SINGAPORE - The 40th Singapore Bird Race, sponsored by Mapletree Investments (“Mapletree” or “the Group”) and jointly organised by the Nature Society Singapore and BirdLife International with support from the National Parks Board, revisits migratory species this year with a particular focus on landbirds, in line with this year’s Convention on Migratory Species’ theme ‘Birds and Insects’. This year’s race brought together more than 400 participants in seven categories, the largest ever number for any Singapore Bird Race.

This 40th Singapore Bird Race celebrates our internationally shared migratory landbirds, headlined by three representative species, the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, the Blue-winged Pitta and the Black-backed Dwarf Kingfisher. The handsome Yellow-rumped Flycatcher visits from northeast Asia, while the multi-hued pitta and kingfisher come from continental Southeast Asia. These spectacular species leave their breeding grounds for Southeast Asia around September to November each year, seeking refuge in Singapore’s parks and nature reserves. Singapore’s green spaces provide safe sanctuaries for the birds to refuel and prepare themselves for the return migration.  

Held on 9 and 10 November, this year’s race saw a continued growth in participation from schools under the Nature Society’s ‘Every Singaporean a Naturalist’ initiative, bringing in more than 10 teams from 12 schools. In addition, the race saw good participation in the Youth category, with 17 teams, demonstrating a growing interest in nature and biodiversity from young people. Continuing over the past three years since the pandemic is the sustained use of technology via eBird, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s (a part of Cornell University) increasingly popular and well-regarded web-based platform for birdwatchers, enabling users to submit observations and photographs of birds digitally. 

Mr. Edmund Cheng, Chairman, Mapletree, shared, "The Singapore Bird Race showcases the importance and allure of nature to all Singaporeans. I am greatly encouraged to see a strong interest in this year’s event. We hope more people will be drawn to appreciate the nature around us. We will continue to work alongside our partners and community to enrich Singapore through meaningful environmental conservation initiatives such as providing Mapletree Business City (MBC) as the gateway to birdwatching in the Southern Corridor.” 

The Prize Presentation Ceremony was held at MBC graced by Mr. Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development, who also took part in the Race, followed by a talk on migratory bird species in the region and potential additions to Singapore’s list by Dr. Yong Ding Li from BirdLife International. Key guests included Ms. Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Manpower, Mr. Baey Yam Keng, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment and Ministry of Transport, Mr. Edmund Cheng, Mr. Wan Kwong Weng, Group Chief Corporate Officer for Mapletree, Ms. Hwang Yu-Ning, Chief Executive Officer of the National Parks Board, Dr. Yeo Seng Beng, President of the Nature Society Singapore, and Mr. Vinayagan Dharmarajah, Regional Director for BirdLife International. A mini-fair of booths representing the different sponsors and supporting organisations offered a microcosm of the nature and conservation community in Singapore. 

In the gruelling Marathon Race category, team Singapore Stringers beat seven other teams in the 24-hour challenge by spotting a total of 122 species while team Great Argus emerged at the top in the Sprint (5-hour) category with 67 species spotted. Team SSKY Birders was the winning team in the Family Category with a total of 74 species spotted. 

Despite the rainy weather during the Bird Race, members of marathon team, the ‘Singapore Stringers’, Max Khoo, Bryan Lim and Dillen Ng shared, “We did a lot of planning prior to the race and were practising for the last three or four months. You can plan for the race, but the weather can derail all your plans. It’s about how you adapt on the fly.”

Supporting the Singapore Bird Race is aligned with two of Mapletree’s key Corporate Social Responsibility pillars - environment and education. It is 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 Mapletree Business City in May 2019 and the sustained sponsorship of the Singapore Bird Race for the past five consecutive years.

Ms. Veronica Foo, Chairperson of the Nature Society Singapore Bird Group said, “We are heartened by the interest shown in birds from all quarters of Singapore’s society from the sheer number of participants who signed up for the event, with an increase of more than 10% as compared to 2023. We are grateful to Mapletree for their support in making the 40th anniversary of the Singapore Bird Race a resounding success.” Mr. Vinayagan Dharmarajah, Regional Director of BirdLife International noted, “Birds play an important role in the world, both in their contribution to the ecological wellbeing of our biosphere, as well as the mental wellbeing of people who value their freedom as they fly across long distances overland and seas. The courage displayed by these migratory birds are an inspiration to many who also admire their beauty, and the Race allows us to celebrate and cherish them.”

“The Singapore Bird Race has its origins in 1984 as a humble NSS event which attracted a small but enthusiastic number of people from the birdwatching community. The annual Singapore Bird Race continues to expand in size, with 2024 being another record year. The NSS is very grateful for the support of many organisations in helping preserve and highlight this traditional event in the birding calendar of NSS and Singapore. This year’s 40th Singapore Bird Race is especially momentous as 2024 also marks the 70th anniversary of the Nature Society Singapore.” noted Dr. Yeo Seng Beng, President of the Nature Society Singapore.

The Singapore Bird Race is the longest-running nature appreciation and citizen science initiative in Singapore and has been organised by the Nature Society Singapore for four decades. Recognising that Singapore has more than 400 species of wild birds in a diverse landscape of forests, parks and wetlands, a key objective of the race is to promote the appreciation of birds and biodiversity in general to the public, while enabling citizen scientists to contribute to bird monitoring and conservation. 

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Mr. Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development (middle) graced the event as Guest of Honour, alongside Mr Edmund Cheng, Mapletree Chairman (fourth from left), and other esteemed guests (left to right) Mr. Baey Yam Keng, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment and Ministry of Transport; Ms. Veronica Foo, Chairperson of the NSS Bird Group; Mr. Vinayagan Dharmarajah, Regional Director for BirdLife International; Ms. Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Manpower; Ms. Hwang Yu-Ning, CEO of the National Parks Board; Mr. Wan Kwong Weng, Group Chief Corporate Officer, Mapletree; and Dr Yeo Seng Beng, President of the NSS.

Guests and participants at the 40th Singapore Bird Race prize presentation ceremony at Mapletree Business City on 10 November 2024.

A team spotting and recording birds during the race.

Annex: Winners of 40^th Singapore Bird Race