About

“You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world,
but when you’re finished,
you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird…
So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing – that’s what counts.
I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”
~Nobel Laureate Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988)The above quotation has been adopted as the guiding principal of the Bird Ecology Study Group, a second bird group of the Nature Society (Singapore) since September 2005 until December 2011 when it operated as an independent entity. BESGroup is committed to knowing something about that bird, not just its name.

OBJECTIVES:

Our objectives are as follows:

1. To encourage the study of birds and their links with all aspects of the natural environment.
2. To help fill in the information gaps, especially on the breeding behaviour of local birds.
3. To encourage the dissemination of information.
4. To encourage the publication of information collected via the internet, popular magazines and scientific journals.

The group is looking into and documenting all issues of bird ecology, especially the inter-dependency of birds and plants (fruits, nectar, insects, pollination, seed dispersal, nesting sites and materials, etc). We also hope to study breeding behaviour – from nest to eggs to fledglings. Hopefully, a central database, freely available to members, can be set up in due course.

BESG BLOG

Wherever possible, observations will be posted in our blog within a few days to a week or so. This is to ensure that all observations are freely shared within the shortest possible time. So far, we have more than 13,600 posts and a total hits that will touch a million soon. We are posting almost daily now as members as well as non-members are regularly sending in their observations as well as generously sharing their images. All contributors, whether of articles and/or images, are always fully acknowledged. Note that any views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the authors/contributors, and are not endorsed by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM, NUS) or its affiliated institutions. Readers are encouraged to use their discretion before making any decisions or judgements based on the information presented.

HOW TO JOIN

Members interested in working closely with BESGroup or wishing to be kept informed of activities can send a message through this website’s contact form. We run a YahooGroups BESGroup loop that anyone can register with.

ONE LAST WORD…

Although BESGroup makes no claim that its blog posts and information are entirely accurate and are of a rigorous scientific standard, we do strive to ensure that any content that is published is correct, to the best of our knowledge, at time of posting. There will be the occasional error, some more glaring, some more obscure. But thanks to the active contributions of our many readers, writers, and photographers, this blog does have an international following among both amateurs birdwatchers and professional ornithologists alike and it is to these people – all of you – that we appeal to help us make BESG an even better resource than it is. Any views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the authors/contributors, and are not endorsed by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM, NUS) or its affiliated institutions. Readers are encouraged to use their discretion before making any decisions or judgements based on the information presented.

For the advancement of knowledge, and appreciation of our feathered friends. Our appreciation to all.