By Raghav Narayanswamy
Vice-President, Bird Society of Singapore
October Big Day 2025 happened yesterday, and we’re very grateful to have been able to share it with many of you who joined us at five birding sites across the island! Many others submitted checklists to eBird for the Big Day as well – each and every one of these observations is a valuable contribution to the collection of bird information in eBird.
Why October Big Day?
October Big Day is a global initiative by eBird to encourage birders around the world to submit a checklist from anywhere in the world on one day in October. On October Big Day last year, over 7,800 species from around the world were recorded. That’s around 70% of the world’s bird species on just one day, so all the little checklists really add up!
This year, we wanted to start off our new partnership with eBird by sharing October Big Day with more members of the birding community with a morning walk followed by informative talks on getting started with birding in Singapore.
By the numbers
From our five checklists, this is how the morning looked:
But across the island over the entire day, we had many more checklists submitted to eBird: in total as of 10am on 12 October, 179 checklists with 158 species. Notably, a Barred Eagle-Owl at Dairy Farm Nature Park, the continuing Mangrove Blue Flycatcher at Pasir Ris, and White-faced Plovers at Marina East were some of the highlights.
Highlights
Some of the highlights from our October Big Day 2025 event included early raptor migrants, some less regular passerine migrants, and some scarce resident birds. In Singapore, October 11 is a little early for many of the rarer migrants but we still saw some good birds.
All the eBird checklists from the five sites can be found here:
- Berlayer Creek Boardwalk
- Jurong Lake Gardens
- Pasir Ris Park
- Singapore Botanic Gardens
- Thomson Nature Park
Talks
We concluded the event with a series of talks from our members. We shared more about how eBird works and what it can do for us and for birds, and also introduced some ways to get started with birding here – online resources, identification tips, and the “birding calendar” in Singapore.
We also used this opportunity to share about our new partnership with eBird and what it means for birders in Singapore going forward. As a country partner for eBird Singapore, BirdSoc SG will use the eBird platform to promote better records keeping, expand collaborations with our regional network of eBird partners, and encourage as many people in Singapore to contribute to this global collection of bird records.
eBird is powerful for birders because it helps us plan our birding sessions based on where and when birds are being seen. It has made many of us better birders as we can use it to learn the kinds of birds to expect in different habitats, locations, and seasons of the year. It’s also powerful for conservation, because we can see trends by looking at the numbers and how things are changing over time.
Thanks
Our volunteers made this event possible, from organizing and conducting recces of each of the sites ahead of the day, to leading the walks and setting up the venue at Mandai on the day itself. Thank you to our members and volunteers for all their work in making the day a success!
We’d also like to thank Dr. Andie Ang and her team at Mandai Nature for graciously sponsoring the event and providing venue and logistical support.
Lastly, to all our participants, for waking up early in the morning to bird with us and submit their observations for this global cause – thank you! This event wouldn’t have been possible without your contributions.
Many more birders across Singapore counted their birds and submitted checklists yesterday. Some might have done it without knowing it was October Big Day! All their checklists are a reminder that Singapore always punches above its weight, with lots of eBirders for such a small country.
Looking ahead
A lot more content on using eBird will appear here and on our blog in the months to come. Look out for that!
We also have our Raptor Watch at Henderson Waves coming up very soon, over three Sundays (Oct 26, Nov 2, and Nov 9). Bring a hat, (lots of) water, and meet us on the bridge from 10 am to 12 noon. No registration is required, see you there!
You can also follow our Instagram or Facebook pages where we’ll post updates on all our other events.
From the OBD2025 Organizing Committee and the entire Bird Society of Singapore team, thank you, and see you at Henderson Waves in a couple weeks!
Photo credits:
Non-bird photos: Adrian Silas Tay
Bird photos: Zachary Chong (Green Imperial Pigeon), Jared Tan (Arctic Warbler, Common Kingfisher)