Singapore Avifauna records on eBird

Five of the 27,000+ records uploaded to eBird from the old Singapore Avifauna newsletters. Photos taken in Singapore and elsewhere (credit: Raghav Narayanswamy and Keita Sin).

For much of my first few years of birding in Singapore, I wondered how the data from earlier eras in local ornithology could be made available for more to benefit; if early dates and late dates, major hotspots, past trends in the local avifauna, among other useful information, could be compiled in an accessible format for the community at large. After all, this small country has always been blessed with a higher-than-average observer coverage relative to its surrounding regions. The data could fill major gaps in understanding Asian avifauna, and be greatly beneficial to interested local birdwatchers as well.

So when I first saw that the Nature Society (Singapore) (NSS) had made its old editions of Singapore Avifauna from 1987 through 2010 available on its website, it was immediately clear that this could be a great resource for the birding community in Singapore if it could be consolidated into a more readily-accessible format. To really know how many times a species has been recorded locally, or which months it appears most frequently, manually scrolling through hundreds of reports for that species would not be practical. Rather, the data would need to be in a spreadsheet, and easily searchable, for the information to be most useful.

Recently, as Keita discussed last week, eBird has established itself as the most widely-used citizen science database for avian records. Many studies have referenced data stored in eBird to examine trends and achieve important conservation outcomes. It also reached a major milestone — 1 billion bird observations — in May this year, reinforcing its position as a powerful tool for conservationists and casual birders alike to share observations and further broaden our collective knowledge. It was clear to me that putting these important records from SINAV on eBird was the best way to make them as impactful as they can possibly be.

In collaboration with Singapore’s eBird reviewer Martin Kennewell, after obtaining permission from NSS to consolidate and upload the records, I set to work on designing a program to extract species names, observation counts, dates, and locations, as well as observer names for proper credit, for all the volumes of Singapore Avifauna available on the NSS website. Dividing this process into two steps: conversion of the PDFs (stored as images) into text, followed by extracting the important details from the text, I was able to upload over 27,000 individual observations, around 23,000 from Singapore and 4,000 from Malaysia and Indonesia.

The records uploaded now make up around 75% of all eBird records until 1990, and over 25% of all records until 2010 (the last year that Singapore Avifauna was published).

I can’t say that this journey was always smooth; one of the biggest challenges I faced was resolving old locations, with old place names, to current landmarks or points on the map which could be uploaded to eBird. With Martin’s expertise and support, I was able to resolve most of these, and sent a further few to NSS for their review. Additionally, some older editions of SINAV were missing; indeed, this was an era with limited technological access and keeping track of documents was admittedly more challenging than it has become today. Older records also suffered from a lack of specific counts; especially as birds that have now become rare once numbered in the dozens or even hundreds, observers sometimes may not have made the effort to accurately count these species.

See, for example, the entry for Sanderling in the report for February 1987.

This species is now barely an annual visitor; in the 80s, 90s, and even the early 21st century, counts in the double digits were regular. It’s hard to believe this count of 100 Sanderlings along with exceptional counts of other shorebirds, was just over 15 years ago.

A mixed flock of shorebirds in Thailand from 2019. Such scenes are now nothing more than a distant dream in Singapore today.

Sometimes the work was tiring and it became difficult to continue, but I always knew the reward of making all these sightings accessible was worth the effort. In the end, after probably 100 hours of work, I uploaded the data to the NSS Records eBird account.

An example

The excerpts below are from Volume 19 (Jan-Mar) of Singapore Avifauna, published in 2005 (link). I’ve used this example to highlight how the process of digitizing reports into individual records works. For January, February, and March of 2005, Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrots were recorded a total of 12 times. Since the report is split into each of the months, this species appears three times.

These three entries are then converted into text with optical character recognition and combined into one overall entry for the period covered by the report, in this case January to March:

BLUE-CROWNED HANGING-PARROT Loriculus galgulus
1 over Dairy Farm Road, 17/1 (LKS) and 18/1 (LKS) and 4 at Malcolm Park, 30/1 (NK/LKS/FR/IR/JR). At Botanic Gardens, 7 were counted on 4/2 (LKS) and 5 on 28/2 (AF/LKS). Also 3 over Nee Soon, 8/2 (LKS), 1 at MacRitchie Reservoir, 16/2 (LKS) and 28/2 (AF/LKS), and 1 over Dairy Farm Road, 24/2 (LKS). 1 heard at the foot of Bukit Timah, 12/3 (LKS), 1 flying over Dairy Farm Road, 22/3 (LKS) and 3 at Sime Road, 27/3 (LKS).

The individual records are then separated by looking for “sets” comprising the four important pieces of information for each record: count, date, location, and observer names. Of these, the most challenging to parse out is the location. In this case, there’s no extraneous information that we need to ignore, so it seems relatively straightforward to just use the leftover text as the location. But sometimes, sightings are associated with lengthy descriptions and the location needs to be extracted from that description – so I had to use natural language processing to pick out the location.

For the example above, the following 12 sightings would then be uploaded to eBird. This checklist shows how the first record (17 Jan) would appear in eBird’s outputs.

This project is mostly complete, and with it, thousands of bird observations recording hundreds of species have now been placed somewhere they can be accessed by researchers and amateurs alike. As more people come forward to contribute their sightings and share their knowledge, we can make more meaningful progress in conserving our valuable local wildlife.

Acknowledgements

This piece was written with the help of comments and advice from the Singapore Birds Project team (Dillen, Francis, Keita, Movin, and Sandra). My project drew on over a hundred reports made available by NSS on its website; their permission for me to take on this project also made this project possible. I also appreciate Martin’s contribution to many aspects of my project, including location-matching and manual approval/rejection of the uploaded records.

References

Sullivan, B. L., Aycrigg, J. L., Barry, J. H., Bonney, R. E., Bruns, N., Cooper, C. B., … Kelling, S. (2014). The eBird enterprise: An integrated approach to development and application of citizen science. Biological Conservation, 169, 31–40. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.11.003

Sullivan, B. L., Wood, C. L., Iliff, M. J., Bonney, R. E., Fink, D., & Kelling, S. (2009). eBird: A citizen-based bird observation network in the biological sciences. Biological Conservation, 142(10), 2282–2292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2009.05.006

Extinction – what it means for birds in Singapore

Science

Extinction is an evocative word, with some of the world’s most iconic birds such as the Dodo Raphus cucullatus and the Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius having achieved infamy for the dubious distinction of belonging to this category. Though the term often implies a sense of permanent loss, there are scenarios where extinction is not forever.

There are a few ways to think of the term ‘Extinct’.

The most commonly understood definition of extinction describes a complete global disappearance of a species. In Southeast Asia, no bird has been officially regarded as Extinct by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), though some species such as the Javan Lapwing Vanellus macropterus almost certainly are. The IUCN requires the criteria—exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual—to be satisfied before concluded that a species is Extinct. This is to prevent a loss of directed conservation attention for a species that may actually be very rare rather than gone forever.

A prime example of this would be the recent extinction declaration of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis, only made after 77 years after the last confirmed sighting of this conspicuous bird. Such long lag times between last sightings of a species and a formal extinction declaration is not uncommon, especially is species that have historically had large geographic distributions.

Another category is species that are Extinct in the Wild, with all known populations of the species known only from captivity. No birds from the region officially fall into this category, though the newly split Javan Pied Starling Gracupica jalla and Javan Green Magpie Cissa thalassina may qualify with further research.

In both cases, the declaration of extinction is fairly clear-cut. If the bird can no longer be found in the wild, then it will naturally qualify for one of the two categories. However, it is when we begin to incorporate national boundaries into definitions of extinction where things begin to get hazy.

Local extinction describes a scenario where a species is extinct, or no longer occurs, within a specific portion of its geographic range. In many cases, a species may entirely vanish from a country—a situation which we describe as extirpation. Many bird species are extirpated from Singapore. For instance, both the Great Slaty Woodpecker Mulleripicus pulverulentus and Moustached Babbler Malacopteron magnirostre have not had breeding populations in the country for decades (Wang & Hails, 2007). In these cases, extirpation describes a situation where a bird is no longer a Resident Breeder; even though occasional individuals may stray into our shores from elsewhere. The lack of a breeding population precludes them from being considered re-established.

Moustached Babbler in Taman Negara, Pahang. Photo Credit: Keita Sin

Record Committees (RCs) are often the local authority for declaring a bird nationally extinct. However, since national boundaries do not present actual barriers to the movement of birds, this task is much more complex than it first appears. Birds that show up unexpectedly could represent a hidden, breeding population of a very rare species or merely visitors from across the border—how does one make a case either way?

Great Slaty Woodpecker in flight, Taman Negara, Pahang. Photo Credit: Keita Sin

In complex cases such as this, members of the RC will have to evaluate records on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the movement and breeding ecology of the species. Many RCs additionally comprise multiple people, so as to utilise a broad swathe of expertise instead of relying entirely on the knowledge of single individuals, whose judgment may be clouded by various biases.

Let us use the previously mentioned Great Slaty Woodpecker and Moustached Babbler as examples.

Great Slaty Woodpecker perches on the side of the tree in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Photo Credit: Dillen Ng

In 2018, a single, Great Slaty Woodpecker was sighted within Singapore’s central forests, staying for only a short while before disappearing. Though the identification of the bird is without doubt, Great Slaty Woodpeckers are conspicuous and noisy birds (Eaton et al., 2021) — it is unlikely that an undetected population has persisted unnoticed on a small island. In addition, large woodpeckers are known to move large distances when searching for suitable foraging locations (Ogasawara et al. 1994; Garmendia et al., 2006). A single bird flying the comparatively short distance from Johor to Singapore would be unremarkable when these woodpeckers are known to fly much greater distances. As such, taking the collective evidence into account makes us suspect that the Great Slaty Woodpecker presents a case where the bird is merely a visiting individual and not part of a larger, undetected population on the island.

Moustached Babbler at Panti Forest. Photo Credit: Francis Yap

However, the ecology of the Moustached Babbler and other understory babbler species such as the Fluffy-backed Tit-babbler Macronus ptilosus is far different. Anyone who has searched for babblers can attest to their penchant for hiding in thick cover and their reluctance to move into the open. This trait suggests that most babblers do not often move across large landscapes without forest cover (Yong, 2006). In addition, the relatively short, rounded wings of most understory babblers indicate that they are poor fliers and unlikely to undertake long-distance movements (Desrochers, 2010; Hermes et al., 2016). As such, if a population of a presently unrecorded babbler species were suddenly re-discovered in Singapore, we would not suspect that these birds were visitors from abroad. However, if these birds were encountered in a site that was regularly birded, we might suspect that these birds were recent releases/escapees. Babblers are highly vocal birds with distinctive calls and would surely have been recognised by local birders had they been present as a breeding population (Eaton et al., 2021).

The Fluffy-backed Tit-babbler is an understory species that is not known to undertake long-distance movements. This individual is from Lenggor, Johor. Photo Credit: Keita Sin

As you can see, nothing is ever quite so clear cut!

These examples offer some insight into the thought processes that we might undertake when confronted by new records. Though it is a rather complex and multifaceted process, we hope that this article makes what seems like a rather opaque and fuzzy process much more understandable!

References

Desrochers, A. (2010). Morphological response of songbirds to 100 years of landscape change in North America. Ecology 91: 1577–1582. doi: 10.1890/09-2202.1

Eaton, J. A., van Balen, S., Brickle, N. W., & Rheindt, F. E. (2021). Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea (Second Edition). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Garmendia, A., Cárcamo, S., & Schwendtner, O. (2006). Forest management considerations for conservation of black woodpecker Dryocopus martius and white-backed woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos populations in Quinto Real (Spanish Western Pyrenees). In Forest Diversity and Management (pp. 339-355). Springer, Dordrecht. Link

Hermes, C., Döpper, A., Schaefer, H. M., & Segelbacher, G. (2016). Effects of forest fragmentation on the morphological and genetic structure of a dispersal-limited, endangered bird species. Nature Conservation, 16, 39. Link

Ogasawara, K., Izumi, Y., & Fujii, T. (1994). The status of black woodpecker in Northern Tohoku District, Japan. Journal of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, 26(2), 87–98. Link

Extinction – what it means for birds in Singapore

Yong, D. L., (2006). Preliminary list of larger vertebrates in Panti Forest Reserve, South Johore. Singapore Avifauna, 20(1): 26–35. Link

An Indonesian Archipelago Wishlist: Birds to Look Out For

Science

The recent sighting of the Javan Plover Charadrius javanicus at a reclaimed site northeast of Singapore island was exciting yet unsurprising. Exciting because it was a first for Singapore and continental Southeast Asia that caught everyone off guard (then again, none of us are really prepared for megas!) and unsurprising because this is a species whose range has been slowly expanding over the years (Iqbal et al., 2011; Eaton et al., 2021). The appearance, and likely breeding of this species is highly relevant to recent changes in regional avifauna, especially when taking into account the first breeding records for the Pied Stilt Himantopus leucocephalus and Black-winged Stilt H. himantopus that were documented at the same site in 2019 and again this year, respectively.

The first image of the Javan Plover taken in Singapore that was shared. Photo credit: Frankie Cheong

A pair of Javan Plovers, with the bird behind being slightly younger. Singapore. Photo credit: Frankie Cheong

The crown scaling and white fringes to the wing coverts is indicative that this bird – still too young to undertake post-breeding dispersal – was likely born in Singapore. Photo credit: Frankie Cheong

Apart from the Javan Plover, several other species traditionally known to be from the Indonesian Archipelago (that comprises Sumatra, Borneo, Java and other Indonesian islands west of the Wallace Line) could potentially be found in Singapore and the neighbouring regions. Here are the distinguishing features of the Javan Plover and seven other species readers can keep an eye out for!

Javan Plover Charadrius javanicus

This species closely resembles the Kentish Plover, a locally uncommon migrant. Features including warm buff ear-coverts and relatively heavier bill and longer legs point to the Javan Plover. For those keen to learn more, detailed distinguishing features are described in Iqbal et al. (2013). Other regular plovers in Singapore can be distinguished by a combination of several other features. Lesser and Greater Sand Plovers have incomplete white-bands on their neck, Malaysian Plover have more “sandy-looking” upperparts, and White-faced Plover has a plain looking face as its name suggests.

Comparisons of the Kentish Plover (left two) and Javan Plover (right two). All pictures taken in Java. While sunlight and white balance can influence apparent colour, the structural differences of the two species can be seen here. The Javan Plover generally has a more buffish impression. Photo credit: Khaleb Yordan

Lesser Sand, Greater Sand, Malaysian and White-faced Plover. Sizes are also not to scale, but Lesser and Greater Sand Plovers are bigger than Javan Plovers, while Kentish and White-faced Plovers have comparable sizes. Photo credit: Greater Sand Plover and White-faced Plover, Goh Cheng Teng. Lesser Sand Plover and Malaysian Plover, Keita Sin

Wandering Whistling Duck Dendrocygna arcuata

Although this species used to be an uncommon introduced species (Wang & Hails, 2007), the last local sighting was in 2016 (eBird) and the feral population has likely crashed for good. Being highly dispersive, wild birds could possibly wander here in due time. In fact, there is a record from Perak, Malaysia, that may conceivably be of wild provenance (but note that the current status of this species in Peninsula Malaysia is also introduced). It can be distinguished from the locally uncommon Lesser Whistling Duck by its lack of yellow eye ring and distinct white flanks.

Wandering Whistling Duck, Singapore. One of the last few birds from the introduced population. Photo credit: Goh Cheng Teng

Lesser Whistling Duck, Singapore. Photo credit: Goh Cheng Teng

Sunda Teal Anas gibberifrons

A species that seems to be undergoing a rapid range expansion across Borneo, Sulawesi and Sumatra (Eaton et al., 2016; 2021; Iqbal, 2016; MNSBCC Records Committee, 2016). With records in Sumatra not too far from Singapore, this funny looking duck might make its way here in the near future. It is much darker and browner than the local Whistling Ducks, with a distinct bulge on the male’s forehead. It prefers brackish water although other wetland habitats are also possible sites to look out for this species. Although various breeds of domestic ducks have been released in Singapore, these typically look more Mallard-like, with variable amount of colouration on their heads and wingpanels. Having said that, most if not all wild ducks in Singapore are typically worth celebration, so if in doubt of identification, it’s best to share the sighting for confirmation.

Sunda Teal, Bali. Photo credit: Keita Sin

Black-backed Swamphen Porphyrio indicus

Swamphen taxonomy is rather incongruent, with much left to be discovered (Garcia-R & Trewick, 2015; Callaghan et al., 2020; Eaton et al., 2021; Gill et al., 2021). Records from Singapore are thought to be the Grey-headed Swamphen viridis (Wang & Hails, 2007; Callaghan et al., 2020), but possible integrades have been recorded before locally (Wells, 1990). The distribution of the Black-backed Swamphen is also contentious especially on Sumatra, with the two forms likely mixing (Wells, 1999; Taylor, 2020; Eaton et al., 2021). The Grey-headed Swamphen is another species struggling to survive in Singapore – a common theme for local waterbirds – and was last seen in 2018 (eBird). But if you do happen to see one, be sure to check its back colour. Black-backed Swamphen can be distinguished by having darker upperparts and face.

Black-backed Swamphen, Java. Photo credit: Khaleb Yordan

Grey-headed Swamphen, Thailand. Photo credit: Lim Hong Yao

Australasian Grebe Tachybaptus novaehollandiae

The Australasian Grebe is capable of undertaking overwater dispersals (Llimona et al., 2020). Recent new records from Sulawesi and southern Sumatra (Eaton et al., 2016; Eaton et al., 2021) suggest a possible range expansion underway. Its habitat requirements are similar to the locally rare Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis from which it can be distinguished by its darker neck and ear coverts. Given that the Little Grebe is already struggling to survive in Singapore at the moment, the chances of the Australasian Grebe breeding here like the plovers did are probably low, but they’re certainly worth looking out for.

Australasian Grebe, Australia. Photo credit: Geraldine Lee

Little Grebe, Singapore. Photo credit: Goh Cheng Teng

Little Black Cormorant Phalacrocorax sulcirostris

Another species that seems to be experiencing a spread across the Sumatran coast (Eaton et al., 2021). Waterbodies – both coastal and inland – are potential locations to find this species. Locally, escaped individuals of the Great Cormorant and Little Cormorant have been documented (Wang & Hails, 2007). There were apparently two local records of the Little Black Cormorant as well in August and September 1993 (Oriental Bird Club, 1994; Lim, 2009). Assessing the provenance of cormorants can be a challenge in Singapore so do try to obtain high quality images of them (especially the legs) if you find one.

Little Black Cormorant, Australia. Photo credit: Dillen Ng

Little Egret Egretta garzetta nigripes

Knowledge on the distribution of this taxon in our region is far from ideal. Present from Indonesia through eastern Australia, it seems to be spreading across Sumatra (Iqbal, 2012; del Hoyo et al., 2020; Eaton et al., 2021). Their local status varies from “uncommon”, “sparing” to “probable” (Wang & Hails, 2007; Robson, 2014; Puan et al., 2020) and there is still much for us to document. Possible integrades have been seen in Singapore too. Various bare part colouration distinguishes this taxon apart from the locally common migrant Little Egret garzetta (Bakewell, 2019), perhaps most distinct among them being their toe colour – black in nigripes, yellow in garzetta in breeding plumage (images 14 & 15). However, caution should be taken during identification as juveniles and non-breeding garzetta can have duller feet and mud can affect feet colour (Robson, 2014).

Little Egret nigripes, Bali. Note that all black feet. Photo credit: Keita Sin

Little Egret garzetta, Singapore. Note the all yellow feet. Photo credit: Keita Sin

Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus

This species breeds in Australia and is a highly likely contender for showing up on Singapore given that it is an Austral migrant to Borneo and Indonesia, similar to the Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo Chrysococcyx basalis. Multiple people have claimed an encounter with this species in Singapore and it is also listed to be present in Robson (2014). However, none of the records have been adequately substantiated and a record from Thailand in February 2019 (Round et al., 2020) is the only formal record in our region thus far. The Sacred Kingfisher can be distinguished from the Collared Kingfisher T. chloris by its turquoise upperparts (as opposed to blue), smaller overall size and bill, and buff wash on its lores and flanks. Care is required in distinguishing this species from immature Collared Kingfishers as they can show some buff wash as well, but typically with scalloped plumage on their breast.

Sacred Kingfisher, Java. Photo credit: Keita Sin

Collared Kingfisher, Singapore. Photo credit: Keita Sin

Acknowledgements

Huge thanks to Dave Bakewell, James Eaton and Khaleb Yordan for identification discussions on the Javan Plover identification online, as well as others we had offline. I would also like to express my gratitude to Frankie Cheong for documenting and sharing pictures of Singapore’s first Javan Plover, to the Singapore Birds Project team (Dillen, Francis, Movin, Raghav, Sandra) for comments on this article and to the following for sharing their excellent photos: Dillen Ng, Geraldine Lee, Goh Cheng Teng, Khaleb Yordan and Lim Hong Yao.

Literature Cited

Bakewell, D. (2019). The Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes: identification revisited. BirdingAsia, 31, 14-23.

Callaghan, C. T., Pranty, B., Pyle, P., & Patten, M. A. (2020). Gray-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus), version 1.0. In Rodewald, P. G. & Billerman, S. M. (Eds.), Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.purswa3.01

del Hoyo, J., Martínez-Vilalta, A., Motis, A., Collar, N., Kirwan, G. M., & Christie, D. A. (2020). Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), version 1.0. In Billerman, S.M., Keeney, B.K., Rodewald, P.G. & Schulenberg, T.S. (Eds.), Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.litegr.01

Eaton, J. A., van Balen, S., Brickle, N. W., & Rheindt, F. E. (2016). Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Eaton, J. A., van Balen, S., Brickle, N. W., & Rheindt, F. E. (2021). Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea (Second Edition). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Garcia-R, J. C., & Trewick, S. A. (2015). Dispersal and speciation in purple swamphens (Rallidae: Porphyrio). The Auk: Ornithological Advances, 132(1), 140-155. Link: https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/132/1/140/5149144?login=true

Gill, F., Donsker, D. & Rasmussen, P. (Eds). (2021). IOC World Bird List (v11.2). doi:10.14344/IOC.ML.11.2

Iqbal, M., Febrianto, I., & Zulkifli, H. (2011). The occurrence of the Javan Plover Charadrius javanicus in Sumatra, Indonesia. Wader Study Group Bulletin, 118(2), 131-133.
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293205017_The_occurrence_of_the_Javan_Plover_Charadrius_javanicus_in_Sumatra_Indonesia

Iqbal, M., Nurza, A. & Giyanto. (2012). Breeding Records of Little Egret Egretta garzetta in Sumatra, with notes on the occurence of race E. g. garzetta. Kukila, 16, 59-63.
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315912527_Breeding_Records_of_Little_Egret_Egretta_garzetta_in_Sumatra_with_notes_on_the_occurence_of_race_E_g_garzetta

Iqbal, M., Taufiqurrahman, I., Gilfedder, M., & Baskoro, K. (2013). Field Identification of Javan Plover Charadrius javanicus. Wader Study Group Bulletin, 120(2), 96-101.
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262562330_Field_identification_of_Javan_Plover_Charadrius_javanicus

Iqbal, M. (2016). Status of Sunda Teal Anas gibberifrons in South Sumatra. Kukila, 19, 30-33.
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316075498_Status_of_Sunda_Teal_Anas_gibberifrons_in_South_Sumatra

Lim, K.S. (2009). The Avifauna of Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore), Singapore.

Llimona, F., del Hoyo, J., Christie, D. A., Jutglar, F., Garcia, E. F. J., & Kirwan, G. M. (2020). Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae), version 1.0. In del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (Eds.), Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ausgre1.01

MNSBCC Records Committee. (2016). Latest News 22 November 2016. MNSBCC Records Committee. Retrieved 28 August 2021 from https://sites.google.com/site/mnsbccrecordscommittee/Home/latest-news

Oriental Bird Club. (1994). From the field. Oriental Bird Club Bulletin, 19, 65-67.
Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/253243#page/69/mode/1up

Puan, C.L., Davison, G. & Lim, K.C. (2020). Birds of Malaysia. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Robson, C. (2014). Field guide to the birds of South-East Asia (Second Edition). Bloomsbury Publishing, London.

Round, P D., Jahan, I., Thompson, P. & James, D. J. (2020). Mainland Asia’s first record of Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus. BirdingAsia, 34, 123-127.

Taylor, B. (2020). Black-backed Swamphen (Porphyrio indicus), version 1.0. In Rodewald, P.G. (Eds.), Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.purswa4.01

Wang, L. K., & Hails, C. J. (2007). An annotated checklist of the birds of Singapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 15, 1-179.
Link: https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/app/uploads/2017/04/s15rbz001-179.pdf

Wells, D.R. (1990). Malayan Bird Report: 1986 and 1987. Malayan Nature Journal, 43, 172-210.

Wells, D. R. (1999). The birds of the Thai-Malay peninsula (Vol. 1). Academic Press, London.

Nesting Malaysian Plovers

Science

By Goh Cheng Teng
Edited by Keita Sin & Lester Tan

The Malaysian Plover Charadrius peronii is a small shorebird that inhabits coastal sandy areas and rocky shores. It is the only resident breeding plover in Singapore island and can be reliably found along the man-made seawall at Marina East. They are classified globally as Near Threatened (BirdLife International, 2017) and locally as Threatened (Lim, 2009).

A Chick!

On the morning of Sunday 27 June 2021, Lester Tan and I were walking along the Marina East seawall when we were halted by a soft twik from a male Malaysian Plover to our front. This was highly unusual as the Malaysian Plovers at Marina East do not typically vocalise, preferring instead to scurry away in silence.

With this thought at the back of our minds, we started scanning the area, locating a female Malaysian Plover slightly behind and below us in short order. We soon spotted movement from the female’s direction, which turned out to be an extra set of legs belonging to a very new Malaysian Plover!

As we approached slowly for better photographs, the female Malaysian Plover brooded the chick for a while (image 1) before running off, presumably to distract us from the chick. We kept our distance and the chick waited a while before getting up to follow the parent (image 2).

Image 1: Female Malaysian Plover with half hidden chick. 27 June 2021

Image 2: Female Malaysian Plover “retrieving” chick. 27 June 2021

Growing up

Over the next three Sundays, we revisited Marina East to document the chick’s progress (image 3). Each time, we were first greeted by the soft twik of the male Malaysian Plover a distance away from where we would eventually find the female and the chick.

On 4 and 11 July, the weather over Singapore was rainy and the chick was regularly brooded by an adult, probably to aid in regulating body temperature (image 4). By 18 July, the chick had grown discernibly larger. While we did not witness brooding, it still sought cover from threats. Chicks of the Malaysian Plover are precocial and are never fed by parents (Yasué & Dearden, 2008) but we also could not observe any feeding behaviour.

Image 3: Progression of Malaysian Plover chick. 27 June – 18 July 2021

Image 4: Female Malaysian Plover brooding chick. 4 July 2021

Camouflage and Chick Defense

When disturbed, the chick tucked itself into the nooks and crannies of the seawall. Its mottled brown, white and black plumage provided camouflage while it nestled itself against pieces of marine debris (image 5). We also observed it hiding in grass adjacent to the seawall.

Image 5: Hiding against terrain features and debris. 27 June 2021.

As long as we remained stationary at distance, one of the adults, typically the female, would eventually approach the chick while vocalising a series of soft twiks. The chick would then get up and follow the adult. We did observe brooding by the male as well, though less frequently.

While plovers are among the group of birds known for using the “broken-wing display” in response to disturbances (Gómez-Serrano & López-López, 2017), we did not observe this behaviour. We only observed them vocalising and attempting to lead us away from the chick whenever we ventured too close. Sometimes, an adult approached us while vocalising.

On one occasion when a flock of crows roosted nearby, the chick went into hiding while the adults kept watch from a distance. We observed an adult flying out to sea when dived on by individual crows although it returned to the site shortly after. However, when disturbed by humans, the adults did not fly off and always stayed within visible distance.

Fledged?

On Sunday 25 July 2021, we made our way to Marina East again. This time however, there was no twik greeting from the male Malaysian Plover. The female was nearby bathing and preening in one of the puddles atop the seawall. The pair of Malaysian Plovers had seemingly reverted to their typical non-vocalizing and more confiding selves, and the chick was nowhere to be found. The absence of the chick had been noted the day before, with adults reportedly being skittish (Francis Yap, pers. comms.).

The chick was independently discovered by Max Khoo a day before us on 26 June (pers. comms.), and would have been at least 28 days old, within the fledging window of 27-33 days after hatching (Wiersma et al., 2020). Unfortunately, we later found out that the plovers were preyed upon by a House Crow Corvus splendens, putting the journey of the young bird to an end.

Nest Habitat and Conservation

Malaysian Plovers nest in coastal locations that typically include an intertidal mudflat for foraging, a sandy beach for nesting, and a shrubby vegetated area that can provide cover for chicks during disturbances (Yasué & Dearden, 2008). Natural habitats suitable for the nesting of the Malaysian Plover are declining locally due to developments. However, many local nesting records have been on reclaimed land and coastal defense structures – they have previously been documented laying their eggs on the seawall (image 6; Nicholas Lim, pers. comms.).

Image 6: Male Malaysian Plover brooding egg on seawall, 10 August 2020. Photo credit: Nicholas Lim

The diet of the Malaysian Plover is poorly known (Wiersma et al., 2020) but we have observed them foraging on algal cover on the seawall where they appear to feed on invertebrates, or perhaps even microorganisms. Interestingly, they are rarely observed feeding on the adjoining mudflat where other waders have been observed.

Across five weekends of observations, this was the only family of Malaysian Plovers sighted along the entire stretch of the Marina East seawall. During the migratory season, presumably a non-breeding period, there would typically be more Malaysian Plovers scattered along the seawall, including multiple male and female birds. Their highly territorial behaviour (Yasué & Dearden, 2008) likely makes it difficult for multiple pairs to share the territory when nesting.

Our observations suggest that the plovers might be adaptable to nesting on artificial structures, provided that areas necessary for food, egg-laying and cover are present. Locally, breeding has been recorded in March-April (Lim, 2009) and July-September (BESG, 2006; Goh, 2016), as well as in June this year (Raghav Narayanswamy, pers. comms.).

The presence of these pockets of breeding habitat are crucial to the continued presence of the Malaysian Plover in Singapore. Protection and management of such areas from human intrusion during the breeding season where the birds are most sensitive to disturbances can be considered.

Acknowledgements

Warm thanks to Francis, Max and Raghav for insights about their breeding, to Nicholas for sharing his photo and to the SBP team (Dillen, Movin, Sandra) for comments.

References

BESG. (2006). Malaysian Plover 2: Nesting. Bird Ecology Study Group. Retrieved 26 July 2021, from https://besgroup.org/2006/07/25/malaysian-plover-2-nesting/

Goh, C.T. (2016). Out of Season Breeding of the Malaysian Plovers in Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore) Singapore Bird Group. Retrieved 26 July 2021, from https://singaporebirdgroup.wordpress.com/2017/10/24/out-of-season-breeding-of-the-malaysian-plovers-in-singapore/

Gómez-Serrano, M.A., & López-López, P. (2017). Deceiving predators: linking distraction behavior with nest survival in a ground-nesting bird. Behavioral Ecology, 28(1), 260–269.
Link: https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/28/1/260/2453523

BirdLife International. (2021). Species factsheet: Charadrius peronii. Retrieved 26 July 2021, from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22693836

Lim, K.S. (2009). The Avifauna of Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore). Singapore.

Wiersma, P., Kirwan, G. M., & Boesman, P. F. D. (2020). Malaysian Plover (Charadrius peronii), version 1.0. In J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana (Eds.), Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.malplo1.01

Yasué, M. & Dearden, P. (2008). Parental sex roles of Malaysian Plovers during territory acquisition, incubation and chick-rearing. Journal of Ethology, 26(1), 99-112.Link: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Philip-Dearden/publication/225332000_Parental_sex_roles_of_Malaysian_Plovers_during_territory_acquisition_incubation_and_chick-rearing/links/00b7d528dc22588a11000000/Parental-sex-roles-of-Malaysian-Plovers-during-territory-acquisition-incubation-and-chick-rearing.pdf

Gallery

Female Malaysian Plover running away, presumably as a form of distraction. 27 June 2021

Malaysian Plover chick laying low. 27 June 2021

Male Malaysian Plover brooding chick. 27 June 2021

Female Malaysian Plover brooding chick. 11 July 2021

Rufous Barn Swallows in Singapore?

Science

TLDR;

There are several records of Barn Swallows with rufous underparts in Singapore
Relationships between the different Barn Swallow subspecies are still being explored – we are uncertain of which subspecies the rufous birds seen in Singapore belong to
In the meantime, please share your sightings if you come across any of these rarer migrants!

Migratory birds are slowly streaming into Singapore as the Northern Hemisphere winter sets in. One of the commonest species that share the local aerospace with the resident swiftlets and Pacific Swallows Hirundo tahitica is the Barn Swallow H. rustica. The Barn Swallows are easily identifiable from their distinct clean white underparts but did you know that rufous Barn Swallows have been seen in Singapore before?

There have so far been at least three documented records of Barn Swallows with rufous underparts in Singapore, one at Punggol Barat on 3 April 2016, one at Neo Tiew on 21 December 2019 and another at Neo Tiew on 20 January 2020 (though possibly the same individual spotted a month earlier).

The usual Barn Swallows that visit Singapore during the wintering months are of the subspecies gutturalis (Chasen, 1923; Gibson-Hill, 1950) with clean white underparts along with a distinct black breast band (Figure 1). It is currently still unclear which subspecies these rufous Barn Swallows belong to, but what the local community can do in the meantime is to make sure that these records are properly documented while researchers continue to study their relationships!

Figure 1. Barn Swallow, subspecies *gutturalis* (taken by Keita Sin).

This article will become slightly technical from here onwards, but for those who have an interest in the biology of birds, read on!

Barn Swallow subspecies taxonomy is tricky; different authors have differing opinions on which subspecies are valid and the boundaries of their breeding ranges (Figure 2, Table 1). With regards to the subspecies that occur in Southeast Asia (and consequently Singapore), the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognises four subspecies, namely gutturalis, tytleri, mandschurica and saturata, while Birds of the World (BOTW) recognises gutturalis, tytleri and mandschurica too, but treats saturata as part of gutturalis instead. On the other hand, Dor et al. (2010) who has worked on Barn Swallow phylogeny lists two relevant subspecies, gutturalis and tytleri.

Figure 2. Range map of the different Barn Swallow subspecies.
*Note.* Reprinted from The Barn Swallow (p 21), by A. Turner, 2006, A&C Black Publishers Ltd. Copyright 2006 by Angela Turner.

Table 1. A summary of the differing treatments of the Barn Swallow subspecies according to authors.

Of the supposed four subspecies that might occur in Singapore, only one is described to have creamy white underparts (gutturalis), with the other three (tytleri, mandschurica and saturata) have some degree of rufous on the underparts (Table 2).

Table 2. Morphometrics and plumage description of relevant Barn Swallow subspecies.
*Note.* Adapted from The Barn Swallow (p 20), by A. Turner, 2006, A&C Black Publishers Ltd. Copyright 2006 by Angela Turner.

However, on top of the difficulty in distinguishing underpart colours (what is the difference between ochre, rufous and chestnut?), plumage can also vary with individuals and wear (Dickinson and Dekker, 2001). More significantly, there is likely to be interbreeding between different subspecies in intergrade zones within their breeding range (Dickinson and Dekker, 2001; Nazarenko, 2016; Turner, 2006). For instance, there are some interesting swallows that are within range of tytleri and/or where tytleri overlaps with other populations (such as gutturalis) that are not entirely white or rufous, and some examples are listed here: a) western Mongolia, mostly white underparts with rufous tinge; b) central Mongolia, underparts with faint rufous tinge; c) central Mongolia, pale rufous underparts d) northern Mongolia, white underparts with rufous vent. Compare these with birds found further north (that are presumably tytleri based on range) such as this and this that are clearly much more rufous in colour.

As the ornithological community continues to explore the answers to the relationships of the various Asian populations of Barn Swallows in their breeding ranges, the verdict on the “rufous” individuals in Singapore is still open to interpretation. However this doesn’t change the fact that they are quite rare locally, so please do share your sightings if you manage to spot or photograph any!

Disclaimer: The authors of this short article (Dillen and Keita) have not been involved in any of the Barn Swallow studies. We dove into this topic confused and emerged out of it even more confused – please let us know if there are any errors!

References:

Chasen, F. N. (1923). An introduction to the birds of Singapore island. Singapore Naturalist, 2, 87-111.

Dickinson, E. C., & Dekker, R. W. R. J. (2001). Systematic notes on Asian birds. 13. Preliminary review of the Hirundinidae. Zoologische Verhandelingen, 25, 127-144.

Dor, R., Safran, R. J., Sheldon, F. H., Winkler, D. W., & Lovette, I. J. (2010). Phylogeny of the genus Hirundo and the Barn Swallow subspecies complex. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 56, 409-418.

Gibson-Hill, C.A. (1950). A checklist of the birds of Singapore island. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, 21, 132-183.

Nazarenko A.A., Pavlenko M.V., Kryukov A.P. (2016). Introgressija genov populjacii Hirundo rustica tytleri v populjaciju H. r. gutturalis na jugo-zapade Ussuriĭskogo kraja (na primere Vladivostoka): otgoloski bylyh i tekushhih istoriko-biogeograficheskih sobytiĭ [Introgression of the genes of the Hirundo rustica tytleri population in the H. r. gutturalis population in the south-west of the Ussuri region (upon the example of Vladivostok): echoes of past and current historical-biogeographical events]. Russkiĭ ornitologicheskiĭ zhurnal, 25, 523-536.

Turner, A. (2006). The barn swallow. T&AD Poyser.

Local extinctions of Singapore birds

Science

There is an interesting paper recently published in the prestigious journal Conservation Biology by members of two National University of Singapore (NUS) labs titled “A robust non-parametric method for quantifying undetected extinctions” that came to our attention.

In it, they presented a novel method of estimating undetected extinction, i.e. the type of extinction events that may have taken place without humans taking note of them. They applied this new method to all 195 breeding bird species ever recorded in Singapore over the last 200 years. Of this number, 58 (~30%) are known to have gone extinct. They project probably another ~10 species have gone extinct without ever being discovered, thereby providing a more realistic extinction rate at ~33%.

The extinction of one-third of our resident bird species over the years represent a significant loss of our biodiversity. The authors also project based on the data from Singapore, an additional 14-16% loss of bird species in the region by the year 2100 with current deforestation rate. Some of our favorite birds are already extinct in Singapore. More will join their ranks without further conservation efforts, and it won’t be long before they are gone for good in the region as well.

One of the interesting side product of this new study is a new, extensively vetted list of all breeding birds ever recorded in Singapore based on thorough literature reviews going back to the 1800s. Reproduced with permission at the bottom of this post is a table containing the bird list of current and extinct species. This data represent a best effort by the authors at the time of publication. This website will use it as a starting point to update its own list in the future.

Photos of some of the birds that have gone extinct in Singapore:

Scarlet-rumped Trogon at Panti Forest. Although not listed as one of the known extinct birds, this is one plausible candidate for the undetected extinctions described in the paper as it is commonly found in nearby Panti Forest, Malaysia. Photo Credit: Vincent Ng

Garnet Pitta at Taman Negara, Malaysia. Photo Credit: Vincent Ng

Female Diard’s Trogon at Panti Forest. Photo Credit: Francis Yap

A pair of Orange-backed Woodpeckers at Panti Forest. Photo Credit: Francis Yap

Rufous-backed Kingfisher. in Bali. Photo Credit: Francis Yap

Black-and-yellow Broadbill at Panti Forest. Photo Credit: Francis Yap

Reference:
Chisholm R.A., Giam X., Sadanandan K.R., Fung T. & Rheindt F.E. (2016). A robust non-parametric method for quantifying undetected extinctions. Conservation Biology.

Table A1. Resident native birds of Singapore recorded since 1819. This list excludes species that were introduced by humans or for which evidence for breeding activity is too sparse. Some species for which breeding evidence is doubtful are included in the table but were excluded from the analysis described in the paper.

Common Name	Name	First record	Last record
Blue-breasted Quail	Coturnix chinensis chinensis	1819	2014
Red Junglefowl	Gallus gallus spadiceus	1985	2014
Lesser Whistling-duck	Dendrocygna javanica	1977	2014
Barred Buttonquail	Turnix suscitator atrogularis	1819	2014
Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker	Dendrocopos moluccensis moluccensis	1819	2014
Rufous Woodpecker	Celeus brachyurus squamigularis	1819	2014
White-bellied Woodpecker	Dryocopus javensis javensis	1819	2001
Banded Woodpecker	Picus miniaceus malaccensis	1819	2014
Crimson-winged Woodpecker	Picus puniceus continentis	1819	1949
Checker-throated Woodpecker	Picus mentalis humii	1819	1949
Laced Woodpecker	Picus vittatus vittatus	1819	2014
Olive-backed Woodpecker	Dinopium rafflesii rafflesii	1819	1949
Common Flameback	Dinopium javanese javanese	1819	2014
Greater Flameback	Chrysocolaptes lucidus chersoneus	1819	1908
Orange-backed Woodpecker	Reinwardtipicus validus xanthopygius	1819	1920
Buff-rumped Woodpecker	Meiglyptes tristis grammithora	1819	1949
Buff-necked Woodpecker	Meiglyptes tukki tukki	1819	1949
Great Slaty Woodpecker	Mulleripicus pulverulentus	1819	1949
Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker	Hemicircus concretus sordidus	1819	1949
Lineated Barbet	Megalaima lineata hodgsoni	1996	2014
Red-crowned Barbet	Megalaima rafflesii malayensis	1819	2014
Blue-eared Barbet	Magalaima australis duvaucelii	1819	1949
Coppersmith Barbet	Magalaima haemacephala indica	1957	2014
Brown Barbet	Calorhamphus fuliginosus	1819	1949
Oriental Pied Hornbill	Anthracoceros albirostris convexus	1819	2014
Red-naped Trogon	Harpactes kasumba kasumba	1819	1921
Diard’s Trogon	Harpactes diardii sumatranus	1819	1921
Dollarbird	Eurystomus orientalis orientalis	1819	2014
Blue-eared Kingfisher	Alcedo meninting verreauxi	1819	2014
Stork-billed Kingfisher	Halcyon capensis malaccensis	1819	2014
White-throated Kingfisher	Halcyon smyrnensis fusca	1819	2014
Collared Kingfisher	Todiramphus chloris humii	1819	2014
Rufous-backed Kingfisher	Ceyx erithacus rufidorsa	1819	1949
Ruddy Kingfisher	Halcyon coromanda minor	1819	1986
Banded Kingfisher	Lacedo pulchella	1819	1949
Rufous-collared Kingfisher	Actenoides concretus concretus	1819	1938
Blue-throated Bee-eater	Merops viridis viridis	1819	2014
Banded Bay Cuckoo	Cacomantis sonneratii malayanus	1819	2014
Plaintive Cuckoo	Cacomantis merulinus threnodes	1819	2014
Rusty-breasted Cuckoo	Cacomantis sepulcralis sepulcralis	1819	2014
Little Bronze Cuckoo	Chrysococcyx minutillus malayanus	1819	2014
Violet Cuckoo	Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus xanthorhynchus	1819	2014
Drongo Cuckoo	Surniculus lugubris barussarum	1819	2014
Asian Koel	Eudynamys scolopacea malayana	1819	2014
Rhinortha	Rhinortha chlorophaea	1819	1895
Black-bellied Malkoha	Phaenicophaeus diardi diardi	1819	1949
Chestnut-bellied Malkoha	Phaenicophaeus sumatranus sumatranus	1819	2014
Greater Coucal	Centropus sinensis bubutus	1819	2014
Lesser Coucal	Centropus bengalensis javanensis	1819	2014
Blue-rumped Parrot	Psittinus cyanurus cyanurus	1819	2014
Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot	Loriculus galgulus galgulus	1819	2014
Long-tailed Parakeet	Psittacula longicauda longicauda	1819	2014
Glossy Swiftlet	Collocalia esculenta cyanoptila	1819	2014
Black-nest Swiftlet	Collocalia maxima maxima	1819	2014
Edible-nest Swiftlet	Collocalia fuciphaga amechana	1819	2014
Asian Palm Swift	Cypsiurus balasiensis infumatus	1819	2014
House Swift	Apus affinis subfurcatus	1819	2014
Silver-rumped Needletail	Rhaphidura leucopygialis	1819	1949
Grey-rumped Treeswift	Hemiprocne longipennis harterti	1881	2014
Whiskered Treeswift	Hemiprocne comata	1819	1969
Barn Owl	Tyto alba javanica	1970	2014
Collared Scops Owl	Otus lempiji lempiji	1819	2014
Barred Eagle Owl	Bubo sumatranus sumatranus	1819	1925
Buffy Fish Owl	Ketupa ketupa ketupa	1819	2014
Spotted Wood Owl	Strix seloputo seloputo	1985	2014
Brown Hawk Owl	Ninox scutulata scutulata	1819	2014
Malaysian Eared Nightjar	Eurostopodus temminckii	1819	1989
Large-tailed Nightjar	Caprimulgus macrurus bimaculatus	1819	2014
Savanna Nighjar	Caprimulgus affinis affinis	1988	2014
Spotted Dove	Streptopelia chinensis tigrina	1819	2014
Emerald Dove	Chalcophaps indica indica	1819	2014
Peaceful Dove	Geopelia striata striata	1819	2014
Cinnamon-headed Green Pigeon	Treron fulvicollis fulvicollis	1819	1927
Little Green Pigeon	Treron olax olax	1819	2014
Pink-necked Green Pigeon	Treron vernans griseicapilla	1819	2014
Thick-billed Green Pigeon	Treron curvirostra curvirostra	1819	2014
Pied Imperial Pigeon	Ducula bicolor bicolor	2004	2014
Green Imperial Pigeon	Ducula aenea polia	1819	1970
Red-legged Crake	Rallina fasciata	1819	2014
Slaty-breasted Rail	Gallirallus striatus gularis	1819	2014
White-breasted Waterhen	Amaurornis phoenicurus javanicus, chinensis, phoenicurus	1819	2014
Ruddy-breasted Crake	Porzana fusca fusca	1819	2014
White-browed Crake	Porzana cinerea	1819	2014
Purple Swamphen	Porphyrio porphyrio viridis	1986	2014
Common Moorhen	Gallinula chloropus orientalis	1973	2014
Greater Painted-Snipe	Rostratula benghalensis benghalensis	1819	2014
Black-winged Stilt	Himantopus himantopus himantopus	1992	1994
Malaysian Plover	Charadrius peronii	1988	2014
Red-wattled Lapwing	Vanellus indicus atronuchalis	1993	2014
Black-naped Tern	Sterna sumatrana sumatrana	1819	2014
Little Tern	Sterna albifrons sinensis	1987	2014
Black-winged Kite	Elanus caeruleus vociferus	1986	2014
Brahminy Kite	Haliastur indus intermedius	1819	2014
White-bellied Fish Eagle	Haliaeetus leucogaster	1819	2014
Grey-headed Fish Eagle	Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus	1950	2014
Crested Serpent Eagle	Spilornis cheela bassus	1819	2014
Crested Goshawk	Accipiter trivirgatus indicus	1987	2014
Changeable Hawk Eagle	Spizaetus cirrhatus limnaeetus	1819	2014
Black-thighed Falconet	Microhierax fringillarius	1819	1986
Little Grebe	Tachybaptus ruficollis poggei	1994	2014
Pacific Reef Egret	Egretta sacra sacra	1819	2014
Great-billed Heron	Ardea sumatrana sumatrana	1819	2014
Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea jouyi	1983	2014
Purple Heron	Ardea purpurea manilensis	1940	2014
Striated Heron	Butorides striatus javanicus	1819	2014
Black-crowned Night Heron	Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax	1983	2014
Yellow Bittern	Ixobrychus sinensis	1986	2014
Cinnamon Bittern	Ixobrychus cinnamomeus	1819	2014
Lesser Adjutant	Leptoptilos javanicus	1882	1882
Mangrove Pitta	Pitta megarhyncha	1819	2014
Garnet Pitta	Pitta granatina coccinea	1819	1949
Dusky Broadbill	Corydon sumatranus sumatranus	1819	1871
Black-and-red Broadbill	Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos malaccensis	1819	1949
Banded Broadbill	Eurylaimus javanicus pallidus	1819	1927
Black-and-yellow Broadbill	Eurylaimus ochromalus ochromalus	1819	1871
Green Broadbill	Calyptomena viridis viridis	1819	1941
Golden-bellied Gerygone	Gerygone sulphurea sulphurea	1819	2014
Asian Fairy Bluebird	Irena puella malayensis	1819	2014
Greater Green Leafbird	Chloropsis sonnerati zosterops	1819	2014
Lesser Green Leafbird	Chloropsis cyanopogon cyanopogon	1819	2014
Blue-winged Leafbird	Chloropsis cochinchinensis icterocephala	1819	2014
Long-tailed Shrike	Lanius schach bentet	1969	2014
Mangrove Whistler	Pachycephala grisola vandepolli	1819	2014
Large-billed Crow	Corvus macrorhynchos macrorhynchos	1819	2014
Dark-throated Oriole	Oriolus xanthonotus xanthonotus	1819	1941
Black-naped Oriole	Oriolus chinensis maculatus	1936	2014
Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike	Coracina striata sumatrensis	1819	1969
Lesser Cuckooshrike	Coracina fimbriata culminata	1819	1969
Pied Triller	Lalage nigra nigra	1819	2014
Fiery Minivet	Pericrocotus igneus igneus	1819	1969
Scarlet Minivet	Pericrocotus flammeus xanthogaster	1819	2014
Pied Fantail	Rhipidura javanica longicauda	1819	2014
Bronzed Drongo	Dicrurus aeneus malayensis	1819	1949
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo	Dicrurus paradiseus platurus	1819	2014
Black-naped Monarch	Hypothymis azurea prophata	1819	2014
Asian Paradise-flycatcher	Terpsiphone paradisi affinis	1819	1990
Common Iora	Aegithina tiphia singapurensis	1819	2014
Green Iora	Aegithina viridissima viridissima	1819	1949
Rufous-winged Philentoma	Philentoma pyrhoptera	1819	1949
Maroon-breasted Philentoma	Philentoma velatum caesia	1819	1879
Large Woodshrike	Tephrodornis gularis fretensis	1819	1949
Mangrove Blue Flycatcher	Cyornis rufigastra rufigastra	1819	2000
Oriental Magpie Robin	Copsychus saularis musicus	1819	2014
White-rumped Shama	Copsychus malabaricus mallopercna	1819	2014
Asian Glossy Starling	Aplonis panayensis strigatus	1819	2014
Common Myna	Acridotheres tristis tristis	1935	2014
Hill Myna	Gracula religiosa javana	1819	2014
Pacific Swallow	Hirundo tahitica abbotti	1819	2014
Straw-headed Bulbul	Pycnonotus zeylanicus	1819	2014
Black-headed Bulbul	Pycnonotus atriceps atriceps	1819	2014
Grey-bellied Bulbul	Pycnonotus cyaniventris cyaniventris	1819	1949
Yellow-vented Bulbul	Pycnonotus goiavier personatus	1819	2014
Olive-winged Bulbul	Pycnonotus plumosus plumosus	1819	2014
Cream-vented Bulbul	Pycnonotus simplex simplex	1819	2014
Yellow-bellied Bulbul	Alophoxius phaeocephalus phaeocephalus	1819	1924
Buff-vented Bulbul	Iole olivacea olivacea	1819	1949
Spectacled Bulbul	Pycnonotus erythropthalmos erythropthalmos	1819	1949
Red-eyed Bulbul	Pycnonotus brunneus brunneus	1819	2014
Zitting Cisticola	Cisticola juncidis malaya	1819	2014
Yellow-bellied Prinia	Prinia flaviventris rafflesi	1819	2014
Oriental White-eye	Zosterops palpebrosus	1819	2014
Common Tailorbird	Orthotomus sutorius maculicollis	1819	2014
Dark-necked Tailorbird	Orthotomus atrogularis atrogularis	1819	2014
Rufous-tailed Tailorbird	Orthotomus sericeus hesperius	1819	2014
Ashy Tailorbird	Orthotomus ruficeps ruficeps	1819	2014
White-chested Babbler	Trichastoma rostratum rostratum	1819	2014
Abbott’s Babbler	Malacocincla abbotti olivacea	1819	2014
Short-tailed Babbler	Malacocincla malaccensis malaccensis	1819	2014
Black-capped Babbler	Pellorneum capistratum nigrocapitatum	1819	1899
Moustached Babbler	Malacopteron magnirostre magnirostre	1819	1986
Chestnut-winged Babbler	Stachyris erythroptera erythroptera	1819	2014
Striped Tit Babbler	Macronous gularis gularis	1819	2014
Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker	Prionochilus maculatus maculatus	1819	1969
Yellow-vented Flowerpecker	Dicaeum chrysorrheum chrysorrheum	1819	2014
Orange-bellied Flowerpecker	Dicaeum trigonostigma trigonsostigmum	1819	2014
Plain Flowerpecker	Dicaeum concolor borneanum	1819	1931
Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker	Dicaeum cruentatum ignitum	1819	2014
Plain Sunbird	Anthreptes simplex simplex	1819	1874
Brown-throated Sunbird	Anthreptes malacensis malacensis	1819	2014
Purple-naped Sunbird	Hypogramma hypogrammicum macularia	1819	1969
Purple-throated Sunbird	Nectarinia sperata brasiliana	1819	2014
Copper-throated Sunbird	Nectarinia calcostetha calcostetha	1819	2014
Olive-backed Sunbird	Nectarinia jugularis microleuca	1819	2014
Crimson Sunbird	Aethopyga siparaja siparaja	1819	2014
Little Spiderhunter	Arachnothera longirostra longirostra	1819	2014
Thick-billed Spiderhunter	Arachnothera crassirostris	1819	1920
Yellow-eared Spiderhunter	Arachnothera chrysogenys chrysogenys	1819	2014
Grey-breasted Spiderhunter	Arachnothera affinis modesta	1819	1949
Eurasian Tree Sparrow	Passer montanus malaccensis	1819	2014
Paddyfield Pipit	Anthus rufulus sinensis	1819	2014
Baya Weaver	Ploceus philippinus infortunatus	1819	2014
White-rumped Munia	Lonchura striata subsquamicollis	1883	2014
Scaly-breasted Munia	Lonchura punctulata fretensis	1819	2014
Black-headed Munia	Lonchura malacca sinensis	1819	2014
White-headed Munia	Lonchura maja maja	1819	2014