Nature lovers seek better practices in songbird trade

Some conservationists here are calling for songbird owners and pet shops to obtain their birds sustainably, to ensure the warblers' chirps, twitters and whistles will continue being heard in the wild.

To keep the songbird trade sustainable, owners and pet shops should choose birds bred in captivity over those caught in the wild, and sustainably sourced birds should be labelled with a leg band or ring. Retailers should also keep and show records of where they get their birds from.

These were some recommendations in a recently published paper that profiled 114 songbird owners on their bird-keeping habits and the importance of bird singing competitions. Overseen by Dr Anuj Jain from conservation group BirdLife International, it was published last month in the journal Bird Conservation International.

The pastime of keeping songbirds and putting them up in bird singing competitions is popular in South-east Asia, including Singapore. For decades, songbird owners have put up their caged pets at designated hanging spots and coffee shops, and chatted with fellow hobbyists while the birds try to out-chirp one another.

Though monthly competitions at Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club have been suspended since the Covid-19 pandemic, hobbyists still turn up at its field in Ang Mo Kio every day to train their songbirds.

School bus driver William Chua, 72, has been training his zebra doves there daily for more than 25 years, taking a break only during Chinese New Year.

But demand for songbirds has put wild birds in peril.

For instance, the white-rumped shama - a largely blue bird with a long tail - is becoming a rarer sight in the wild in South-east Asia. One of the four most popular species owned by the 114 hobbyists in the study, it is classified as a nationally threatened species in Singapore.

"We are not dealing with a lot of threatened songbirds in the trade here, unlike (in) Indonesia, but some of them are declining locally," said Dr Jain.

Even the hill mynah and mata puteh are at risk. Some hobbyists also shed light on illicit activities such as poaching of local birds and some shops bringing in wild-caught birds of unknown legality.

The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society was alerted to 75 cases of bird poaching activities from 2019 to last year, said its co-chief executive Anbarasi Boopal. Last month, it was alerted to a bird trap with a fruit bait set up outside a Housing Board unit.

Rock pigeons, spotted doves and the oriental magpie-robin are common victims. "There is a pressing need to improve regulations related to purchase and ownership of birds, home-breeding and online sales," added Ms Anbarasi.

Anyone who trades in birds must obtain a permit. But a couple of songbird hobbyists told The Straits Times they have friends who privately breed songbirds, which they then sell or give away.

Hobbyists may also be reluctant to press for transparency. One of them, who wanted to be known only as Mr Chua, told ST: "I just buy them. How can you ask how (the shops) got the birds? It's so rude."

Between 2019 and last year, the National Parks Board's (NParks) Animal and Veterinary Service conducted around 2,000 inspections on pet shops and farms, and took action in 110 cases for non-compliance with licensing conditions, said NParks group director of wildlife management Adrian Loo.

Dr Jessica Lee, assistant vice-president of conservation and research at Mandai Nature and co-author of the paper, said pet shops should be further regulated to ensure the supply chain is clean. Proper documentation and record-keeping is lacking, she noted.

In a sustainable trading system, birds are obtained from captive-bred sources kept under internationally accepted standards, or are properly harvested from the wild, adhering to quota.

Ideally, conservationists said, hobbyists should pick captive-bred and domesticated species such as canaries and finches.

Canaries have been captive-bred for hundreds of years, and there is "massive domestic stock that can feed demand", Dr Lee explained.

But the Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club's co-founder Robin Chua said: "Serious hobbyists do not keep canaries. Canaries are not Asian. Our hobbyists are more well versed in Asian (birds), and there are no competitions for canaries."

The paper's lead author, wildlife ecologist and researcher Chiok Wen Xuan, said: "There should be more support for sustainable competitions involving captive-bred species, or organise more competitions for finches and canaries."

Dr Loo said of the study: "We will work with the authors on information from the research that can contribute to the design of evidence-based conservation interventions for the songbird trade in Singapore."

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Some common songbirds in Singapore

Swinhoe's white-eye or mata puteh

• One of the few mata puteh species popular as caged birds here.

• Has a thin, high-pitched warbling call, and small flocks often give away their presence with their distinctive calls.

• A pet shop survey in 2015 by wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic revealed that the white-eyes comprised 46 per cent of the birds found in the shops.

• A thrush-like bird with a long, feathered tail.

• Has a rich, resonant song with bubbly phrases, loud whistles and flute-like notes.

• An accomplished mimic, the bird is known to add sounds made by other birds to its repertoire.

• A native and common urban dove known for its soothing, low-pitched coos.

• Not native to Singapore, but escaped pets have led to some populations here.

• Its call comprises rich warbled phrases, high-pitched pips, a long buzzy note, and bright tone.

• The bird is featured on the old Singapore $5 note (bird series).

Source: eBird, Singapore Birds Project