Top 10 most observed birds in Singapore and the region

Rare birds get the most attention these days. The rarer the bird is, and the more unique it is, the more birders and the general public want to flock to see, photograph and post about their encounters in social media. We are however curious about the complete opposite in this article. Have you ever wondered which bird species you will most likely encounter in your daily life?

Let’s start with this mostly uncontroversial view, that it is the rare birds that capture most people’s attention. These days, the rarer the bird is, and the more unique it is, the more birders and the general public want to flock to see, photograph and post about their encounters in social media. Recently almost every mega-rarity gets featured in newspaper articles because that’s what is popular. Surprisingly, most birders or birdwatchers are more likely to tell you about what they wish to see rather than what they have seen in the past. Curiosity and a sense of wonder compels many birders to seek out the most unlikely birds. The monthly bird reports on this website are also about the unusual birds which have turned up on this small nation. We are however curious about the complete opposite in this article. Have you ever wondered which bird species you will most likely encounter in your daily life? It is not surprising that many attempts have been made to conduct bird censuses to get an idea of local bird abundance. Nature Society (Singapore) does publish the aggregates from their bird census periodically. The two latest censuses are summarised here and here. Our approach is different. Firstly, we are looking at long-term data, with a dataset consisting of more than 66,000 observations spanning 5 years, from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2023. Secondly, our coverage is throughout Singapore, wherever the observers may be, and not limited to selected sites. Thirdly we are not looking for abundance. Why? Theoretically if you have a big flock of, say, 2000 Daurian Starlings somewhere in Yishun, that is an abundant species, but it’s localised and likely seasonal. You’re unlikely to see them if you are not in the vicinity or at the wrong time of the year. Instead what we’re looking for is the chance of you encountering particular birds if you are to step out of your home (or something close to it). How do we go about doing it? Well, many birders including myself participate in an online platform called eBird. It provides us the ability to record whatever bird species we encounter, be it in our daily routine or strictly when we go out to do birding. Collating those records and summing up the number of occurrences (not number of birds per se) of each species permits us to come out with the list below. Table 1: Top 10 most observed birds in Singapore Rank English Name (eBird/Clements) Occurrence 1 Javan Myna 31621 2 Yellow-vented Bulbul 26492 3 Black-naped Oriole 25646 4 Spotted Dove 23565 5 Pink-necked Green-Pigeon 22787 6 Asian Glossy Starling 21145 7 Ornate Sunbird 19456 8 House Crow 18368 9 Collared Kingfisher 16638 10 White-breasted Waterhen 15669 Javan Myna, the most likely bird species you'll encounter in Singapore It is pretty clear to most seasoned birders that the Javan Myna will top the list. Most non-birders too will recognise the presence of this ubiquitous black bird. Going down the list, there are really no big surprises. Many of the bird species are those that have adapted well to live in Singapore’s environment. Here’s where we think this list is a better reflection of our local bird life than the other lists we have referenced. There is no way the Common Redshanks or the Pin-striped Tit-Babblers are anywhere near the top 10 most abundant or commonly observed birds. One is a migratory wader numbering in the low hundreds, that are sometimes not even seen in the only convenient place, Sungei Buloh. The other is a native species that is not uncommon, and certainly adapted well to degraded wooded areas more than most. However, they are mainly found in the forest and wooded areas and is number 33 on the eBird observation count. Now, let’s drill down a bit with the hotspots data from Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (representing the mangrove, wetlands and shoreline habitat), Central Catchment Nature Reserve (representing our forest and forest edge habitat) and Jurong Lake Gardens (representing urban parks and gardens) over the same period of time. Table 2: Top 10 most observed birds in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve Rank English Name (eBird/Clements) Occurrence 1 Little Egret 2409 2 Collared Kingfisher 2216 3 House Crow 2042 4 Gray Heron 1863 5 Ashy Tailorbird 1830 6 Black-naped Oriole 1732 7 Common Redshank 1662 8 Pink-necked Green-Pigeon 1565 9 Common Sandpiper 1557 10 White-bellied Sea-Eagle 1557 Little Egrets, the most likely bird species you'll encounter at Sungei Buloh Table 3: Top 10 most observed birds in Central Catchment Nature Reserve Rank English Name (eBird/Clements) Occurrence 1 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo 919 2 Pin-striped Tit-Babbler 844 3 Olive-winged Bulbul 818 4 Orange-bellied Flowerpecker 759 5 Common Hill Myna 745 6 Crimson Sunbird 735 7 Pink-necked Green-Pigeon 724 8 Asian Glossy Starling 721 9 Dark-necked Tailorbird 616 10 Long-tailed Parakeet 605 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, the most likely bird species you'll encounter at Central Catchment Nature Reserve Table 4: Top 10 most...