Birds of Singapore
by the Bird Society of Singapore
In 2024, Ramesh started the YouTube channel “Bird Calls of Singapore” to share his video documentations of – you guessed it – wild birds calling in Singapore! Read more to find out about the story and passion behind pursuing his videography project.
I started birdwatching in late 2017 and it has now become my primary passion. My family calls it an addiction, though I argue it is a healthy one since I walk a lot instead of just waiting for the birds. Being with nature is also my greatest stress buster :). When I first started birding, I was just happy to see and photograph the birds, but as I continued on with my hobby, I slowly developed an interest in video recording bird behaviours such as foraging, preening, mating, and their calls. Why I started a Bird Call YouTube channel Singapore has 428 species of birds, and the Bird Society of Singapore has a comprehensive online guide called Birds of Singapore (/). This is my first go-to-guide on information on birds in Singapore and I find it very useful for bird identification. In the field, I also use Xeno-Canto (https://xeno-canto.org), an online database with audio recordings of bird calls. However, I realised there is no video library focusing on calls/songs of birds from Singapore. Inspired by the great work by the Bird Society of Singapore, I thought of creating a video library of bird calls to document the sounds of amazing birds here. These videos can provide visual introduction of our birds to budding birders and even benefit birders across the globe who want to know more about birds we have. Additionally, this would also help the birding community, especially those with a special interest in learning about bird calls. With these benefits in mind, I decided to start a library with videos I had recorded over the past few years and launched a YouTube channel called “Bird Calls of Singapore” (http://www.youtube.com//@BirdcallsSG) on 29th March 2024 with 71 videos. Since then, I have added 40 more new videos. There are 3 playlists in this channel: All the birds (111 videos so far) Residents (86 videos so far) Migrants (25 videos so far) Here is my full list by species as of 31st Dec 2024: Family No. English Name Scientific Name Playlists Ducks, Geese, Swans (Anatidae) 1 Lesser Whistling Duck Dendrocygna javanica Resident Pheasants & Allies (Phasianidae) 2 Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus Migrant Cuckoos (Cuculidae) 3 Greater Coucal Centropus sinensis Resident 4 Lesser Coucal Centropus bengalensis Resident 5 Chestnut-winged Cuckoo Clamator coromandus Migrant 6 Asian Koel Eudynamys scolopaceus Resident 7 Little Bronze Cuckoo Chrysococcyx minutillus Resident 8 Plaintive Cuckoo Cacomantis merulinus Resident 9 Rusty-breasted Cuckoo Cacomantis sepulcralis Resident 10 Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo Surniculus lugubris Migrant 11 Spotted Dove Spilopelia chinensis Resident 12 Zebra Dove Geopelia striata Resident 13 Pink-necked Green Pigeon Treron vernans Resident 14 Green Imperial Pigeon Ducula aenea Resident 15 Red-legged Crake Rallina fasciata Resident 16 White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus Resident Stilts, Avocets (Recurvirostridae) 17 Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus Resident 18 Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva Migrant 19 Red-wattled Lapwing Vanellus indicus Resident 20 Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles Resident 21 Tibetan Sand Plover Anarhynchus atrifrons Migrant 22 Greater Sand Plover Anarhynchus leschenaultii Migrant 23 Malaysian Plover Anarhynchus peronii Resident 24 Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus Migrant 25 Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Migrant 26 Common Redshank Tringa totanus Migrant 27 Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia Migrant 28 Little Tern Sternula albifrons Resident 29 Black-naped Tern Sterna sumatrana Resident 30 Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus Migrant 31 Changeable Hawk-Eagle Nisaetus cirrhatus Resident 32 Spotted Wood Owl Strix seloputo Resident Hornbills (Bucerotidae) 33 White-crowned Hornbill Berenicornis comatus Migrant 34 Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris Resident Rollers (Coraciidae) 35 Oriental Dollarbird Eurystomus orientalis Resident Kingfishers (Alcedinidae) 36 Stork-billed Kingfisher Pelargopsis capensis Resident 37 White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis Resident 38 Collared Kingfisher Todiramphus chloris Resident 39 Blue-eared Kingfisher Alcedo meninting Resident Asian Barbets (Megalaimidae) 40 Lineated Barbet Psilopogon lineatus Resident 41 Red-crowned Barbet Psilopogon rafflesii Resident 42 Coppersmith Barbet Psilopogon haemacephalus Resident Woodpeckers (Picidae) 43 Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker Yungipicus moluccensis Resident 44 Common Flameback Dinopium javanense Resident 45 Buff-rumped Woodpecker Meiglyptes grammithorax Migrant Cockatoos (Cacatuidae) 46 Tanimbar Corella Cacatua goffiniana Resident African & New World Parrots (Psittacidae) 47 Monk Parakeet Myiopsitta monachus Resident 48 Red-breasted Parakeet Psittacula alexandri Resident 49 Long-tailed Parakeet Psittacula longicauda Resident 50 Rose-ringed Parakeet Psittacula krameri Resident 51 Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot Loriculus galgulus Resident Typical Broadbills (Eurylaimidae) 52 Black-and-red Broadbill Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos Migrant African & Green...