Slim Sreedharan is a field ornithologist who has been working in the jungles of Borneo for the past two decades and more. *When he was invited by the Sarawak government in 1985 to make a survey of the birds of the Bako National Park, he practically knew nothing about the birds of Borneo. Armed with the only book with illustrations available then, The Birds of Borneo by BE Smythies, he found that the birds “defied identification”. The illustrations as well as the descriptions were totally inadequate. This was the 1960 edition. He had to carefully identify all the birds he encountered or mist-netted from first principal. He is currently the Hon. Curator of Birds at the Sarawak Museum.

I first met Slim in May 2006 when he was invited by the National Parks Board to train its staff in mist nesting. After all, he is an “A” class ringer with the British Trust for Ornithology since 1973. It was then that he told me about his earlier invitation to talk to the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), now Nature Society (Singapore). I was then chasing plants, not birds, and so was not aware of it.

I have been trying to get hold of the paper for the last few years and only received a faint copy recently.

The points he elaborated in his talk included:

1. “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” appears to be a prevalent theme in Southeast Asian ornithology.

2. Expatriate researchers in ornithology showed an odd tendency to compromise standards in the region. Whereas in England there is a need to give detailed field description, photo or sketch, etc. of a new sighting, as well as an independent verification by a second person who must submit an equally detailed description, this is not so in Southeast Asia.

3. There is a desperate need for a new approach to birdwatching in the region. It is not possible to plan conservation strategies if we only know what the birds look like. We also need to know where they live, what they eat, when and where they breed, how much space they need for a viable breeding habitat and so on. Most jungle species are not fully documented – not just in Borneo, but also in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.

4. “I often get the feeling that we have lost out as a result of the current tendency to learn more and more about less and less. In the old Malayan Nature Journal of the 50s and 60s, there were many short letters on bird behaviour. Each trinket, on its own contributed very little to the main body of information, but over the years, all of them put together gives us a better idea of bird behaviour than a purely scientific approach would have done.”

5. “If amateur birdwatchers could harnass their knowledge and publish regularly their observations, no matter how trivial it may be, it will meet two important objectives. Firstly, by being allowed to participate in the data-gathering process, amateur members will no longer feel left out or see themselves as people only needed for their annual subscriptions. Secondly, in about 15-20 years, the accumulated information could result in a truly worthy book on birds of the region, one which will provide a wealth of information about how they have adapted to the urban sprawl, and pin-point the measures needed to protect them.”

Unfortunately, Slim’s message failed to reach the majority of the local birdwatchers. Yes, he did deliver his talk but his message would have reached a wider audience had the text been accepted for publication in the society’s magazine, Nature Watch. I suppose his message must have been somewhat controversial as his paper was rejected. Apparently the editor of Nature Watch consulted with the leadership of the Bird Group, and in their infinite wisdom, decided against its publication. So Slim offered the manuscript “The Problems of Ornithological Research in South East Asia” to the Malayan Naturalist, a magazine of the Malayan Nature Society - published in Malaysia.

More than ten years down the line, the situation has not changed much in Singapore. We have an abundance of field guides but there are still no good reference books on the local avian fauna. And the majority of local birdwatchers still “twitch” and “list” - see HERE.

The formation of the Bird Ecology Study Group in 2005 was an attempt to fill this void. BESG has become the “research” arm, complementing the “recreation” arm that is the Bird Group.

An appeal: My copy of Slim’s paper carries no reference to the year of publication in the Malayan Naturalist, or the pages. I would appreciate if someone can supply this information. Thanks.

Image of Slim comes from his website.

*Corrected after Slim pointed the error to me. Please see “comment” below for a full explanation and the context of his one-eyed man. My apologies to Slim.

The above paper has just been published. Nature in Singapore is a peer-reviewed, online journal that publishes articles on the flora and fauna (e.g., biology, botany, zoology, ecology and conservation biology) of Singapore. A PDF copy of the paper can be obtained from the website of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore, by clicking HERE

Authored by two Nature Society’s insiders who were part of the early struggle for nature areas, the paper details how the society successfully persuaded government to develop a degraged mangrove area that has become the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Singapore’s one and only ASEAN Heritage Park. The society also managed to dissuade government not to develop a golf course in a forested area within the Peirce Reservoir, a gazetted nature reserve.

To date, these are the only two successes of the society.

Coincidentally, the above publication is somewhat timed with the publication by Singapore’s ISEA of the book “Governance, Politics and the Environment: A Singapore Study” by Dr Maria Francesch-Huidobro of the University of Hongkong (click HERE). This book also looks into the Sungei Buloh success and the Peirce-golf course controversy.

Her article, “Statutory Bodies, Land Use Planning and Conservation in Singapore: Issues and Challenges for Governability” is mostly carried in her book (click HERE). Unfortunately, only an abstract is available in the link.

Maria’s book is based on her PhD research conducted in Singapore some years ago. Her thesis also details the intrigues within the Nature Society.

Since the formation of BESG in 2005, we have posted more than 800 items in this website. Such postings are informal. The almost immediate postings make observations readily available to whoever has access to a computer. However, website postings are unconventional as compared to publications in print media. There is thus a need to formalise observations so as to officially credit contributors. For this to be done, we need to compile and publish observations in print media or even on-line journals.

So far, only a very limited number of postings have been compiled and published in such a way. These are in semi-popular magazines and bulletins rather than peer-reviewed scientific journals. Even then, it takes at least a year for an article to see the light of day and most publications are unwilling to publish more than one article per author or group of authors per issue.

Nature in Singapore, an on-line journal of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore, has shown that an article can be uploaded and published within weeks, rather than years.

The problem with publication is getting contributors to formally write and see their articles through to publication. We are always available to assist in this aspect and if there are others well qualified to take up the task, we can always put you in touch with contributors.

Where contributors have played a major role in contributing observations and images, we try to credit them with authorship rather than shortchanging them with mere acknowledgments. Where necessary, we will credit them with first authorship.

Since Nick Sly of Biological Ramblings, operating from Ithaca, NY, United States, wanted to know “how many of the excellent natural history observations posted here end up published in the scientific literature?” and if we keep a list of publications in the blog, we are appending our list published under the auspices of BESG:

1. Chan, Y. M., Chan, M. & Wee, Y. C. (2008). Aberrant behaviour of a female Great Hornbill and a female Rhinoceros Hornbill. Nature in Singapore 1:31-34.
2. Chan, Y.M., Tsang, K.C. & Wee, Y.C. (2007). Bird watch: A field guide to the passion for birdwatching in Southeast Asia. AsianGeographic 46(7):62-72.
3. Chan, Y.M., Wang, L.K. & Wee, Y.C. (2007). Jerdon’s Baza Aviceda jerdoni in Singapore. BirdingASIA 8:45-48.
4. Cheah, J.W. C. & Ng, Ashley. Breeding ecology of Little Terns (in press).
5. Subaraj, R. (2006). The nuptial flight of termites makes a veritable winged feast. Nature Watch 14(4):10-13.
6. Tang, Philip (2006). Some observations on the breeding of the Malaysian Plover. Nature Watch 14(4):18-21.
7. Wee, Y.C. (2005). Look, what came out of the crow’s nests. Nature Watch 13(1):22-25.
8. Wee, Y.C. (2005). Foraging a closer relationship with Pink-necked Green-pigeons. Nature Watch 13(3):16-22.
9. Wee, Y.C. (2006). Announcement of a new bird group affiliated to the Nature Society (Singapore). BirdingAsia 5:5.
10. Wee, Y.C. (2006). Forty years of birding and ornithological research in Singapore. Birding Asia 5:12-15.
11. Wee, Y.C. (2008). Anting in Singapore birds. Nature in Singapore, 1:23-25.
12. Wee Y.C., Chan Y.M., Chan, M., Sreedharan, G., Tang, P. & Subaraj, R. (2006). Battle for nest-holes in urban Singapore. Nature Watch 14(3):6-10.
13. Wee, Y.C. & Ng, Angie. Painted Jezebel: Journey of the 21 caterpillars (in press).
14. Wee, Y.C. & Subaraj, R. (2005). Of palms and birds. Nature Watch 13(4):7-11.
15. Wee, Y.C. & Subaraj, R. (2006). The Bird Ecology Study Group, Nature Society (Singapore): one year on. BirdingAsia 6:6.
16. Wee, Y.C. & Subaraj, R. (2006) Aberrant behaviour of a pair of female Great and Rhinoceros Hornbills in Singapore. Birding Asia 6:18-22.
17. Wee, Y.C., Tsang, K.C., Chan, Melinda, Chan, Y.M. & Ng, Angie (2008). Oriental Pied Hornbill: two recent failed nesting attempts on mainland Singapore. BirdingAsia 9:72-77.

NOTE: BESG is dedicated to helping contributors to formally publish their observations posted in this website. Formal publications allow the relevant observers to lay claim to their observations. BESG will extend as much assistance as possible for these observations to be published.

Nature in Singapore, an on-line bulletin of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, has just published a review article on anting that is relevant to the local birding scene.

The anting phenomenon was first publicised to the local birding community in October 2005 when BESG posted a note by Kelvin KP Lim who observed it in 1988.

Until then, local birders were totally unaware of anting – use of ants by birds for feather maintenance. Since then, there have been more than a few observations, mainly by mynas.

This article was originally sent to Nature Watch, flagship of the Nature Society (Singapore) for possible publication. However, after nearly three years and having yet to receive any indication from the editor as to whether the document is accepted or rejected, I have totally lost hope of the article ever being published in that magazine.

I reluctantly came to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, the contents could be a tad embarrassing to leaders of the local birding flock.

So on 29th July 2008, I revised the manuscript and submitted it to Nature in Singapore. What a breadth of fresh air! That very same day, I received an acknowledgment note from the editor, followed by a letter saying that the manuscript would be sent for review, and yet another note saying that the article has been accepted for publication. Wow! All within a day!

After languishing for nearly three years in the computer of Nature Watch’s editor, the article at last managed to see light of day in Nature in Singapore after only eight days. I would prefer it to appear within three days but what the hack! Eight days is so much better than three years.

Kudos to Nature in Singapore!

Anyone interested in reading the account can get a PDF copy HERE

Image of Javan Myna by YC, that of ants by Johnny Wee.

The BESG website has passed another milestone – 300,000 visitors. And after nearly three years of posting more than 700 items on bird behaviour.

We initially planned to wait until half a million visitors to make an announcement. But things are changing fast in the local birdwatching scene. There are signs of a possible paradigm shift in the mindset of local birdwatchers. And we are eager to announce this.

The local nature society’s birdwatching community is at last returning to observing bird behaviour - after a decade and a half of obsessive listing. Birding stalwart Lim Kim Chuah recently teamed up with prize-winning photographer Lee Tiah Khee to make a simple post on the behaviour of a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (above). This may be a small start but it is a significant start. We welcome such a major move.

The teaming up with Tiah Khee, a major player in bird photography, also indicates that local birdwatchers are recognising the role digital photographers are playing in gathering information on birds, especially bird behaviour. Initially viewed with some suspicion, they are now accepted as major players.

Photographers are focused in getting more than just portrait shots. They are out in the field most of the time. They are the ones to make sightings well before birdwatchers. Furthermore, they have the images, not just any images but excellent images, a standard that birdwatchers have yet to reach.

BESG has been collaborating with photographers ever since we started three years ago - amateur as well as professional photographers. And believe it or not, most of our contributors have been and are, bird photographers.

So a big THANK YOU to bird photographers and a big WELCOME to birdwatchers who are once again beginning to observe bird behaviour.