“…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.