A (Mostly) Weekend Big Year

Yan Ze shares the journey of his "Weekend Big Year".

Ending 2024 inspired by CN’s record breaking big year, I spent the first few days of 2025 pondering if I was up for the same challenge. A big year is a personal challenge to identify and tick as many species of birds as possible by sight or sound within a single calendar year. With three and a half years of experience birdwatching, I felt ready in terms of knowledge and skills. However, with only the weekends to work with, I knew I had limited time to spend in the field.Undecided, I started January visiting the Siberian Stonechat and Sakhalin Leaf Warbler that were still wintering at Pasir Ris Farmway and West Coast Park respectively. In the second half of January, I managed to see the Rosy Starling that had kindly stayed 11 days after it was first sighted at Tuas South Way. This was also when the influx of Asian Openbills started and lasted till today, which was previously relatively rare here. I ended January with a visit to Chek Jawa Wetlands which rewarded me with the Black-tailed Godwit, Great Knot and Sanderling in a single trip. With a great start to the year, I decided to embark on a “Weekend Big Year” with a conservative target of 280 species.Siberian Stonechat at Pasir Ris Farmway 3By the half year mark, I had managed to obtain 254 species. At that point, I was unsure if the much coveted target of 300 was a possibility. However, challenges are meant to be conquered, and I decided to aim higher towards 300.As 2025 came to a close, I managed to obtain a final count of 306 species, which was 94.4% of all species seen in 2025 according to eBird.I believe many birdwatchers would have considered doing a big year and wanted to achieve the desired target of 300 species, but felt that it would not be possible with limited time to spend in the field. I myself did not believe that it was possible, until I crossed the 300 species mark on 11 December 2025. While it indeed was a tough challenge, I would like to share some learnings and tips from my own journey.Birdwatching involves a lot of luck.You may have heard this a lot, but luck is much needed for a successful big year. You have to hope for a year filled with many migrants, vagrants and visitors that also stay long enough for the weekends. 2025 was a pretty good year with four first records for Singapore, such as the Rhinoceros Hornbill and Willow Warbler.Willow Warbler at Marina GroveRhinoceros Hornbill at Sungei Buloh Wetland ReserveBeing in the right place at the right time can also bring along a few surprises. While looking for the Blue-and-white Flycatcher at Dairy Farm Nature Park, Keison found a much rarer Narcissus Flycatcher, which was the 6th record in Singapore. Narcissus Flycatcher at Dairy Farm Nature ParkHowever, the most memorable example had to be finding Singapore’s 6th record of the Caspian Tern at Chek Jawa Wetlands. Believe it or not, I was actually there looking for a Greater Sand Plover. For two hours of toasting in the relentless sun, many rounds of scanning the distant sandbars yielded nothing special. Out of nowhere, I spotted a Black-headed Gull which was also a nice year tick to find. Motivated by the discovery, I made yet another scan, when a large tern appeared in my viewfinder. The red bill made me realise its identity immediately, but it took a while before I believed what I was seeing.Black-headed Gull at Chek JawaCaspian Tern at Chek JawaA week later, I was lucky to find Singapore’s 8th record of Red-billed Starling at Marina East Drive while cycling by. Another week later, I happened to be at Mount Faber for Singapore’s 17th record of Lesser Frigatebird spotted by Art, where I was hoping for late arriving raptors after a rather disappointing season. Those 3 weeks had to be the luckiest part of my big year.Lesser Frigatebird at Mount FaberLuck is also needed for the birds that are difficult to observe, and you can only hope that they show up when you are there. The most difficult bird for me had to be the Hair-crested Drongo, which was a challenge for many and took me 4 tries before I finally saw it. It was fortunate for me just to see it as it was not sighted again after I had seen it.Maximise your chances of seeing migrants, vagrants or visitors based on the Bird Society of Singapore’s migrant bar charts and Singapore Bird Database records.While birdwatching does involve a lot of luck, you also have to create your own luck by being at places where target species are most likely to be seen at that point of the year. Statistics don’t lie, so the migrant bar charts are largely accurate at telling us when certain species arrive in Singapore. An example would be knowing when to go for pelagic trips in order to see species such as the Short-tailed Shearwater, which is only seen in late April and May, or the Common Tern, which is mainly seen in September and October.Short-tailed Shearwater at Singapore StraitCommon Tern at Singapore StraitThe records from the Singapore Bird Database are also very helpful in telling you the...