. Yes, in the past there were more birds. That’s not even up for debate. We had more habitat back then, and the general world bird population then was larger, but there has never been a better time to see birds in Singapore than now for the reasons listed above. My own experience and my recent adventure showed it well enough. Whether you are doing a Big Year, considering doing one, or just enjoying the birds at your own pace, now is the best time to do so!

Postscript:
What’s with the WhatsApp message? My friend knew that if I stopped at anything lower than 260 birds, I’ll not be at the top 10 list for birds sighted, since he knew there was another birder that was going on a “secret” Big Year.