Singapore's a tweet place for Polly

Nature Society's first parrot count yields snapshot of over 500 birds from seven species, four of which were introduced to the Republic
Grace Chua Straits Times 17 Apr 11;

This urban jungle of ours is home to three species of the parrot family. There are also the 'foreign talons' flying around, some of which are escapees from pet owners' homes.

The Nature Society recently decided it was time to do a 'parrot count'. And so, on a soggy Saturday evening in January, a handful of the society's members traipsed around known haunts of the colourfully plumed birds, which include cockatoos, parakeets and lorikeets.

Areas covered in this first local parrot count included 'wilder' spots like Changi and Brickland Road in Choa Chu Kang. Urban locales were on the list too.

As it turned out, the most sightings were right in the urban area, next to Buona Vista MRT station.

Mr Yong Ding Li, 27, one of the birders, was assigned to a spot near a shop next to the station. Between 6.45pm and 7.30pm, he saw about 150 parrots from five species.

'When I left my spot, they were still coming here but I was heading to Holland Village for a beer,' said Mr Yong, a junior college lecturer.

How do you avoid double counting?

'We only count those that are in flight,' he explained. 'Once they land, we don't count those.'

He said the numbers are an estimate. The count is not a formal study but a snapshot of the local parrot presence.

Mr Yong has seen parrots in the Kent Ridge and Buona Vista areas since his student days at the National University of Singapore, where he read biology.

At Buona Vista, red-breasted parakeets, which are small green birds pink in the chest, were the most abundant, followed by rainbow lorikeets.

These two species may have escaped from pet owners and started to breed. Neither is native to Singapore, which has three native species: the long-tailed parakeet, the blue-crowned hanging parrot and the forest-dwelling blue-rumped parrot, which is rare.

Others in the parrot family seen here include the tanimbar corella and yellow-crested cockatoo, a number of which were spotted at sites like Changi Village and Eng Neo Avenue.

The Buona Vista area is particularly hospitable to the birds, Mr Yong said, because of its sea almond and African tulip trees, which provide plenty of food for these flower-eating nectar-drinkers.

The Nature Society's count was part of the World Parrot Count organised by the parrot research group of the International Ornithological Union, an international bird-research association.

The world count focuses on introduced parrots that have begun to breed, especially in cities. If the parrots are endangered in their native habitat, these urban numbers could have conservation value.

For instance, yellow-crested cockatoos are critically endangered in their native Sunda and Sulawesi islands in Indonesia and in Timor Leste. But, here, there are viable breeding populations around Eng Neo Avenue and Changi Village.

Veteran wildlife consultant Subaraj Rajathurai explained that some parrots such as the red-breasted parakeet have done so well here they compete with native species like the long-tailed parakeet for food and could even be considered pests.

And blue-crowned hanging parrots, also native here, are starting to spread across the island.

Parrots can be noisy, Mr Subaraj admitted. But as they are popular pets, 'you're going to hear them around anyway'.

In all, 546 parrots of seven species were counted during the Nature Society's parrot count, but they are just a 'snapshot' of what is here, Mr Yong stressed.

caiwj@sph.com.sg

SPOTTED IN SINGAPORE

Blue-crowned hanging parrot

One of Singapore's three native parrot species seen at the Botanic Gardens. The other two are the long-tailed parakeet and the rare forest-dwelling blue-rumped parrot.

Red-breasted parakeet

The most abundantly found species at Buona Vista is believed to have escaped from pet owners and bred in the wild.