About

I am a hobbyist wildlife photographer based in Singapore. I specialise in bird photography, but only because the bird life in Singapore is much more accessible than other type of animals.

I consider myself equally a bird photographer and a bird twitcher in Singapore. I try very hard to see every rare birds that appear, and at the same time, get the best possible photos of every bird I encounter.

I travel occasionally, and I try as much as possible to enjoy my encounters with wildlife in other countries, without worrying too much about how many birds or wildlife I get to see.

In between all of this, I was involved in the local birding community in various ways. Firstly in 2013, I started the Bird Sightings Facebook group, which is now the largest Facebook group dedicated to wild bird sightings in both in Singapore and Malaysia.

Next, I started the Singapore Birds Project (now called Birds of Singapore) website in 2016 to to document all the wild birds in Singapore through individual species accounts. In 2023, together with the active members of the project, we formed the Bird Society of Singapore. I currently hold no executive role in the society, as the younger generation of birders have stepped up to take leadership positions.

In 2024, I retired from work, and have more time to indulge in the hobby and hopefully do some more writing.

My bird photos have been featured and used by National Parks Board, Nature Society (Singapore), Malaysian Nature Society, Sentosa Development Corporation, Singapore Press Holdings, Tourism Malaysia and Oriental Bird Club. I have been interviewed by The Straits Times and appeared on Mediacorp TV for my birding activities. For what is essentially a hobby, that has been a pleasant surprise. I do not aspire, nor have the talent and work ethics necessary to be an award winning bird photographer or a champion bird twitcher but I want to do well enough in the things I dabble in.

 

18 thoughts on “About

  1. marianina

    Hi!

    I have been following your blog for quite a while and your work is amazing! I had no idea about the rich birdlife in Singapore! My fellow-bloggers and I decided to nominate your blog for the Liebster award,a collaborative award that was created to motivate small bloggers to keep creating ,link with other bloggers and discover new blogs with great content. You can find our blog proposals and rules on our blog post: http://t.co/aiIEF7IXHO. We really hope to hear from you soon! Cheers!

    Reply
    1. Sue R Connell

      Hi! I am a docent at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and am writing an article for our volunteer newsletter on our magpies, including the Red-billed blue magpie. I would love to have your permission to use one of your photos in my article. I would, of course, credit you.

      Reply
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  3. Cha P

    Hi! I am working at the French Biodiversity Agency and I would like to use one of your photos to illustrate an article that will appear in our popular journal. It’s a picture of a couple of king quails. Do you give me the permission to use it?
    Have a nice day,

    Charlotte

    Reply
  4. Camille G

    Hi! I am a french paleontologist and I just published an academic paper describing a fossil of asian palm civet. I would love to use one of your photos of Paradoxurus to illustrate what a modern representative looks like for a press release. Would you allow it please? I would of course credit you.
    Have a great day,

    Camille

    Reply
    1. Francis Yap Post author

      Hi Camille,

      Congrats on your paper. Go ahead and use any of the photos for your press release. Please send me a copy of the press release in the future when everything is wrapped up and you are less busy.

      Cheers,
      Francis

      Reply
  5. Vera Sim

    Hello Francis,

    May I use your photo of a violet cuckoo for an Instagram post? I hope to share more about it. Of course, I will credit you! Thank you!

    Regards,
    Vera

    Reply
  6. Ben Cox

    Hi! I was hoping to use your Asian Palm Civet photo on a USAID-funded website focused on reducing the spillover of zoonotic diseases to humans that I help manage. The site is stopspillover.org. Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions!

    Reply

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