SINGAPORE – Two of four peregrine falcon chicks that recently won the hearts of fans in Singapore likely died after collisions with man-made structures \u2013 the top culprit of bird mortality cases recorded here.<\/p>\n
In May, the National Parks Board (NParks) told The Straits Times that injuries to the first fledgling\u2019s head and beak were attributed to striking a hard surface, while the second <\/span><\/a>suffered<\/span><\/a> internal bleeding<\/span><\/a> that suggested it had died after colliding with a building.<\/p>\n The loss of the chicks \u2013 which were featured in an NParks live stream<\/span><\/a> \u2013 reflects a grim reality being pieced together by bird scientist Tan Yen Yi. She manages the Dead Bird Hotline and its salvage operations for NUS\u2019 Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, the only natural history museum here.<\/p>\n Through post-mortem investigations averaging an hour each, the assistant senior curator of birds at the museum found that among the cases reported to the hotline since 2020, collisions with artificial structures such as buildings and bus stops were the leading cause of avian mortality.<\/p>\n This comes as the caseload of bird injuries and deaths reported to the museum has soared, hitting a record of about 650 cases in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are on track to break that record this year, with the first quarter trending higher than in 2025, even though we haven\u2019t even hit our busiest time of the year,\u201d said Dr Tan, noting that the spike in numbers could partly be due to greater public awareness of the reporting channel.<\/p>\n The hotline\u2019s carcass count typically peaks as the Northern Hemisphere enters autumn and spring, when migratory birds undertake journeys between their breeding and wintering grounds. Singapore is a key stopover along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, a route stretching from the Arctic to New Zealand that thousands of birds traverse.<\/p>\n A fairy pitta collected during the recent migratory bird season between 2025 and 2026.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Throughout the year, highly urbanised parts of Singapore often turn into unintended hazards for native and migratory birds alike, as they crash into man-made structures.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Mr How Choon Beng, NParks\u2019 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.<\/p>\n At night, bright city lights and light that spills out from buildings disorient migratory birds that rely on natural cues like starlight for navigation.<\/p>\n Buildings situated on the edge of forests<\/span><\/a> tend to see the highest rate of collisions, according to a study based on reports to a hotline manned by NUS\u2019 Avian Evolution Lab between 2013 and 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cNParks has been taking steps to create a more bird-friendly built environment,\u201d said Mr How. \u201cFor instance, we have incorporated some bird-safe measures, such as decals and stickers, in our buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Dr Tan Yen Yi, assistant senior curator of birds at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, holding a Himalayan griffon vulture specimen collected during the recent migratory bird season between 2025 and 2026.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Maintaining healthy wetland habitats is also intertwined with human health. \u201cBirds are an excellent indicator of environmental health,\u201d Dr Yong said. \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n To that end, BirdLife International and the Asian Development Bank have proposed the conservation of 147 wetlands<\/span><\/a> along the flyway to help Asian countries maintain migratory waterbird populations. To date, projects have been launched for five of these sites.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n She highlighted Lars Svensson\u2019s Identification Guide To European Passerines \u2013 dubbed the green \u201cbible\u201d for field researchers \u2013 that provides detailed information on determining a passerine bird\u2019s age and sex. Such a guide is \u201csomething that\u2019s lacking in South-east Asia, but I believe that now, with the critical mass of data we have, it will be possible\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n Every report of a dead bird helps the museum track the species\u2019 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sad to see birds die, but we can really make use of them, possibly to predict changes in populations before they happen,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope that people can continue contributing reports because these specimens give us DNA that we can\u2019t get from photographs.\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/picture><\/div>
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