As soon as the Bird Ecology Study Group (BESG) was accepted as an activity group of the Nature Society (Singapore) in 2005, a weblog on bird behaviour was created (besgroup.org). From the start the BESG worked closely with photographers. Working with them was truly citizen science in action. Skilled in their craft but limited in knowledge of bird behaviour, they were fast learners. Along the way many became proficient in not only looking out for bird behaviours but in bird identification as well.
Articles on bird behaviour poured in. One of the earliest contributor was nature photographer Dr. Leong Tzi Ming. As far as I am aware, he was the earliest Singaporean to capture on video birds indulging in anting https://besgroup.org/2015/04/07/white-crested-laughingthrush-anting/. This was about 17 years after Kelvin Lim observed such behaviour that no local birdwatchers could interpret then https://besgroup.org/2015/04/07/white-crested-laughingthrush-anting/.
Then there was Lena Chow who recorded a video of a pair of Grey Crowned Crane displaying a joyous dance, most probably a courtship dance https://besgroup.org/2014/08/11/grey-crowned-crane-courtship-dance/. Should a birdwatcher be there, he or she would also enjoy the dance. But without a camera it would be impossible to share dance with others.
Malaysian birder-photographer Dato’ Dr. Amar-Singh HSS and Datin Dr. Swee-Im Lim are birdwatchers extraordinaire https://besgroup.org/2010/03/11/dato-dr-amar-singh-hss-birdwatcher-extraordinarie/. Amar has been a supporter of BESG since 2010 and has since contributed numerous items of bird behaviour. One of his early contributions was his photo of the Olive-backed Sunbird. Local birdwatchers who are also photographers may capture this sunbird perching on a branch exhibiting its colourful plumage. But not Amar-Singh. He photographed the sunbird when it flaps its wings exposing its pair of bright yellow pectoral tufts that are usually not seen when this sunbird has its wings folded https://besgroup.org/2019/01/11/olive-backed-sunbird-cinnyris-jugularis-flammaxillaris-pectoral-tuft/. Now how many of our birdwatchers or photographers have seen this impressive pair of yellow tufts?
Birdwatcher-cum-photographer K.C. Tsang managed to photograph as well as to video an adult Olive-backed Sunbird picking up a white faecal sac of a chick from its anal opening for disposal elsewhere. Play the video
https://besgroup.org/2017/03/21/olive-backed-sunbird-feeding-chicks-and-removing-faecal-sac/ to view the adult feeding the first chick, ignoring the second, to wait for the first to thrust its rear where a blob of white waste suddenly appears. The adult then picked up the waste and flew off to dispose it. Now how many local birdwatchers have witnessed such behaviour, let alone photograph or even video this behaviour?
Melinda and Chan Yoke Meng, a pair of photographers whose interests in birds are more than just photographing them https://besgroup.org/2013/10/01/chan-yoke-meng-chasing-birds-and-collecting-stamps/.
In June 2015 Melinda and Chan Yoke Meng collected a few 5.5×3 cm pellets “vomited” out by Black-shouldered Kites after they ate their prey. This is a common behaviour of birds getting rid of indigestible components of food they swallow like hairs and bones https://besgroup.org/2015/06/06/pellets-from-tuas-10-black-shouldered-kites-prey-and-bone-fragments-in-the-pellets/.
The pellets were “processed” and the delicate tiny bones were patiently removed to reveal that the bones possibly belong to a mouse. Has any local birdwatcher ever dissect pellets cast out by whatever species of birds, let alone seek out the tiny bones inside? Definitely not.
The pair also collected a pellet, also from Tuas, but this time coming from a Common Barn Owl. This pellet included a small skull that probably also belonged to a rodent https://besgroup.org/2015/02/27/pellets-from-tuas-3-its-a-mouse/.
The BESG website (www.besgroup.org) currently has an archive of over 4,000 posts on the many and varied aspects of bird behaviour as well as the behaviours of butterflies, dragonflies, bats, palm civet, etc. The weblog has proven to be very popular, attracting visitors from all over the world.
In conclusion, we have proven that it is possible to look at birds and at the same time study their behaviour. However, those who look at birds but are blind to their behaviour must have some eye problems.
