• This year’s 35th Singapore Bird Race was supported by Mapletree Investments under its key corporate social responsibility pillar of support for the environment
• More than 160 species of birds were spotted by the 43 teams across four categories

Singapore, 19 November 2019 – Mapletree Investments (“Mapletree” or “the Group”) and the Nature Society (Singapore) are pleased to announce that the 35th Singapore Bird Race held on 16 and 17 November saw a record turnout of more than 130 participants including over 60 students from 10 schools. The participants included five teams in the Birdwatcher–Marathon category, 10 teams in Birdwatcher–Sprint category, 11 teams in the Photographer category, as well as 17 school teams represented by eight Primary and nine Secondary School teams. 

This year’s race which was sponsored and hosted by Mapletree, and organised by Nature Society (Singapore) with supporting partner Birdlife International, was flagged off from the Group’s flagship development, Mapletree Business City (MBC). Most teams chose to concentrate their race around the parks and nature reserves closest to MBC to spot as many species of wild birds as they can within the time duration in their race category.

Mr Edmund Cheng, Mapletree Chairman, said, “We are happy to see such a good turnout especially in the School category. By stepping out of the classrooms into nature, we hope to promote greater awareness of environmental issues to the younger generation. This is the first time that the Singapore Bird Race is launched from MBC. We are excited to know that MBC is like an axis strategically located near Kent Ridge Park, Labrador Park, and the Southern Ridges.”

Among the interesting species reported by the teams include the Rufous Woodpecker which was fortuitously spotted at MBC just after the start of the Race as well as the critically endangered Straw-headed Bulbul, which was spotted and photographed by a few teams in the Gillman Barracks area, Kranji Marshes, Neo Tiew Woods and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. The rare Grey-headed Lapwing was spotted at Turut Track while the Jambu Fruit Dove, Greater Green Leafbird and Siberian Thrush were spotted at Dairy Farm Nature Park.

At the end of the race, the teams gathered at MBC for a Prize Presentation Ceremony graced by Mr Cheng as Guest-of-Honour and attended by guests, Dr Shawn Lum, President of the Nature Society (Singapore), Mr Vinayagan Dharmarajah, Regional Director for BirdLife International, and Mr Kenneth Er, Chief Executive Officer, National Parks Board, who also participated in the race.

Team Yumin Champs One from Yumin Primary School was the winning team in the Primary School sub-category, recording a total of 20 bird species. Team Goated-Spotters from Dunman Secondary School emerged victorious in the Secondary School group with 35 species spotted thus winning the Challenge Shield as the overall Schools Champion. Under the Photographer’s category, team Where Where Where? successfully defended their title after capturing photos of 61 species over the 4.5-hour period. In the categories for experienced birdwatchers, team Weekend Birders won the 20-hour Marathon Race as the only team which crossed the hundred-mark, by spotting 121 species. In the Sprint (5-hour) category, the experienced Team Darters triumphed with 73 species spotted. 

Winning the race was not an easy feat as it requires good spotting skill and excellent knowledge about the birds and to some extent, an element of luck. The Goated-Spotters, first-time participants from Dunman Secondary, credited their win to the school’s ‘Sensory Skills Programme’ (directly linked to Nature Society (Singapore)’s ‘Every Singaporean A Naturalist’ Programme) which helped to train their listening and observational skills as well as the numerous training sessions where they spotted birds around the school and at Labrador Park and Pasir Ris Park.

Luke Lim from Yumin Champs One team shared that, “We prepared for the race by listening to bird sounds on the xeno-canto website. We also took turns to take on different roles to spot the birds through the binoculars and record the sightings onto the logsheet.”

For seasoned Photographer team, Where Where Where?, made up of Goh Cheng Teng and Lester Tan, the third-time partners agreed that the timed Race is also a true test of the photographer’s skills. Both added that, “We usually only have a few seconds to spot the birds and capture their fast movements on our cameras. I think the combination of good time management skills and being familiar with the different habitats of the birds as well as the key birding spots gave us the edge over the rest of the teams.”

Supporting the Singapore Bird Race is aligned to two of Mapletree’s key Corporate Social Responsibility pillars of environment and education. It was also a continuation of the partnership between Mapletree, the Nature Society (Singapore) and BirdLife International, which started with the “Straw-headed Bulbul Conservation Planning” Workshop held at MBC in May 2019 as well as the co-organisation of the “Singapore Birds on the Brink” Photo Exhibition at VivoCity in August 2019.

Mr Lim Kim Chuah, Chairman of the Nature Society (Singapore) Bird Group said, “We are very thankful to Mapletree for sponsoring this year’s bird race. The sponsorship allowed us to enable more school teams to participate. We need to reach out to more schools and encourage more students to take an interest in nature and our biodiversity.”

The Singapore Bird Race is one of the most established and longest-running citizen science events organised by the Nature Society (Singapore). The first ever bird race was organised in 1984 and it has been organised every subsequent year since. The Race is effectively a community-based census of the diversity of birds in Singapore as it contributes knowledge on the distribution and status of birds in Singapore based on the data submitted by participants. Recognising that Singapore supports more than 400 species of wild birds in a diverse assemblage of habitats, a key objective of the Race is also to promote the appreciation of birds and biodiversity in general to the public. Moreover, it brings people from different walks of life together, and get them to go outdoors to look at birds and nature.

Note to Editor:

Winners of 35th Singapore Bird Race 

Selected photos from the 35th Singapore Bird Race and the Prize Presentation Ceremony as below (high-res here)

Photo credit: Mapletree Investments and Nature Society (Singapore)

Teams competing in the Birdwatcher-Sprint and Photographer categories were flagged off from Mapletree Business City for the 35th Singapore Bird Race.

Each School team was guided by an experienced Race Volunteer assigned by Nature Society (Singapore), organiser of the Singapore Bird Race, to help them spot and identify the bird species.

Rufous Woodpecker at MBC, taken by Lester Tan, Champion of the Photographer category

Team Goated-Spotters from Dunman Secondary School receiving the Challenge Shield from Guest-of-Honour, Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman of Mapletree, by topping the Schools category