Dr Wee played a significant role as a green advocate in Singapore through his extensive involvement in various organizations and committees: as Secretary and Chairman for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), and with the Nature Society (Singapore) as founding President (1978-1995). He has also served in the Nature Reserve Board (1987-1989), Nature Reserves Committee (1990-1996), National Council on the Environment/Singapore Environment Council (1992-1996), Work-Group on Nature Conservation (1992) and Inter-Varsity Council on the Environment (1995-1997). He is Patron of the Singapore Gardening Society and was appointed Honorary Museum Associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) in 2012. In 2005, Dr Wee started the Bird Ecology Study Group. With more than 6,000 entries, the website has become a valuable resource consulted by students, birdwatchers and researchers locally and internationally. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not represent those of LKCNHM, the National University of Singapore or its affiliated institutions.
3 Responses
I have a pair of waterhens resident in my garden. They come for food every morning, and I can confirm that they do have a wider range of vocalisations than the ruak-ruak recorded in the literature. The ruak-ruak call seems to be triggered by aggression. When they are calling to each other, the notes are more varied, and include the cooing sound.
The Chinese name of the White-breasted Waterhen is 苦恶鸟 (kǔ-è bird). I think the 苦恶 (kǔ-è) part reflects the cooing sound. If you listen to the cooing, it sounds like coo-er coo-er.
Hi Greg,
The word 恶 is also pronounced as wu4 (in Han Yu Pin Yin). Whether it sounded like “ku-e” or “ku-wu” depended on how one heard the call. One Chinese web-site described the sound as “ku-u” (http://www.newsmth.net/bbsanc.php?path=%2Fgroups%2Fsci.faq%2FWildLife%2Fflx%2Fbird1%2FM.1101807323.V0) while another one had it as “kue” (http://www.cngba.com/thread-17110653-1-1.html).
I have listened to all the sound samples of white-breasted waterhen in http://www.xeno-canto.org/asia but didn’t hear any ku-e or ku-wu, I only heard 苦哇 (ku-wa). By the way this bird is called 苦哇鸟 by the Northern Chinese.