Bird fatality reports in Singapore hit record high

The pink-necked green pigeon ranks as the most common native bird found dead since 2020, accounting for nearly 10 per cent of the reported deaths. The blue-winged pitta is the most common migrant fatality, at about 7 per cent.

Mr How Choon Beng, NParks’ group director of wildlife management, explained that the increased use of glass in modern architecture is a reason why buildings are so deadly for birds. The glass facades reflect the sky and surrounding greenery, which creates the illusion of an uninterrupted environment. As a result, birds often fly directly into buildings.

At night, bright city lights and light that spills out from buildings disorient migratory birds that rely on natural cues like starlight for navigation.

Buildings situated on the edge of forests tend to see the highest rate of collisions, according to a study based on reports to a hotline manned by NUS’ Avian Evolution Lab between 2013 and 2020.

“NParks has been taking steps to create a more bird-friendly built environment,” said Mr How. “For instance, we have incorporated some bird-safe measures, such as decals and stickers, in our buildings.”

These measures, designed to make glass more visible to avian eyes, have already been applied at HortPark, Singapore Botanic Gardens and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Dr Yong Ding Li, head of flyways and species conservation in Asia at non-profit group BirdLife International, called on developers to use less glass and fewer reflective surfaces when building in high-risk areas.

But in the long run, Dr Yong noted, one of the key threats for migratory birds here and in the wider region arises from the loss of natural habitat due to development, which has been linked to the decline of shorebirds worldwide.

“In South-east Asia, we are not really good at protecting wetlands because these habitats are traditionally in areas that can easily be built upon, compared with mountainous terrain,” he said.

Maintaining healthy wetland habitats is also intertwined with human health. “Birds are an excellent indicator of environmental health,” Dr Yong said. “They ingest microplastics and anything else floating in the water. So if birds are dying, I would be really concerned because it could reflect some impact on human health.”

To that end, BirdLife International and the Asian Development Bank have proposed the conservation of 147 wetlands along the flyway to help Asian countries maintain migratory waterbird populations. To date, projects have been launched for five of these sites.

Back in Singapore, Dr Tan hopes to plug a knowledge gap on South-east Asian birds using the data she has mined from the growing collection of bird carcasses from Singapore and the region.

She highlighted Lars Svensson’s Identification Guide To European Passerines – dubbed the green “bible” for field researchers – that provides detailed information on determining a passerine bird’s age and sex. Such a guide is “something that’s lacking in South-east Asia, but I believe that now, with the critical mass of data we have, it will be possible”, she said.

Every report of a dead bird helps the museum track the species’ populations, Dr Tan said, citing the steady, annual stream of blue-wing pitta carcasses she receives as an indicator that the species is not disappearing entirely.

“It’s sad to see birds die, but we can really make use of them, possibly to predict changes in populations before they happen,” she said. “I hope that people can continue contributing reports because these specimens give us DNA that we can’t get from photographs.”

Those who find a dead bird can contact the Dead Bird Hotline via WhatsApp on 9876-4997. More information can be found at this website.