Environment

Meet the 30-year-old going around S'pore collecting dead birds

It's for science.

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February 03, 2025, 01:46 PM

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Have you ever encountered a dead bird on the streets, and wondered what happens next?

Does it get picked up and disposed of by cleaners, or perhaps, eaten by other predators?

Well, for some dead birds, they're brought to the National University of Singapore Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) through a special platform the Dead Bird Hotline.

Photo from Charissa Tapay

"Yes, we'd like to collect the dead bird"

Started by avian researcher David Tan years back, the hotline is currently helmed by LKCNHM's Curator of Birds, Tan Yen Yi, with the help of a few colleagues who chip in to collect the carcasses for research.

The hotline which users can contact through Telegram, WhatsApp and email relies largely on community reports for data collection and bird retrieval.

Since Tan started managing the hotline in 2019, a total of 1,244 reports have been made, shared the 30-year-old.

Photo from Natalie Ong. Statistics from Tan Yen Yi.

"The hotline receives an average of one report every two days now," said Tan, adding that the number of reports have grown in tandem with public outreach efforts.

In 2024, a total of 412 reports of dead birds were made. Of these, 239 birds were collected.

Not all birds are collected due to a myriad of factors, such as time constraints, type of species and the condition of the bird, explained Tan.

"The undertaker of birds"

The high frequency of bird deaths told me that there would be no time before a report came in, but the call still came sooner than expected.

And, like Tan mentioned, it came out of the blue, at 11:21 am on a Saturday in December 2024.

There's no control over when or where a report might occur.

In this particular case, someone had alerted the hotline via Telegram of a dead bird in Outram.

Photo from @deadbirdhotline/Telegram

It's immediately a race against time, and Tan mentioned that she tries to reach the location stated as fast as possible, in fear of the bird being disposed of if too much time were to have lapsed.

In this case, a kind passerby had bagged the bird in a plastic bag.

Photo from Tan Yen Yi

"Of course, we understand that not everyone can do that, but when they are [to bag the bird], that pretty much secures the bird for us," explained Tan.

"If the bird is left alone, chances are, it will be discarded by well-meaning members of the public, or by cleaning workers, or even taken away by animals. All three scenarios have happened before."

While the initiative is mostly under Tan's wing, others from the museum do help out to retrieve the birds from time to time, she explained.

When a colleague and I arrived at the location, Tan was already there handling the dead bird, with her trusty bag of tools in hand, which she carries around with her.

What materials would one require to retrieve a dead bird? Gloves, a ziplock bag, post-it notes and a pen.

Tan notes down basic information such as the name of the bird, cause of death, location, date, and time upon retrieving each bird.

Photo by Charissa Tapay

Effort from the community

Watching Tan's actions curiously from the sidelines was none other than the lady who had bagged the bird, whom we came to know as Cleo.

When asked why she had decided to bag the bird, Cleo said that she was in fact rather "scared" of touching the bird due to her religious beliefs, but did so because she simply "didn't want people to step on the bird".

"As a Buddhist, we tend to hope that the animal or human being, when they die, will go to a better place," shared Cleo, who had moved the bird out of goodwill.

Acknowledging the lady's fear, Tan took the opportunity to elaborate more about the hotline's purpose and addressed her concerns patiently.

Cleo, in return, pointed out where the bird had crashed into, an imprint visible on the clear glass panel.

It's a clear case of what's known as a "window strike".

Photo by Charissa Tapay

"This happens a lot. We find that birds fly into glass a lot because they can't see the glass. [...] Sometimes they even fly in the concrete, because some of these birds fly at night. It doesn't matter what the structure is made of, it will just fly and hit [the concrete], and die," shared Tan.

"It's really an effect of us living in an urban environment."

While most of the window strikes are fatal, there are occasions where the bird survives, albeit with a concussion.

Whilst the concussion "doesn't kill the bird immediately", it may "stumble around, fly somewhere else, and succumb to its injuries later", shared Tan, citing examples of dead birds being found in locations with no clear environmental factors that could have led to its death.

Blood from the bird. Photo by Charissa Tapay

To honour the time and effort of those who alerted them, Tan also makes the effort to list the names of those who report the dead bird.

The hotline after all, is built with the aid of many from the community.

"Most of the people who contact us are very supportive [...] They contact us with good intentions because they want to report a dead bird. I always make it a point to thank them, because they're volunteering the information."

Photo by Charissa Tapay

What happens to the bird after being collected?

Every bird will have to be frozen in a ziplock bag for at least two weeks before it can be processed.

The quarantine process is an important and inexcusable step, because it neutralises pathogens, insects or ectoparasites in the bird.

Photo by Charissa Tapay

Photo by Charissa Tapay

And because Tan is the only one processing the birds, she admits that there can be a backlog.

After the two weeks are up, a standard procedure of measuring the length of the bird's bill, bones, wings will be carried out.

After processing the bird, its internal parts are considered bio-hazardous material, and disposed off according to guidelines set by the National Parks Board (NParks).

Photo by Charissa Tapay

Photo by Charissa Tapay

Beyond birds themselves, the museum also collects nests and eggs from time to time.

These elements are also note-worthy aspects too. Tan elaborated on how the type of plants used to make a nest reflects the current environmental conditions, and how egg shell thickness is a good indicator of reproductive success in birds.

But why collect so many birds, eggs and nests in the first place?

"To us, these birds, they are important for science. There's no other way to [collect] this kind of specimens," said Tan, elaborating that collectors and researchers of the past would hunt for the birds instead.

The birds, after all, are like photographs a snapshot in time explained Tan.

It's a reflection of how life was like for the birds at a specific time, and can give researchers like Tan insights into larger environmental factors at play.

"Every bird is important, and every bird tells a story."

A bird caught in an oil slick

One particular story of a short-tailed shearwater, who was caught in an oil-slick, remains etched at the back of her mind.

In this case, the pelagic bird which is often found far out at sea, was instead spotted near the shore of East Coast Park.

"Usually, when you see one near Singapore, there's [likely] something wrong with the bird," said Tan, adding that the bird was conveyed to the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) by members of the public for help, but it unfortunately did not survive.

As it turned out, its wings were slicked with oil presumably from an oil spill offshore causing its feathers to erode.

There would have been no way for it to fly.

Photo by Charissa Tapay

However, the shearwater was "very skinny", had little muscle, and shrunken internal organs, added Tan.

"For a bird that's usually well-fed, it must have been starving for weeks, just drifting and starving with all the food swimming underneath."

Photo by Charissa Tapay     

"One bird at a time"

To Tan, the hotline also carries a larger purpose that extends beyond our shores — she hopes to grow the island's bird collection into a "regional repository".

Photo from Charissa Tapay

Photo from Charissa Tapay

One key location Tan believes is a "massively under-reported area" in Singapore is none other than the Central Business District (CBD) area.

The CBD area has seen a variety of interesting birds exploring the concrete jungle in recent years.

The tall buildings also bring about another unique landscape for the birds to navigate, as their glass windows pose a hazard to these birds.

And while the area might see pretty high human traffic, there are seldom any reports to the hotline despite unique sightings of birds such as the greater painted snipe and the rare slaty-legged crake.

Hence, Tan hopes that public awareness of the hotline improves locally. 

This way, the hotline can "effectively engage the residents of Singapore to contribute to the documentation of our natural heritage, one bird at a time," she added.

Staying grounded

There must be a certain emotional toll that comes with the job, with the repeated collection of the dead birds.

After all, Tan works with more dead animals than she does with those alive.

Answering in a cool and collected manner, Tan describes the process as one that is "always bittersweet".

"That bitter part has never gone away, because it's always sad to see birds die because of our actions. [...] Part of it, of course, is emotional," she acknowledges.

Photo from Charissa Tapay

    "But this is the best way I know how to honour the animal. These birds, when you prepare and store them, probably can last hundreds of years. Maybe certain birds will go extinct. But if we collect [them] today, they will be represented today in our day in history. That's something that's irreplaceable.

    "This is my major curatorial mission, and hopefully, for a long time."

    Dead Bird Hotline

    WhatsApp: +65 8449 5023

    Telegram: @deadbirdhotline

    Email: [email protected]

    Information to include:

    • Date and time of find
    • Location (GPS coordinates if possible)
    • Photos for species identification purposes

      Top image from @deadbirdhotline/Telegram and Charissa Tapay

      Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram to get the latest updates.

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