Have you been out looking for migratory raptors lately? The first ones have just been trickling through Singapore in the last few days, and we’ve already had a Black Kite so a lot more should be on the way.

Our new, comprehensive Visual Guide to Singapore Raptors will be your best friend as you scan the skies. In this guide, we have plates individually capturing each of Singapore’s 25 (as of writing) non-vagrant raptors, meaning every raptor species which appears more or less annually has its own page, including all residents. The remaining species are also illustrated on a smaller page. We also highlight the other migratory birds which are often seen from raptor watch sites like Henderson Waves on a separate panel.

Inspired by Max’s poster from last year, which shows birds as they usually appear in the sky – as mostly black silhouettes – this guide focuses on plumage traits in addition to the overall structure of the birds for a greater depth of identification features.

UPDATE: This guide, originally published for the 2023/2024 raptor season, was updated during the 2024/2025 raptor season to reflect the latest taxonomic changes along with other minor edits.

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