WEBVTT - My Green Gig: Life as a bird conservationist 0:00:00.310 --> 0:00:02.630 You're listening to a CNA podcast. 0:00:05.429 --> 0:00:09.260 Welcome back to the Climate Conversations. I'm Kong man. But 0:00:09.270 --> 0:00:12.050 some of you may know me better as bio MJ. 0:00:12.420 --> 0:00:15.340 I was formerly a science teacher and now I host 0:00:15.350 --> 0:00:18.209 a science and environment channel on social media called Just 0:00:18.219 --> 0:00:21.420 Keep Thinking. We're kicking off with a new limited series 0:00:21.430 --> 0:00:25.309 that I'm guest hosting called My Green Gig. I'll speak 0:00:25.319 --> 0:00:27.540 to people who are in some unconventional job, 0:00:27.639 --> 0:00:31.260 specifically green jobs and find out what they do at 0:00:31.270 --> 0:00:35.168 work today. I'm going to have a conversation about birds 0:00:35.180 --> 0:00:38.180 with a passionate birder, which I just realized is a 0:00:38.189 --> 0:00:42.049 legit word to describe someone who observes birds as a hobby. 0:00:42.220 --> 0:00:45.700 He is moving Nian San Guran, a phd student researching 0:00:45.709 --> 0:00:48.610 on bird conservation at N US and he is also 0:00:48.619 --> 0:00:49.770 a friend of mine. 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.959 Hello, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for having 0:00:53.970 --> 0:00:56.380 me here. It's been a while and I love your shirt. 0:00:56.389 --> 0:00:59.020 He's on theme today guys. Yeah, I'm just wearing my 0:00:59.029 --> 0:01:01.529 bird shirt. So it's got a bunch of birds on 0:01:01.540 --> 0:01:05.650 it along with like monster and pineapples, pineapples. Ok. So 0:01:05.660 --> 0:01:08.839 I must confess when you first told me that you 0:01:08.849 --> 0:01:10.309 wanted to study birds. I was like 0:01:10.989 --> 0:01:14.260 birds because you did your final year project in university 0:01:14.269 --> 0:01:18.800 on freshwater fish, which is very different from a flying bird, right? So, 0:01:18.809 --> 0:01:22.480 what triggered your interest in our fey friends? Ok. You know, 0:01:22.489 --> 0:01:24.750 this is actually a question I get asked a lot. So, uh, 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:26.760 first of all, hi, everyone. My name is Movin man. 0:01:26.930 --> 0:01:28.849 Already introduced me and, and the thing is we actually 0:01:28.860 --> 0:01:30.260 went to school together. So we 0:01:30.500 --> 0:01:32.768 did our undergrads together. We were in laps. So we just, 0:01:33.900 --> 0:01:38.459 we just like good times throw back. But anyway, um yeah, 0:01:38.470 --> 0:01:42.709 so I came into university being very passionate about fish, 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:44.830 I guess fresh water fish because I kept fresh water fish. 0:01:44.839 --> 0:01:45.509 I like 0:01:45.595 --> 0:01:48.745 going and scooping uh like looking at fish wherever I go. 0:01:48.824 --> 0:01:52.514 But I've always been really interested in birds because I 0:01:52.525 --> 0:01:55.355 used to travel with my family and I'm super into 0:01:55.364 --> 0:01:58.044 nature and the most obvious thing that you get to 0:01:58.055 --> 0:02:00.625 see often times when you are in these places 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.889 are birds, basically because they're always flying around. And then 0:02:03.900 --> 0:02:05.559 it becomes a question of like, I want to know 0:02:05.569 --> 0:02:07.529 what that species is because I want to know what 0:02:07.540 --> 0:02:10.478 I'm looking at. It's like my neurotic self just being like, 0:02:10.490 --> 0:02:12.740 I want to categorize. I want to know what that 0:02:12.750 --> 0:02:15.220 thing is. And with birds, you get a lot of references, 0:02:15.229 --> 0:02:16.570 like you have a lot of field guides and things 0:02:16.580 --> 0:02:18.899 like that to help you identify the birds, not so 0:02:18.910 --> 0:02:24.769 much with other species. Actually, I think, and things like frogs, lizards, mammals, 0:02:24.779 --> 0:02:26.448 they are all so much harder to look at and 0:02:26.460 --> 0:02:28.330 observe also because they are so much rarer. They are 0:02:28.339 --> 0:02:29.750 often much shyer as well. 0:02:30.070 --> 0:02:31.698 So that's kind of where that thing started. So I 0:02:31.710 --> 0:02:35.440 was already a birdwatcher back in the university days. But 0:02:35.449 --> 0:02:38.229 after that, I wanted to go into grad school and 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.419 I wanted to do stuff that was not. So because 0:02:40.429 --> 0:02:42.880 remember we did so much ecology work when we were 0:02:42.889 --> 0:02:44.960 in undergrad. So we were going out to the field, 0:02:44.970 --> 0:02:46.940 getting the data in the site and then coming back, 0:02:48.869 --> 0:02:51.990 I know, I know exactly. So I decided, you know what, 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:54.228 why not? I love being stuck with my laptop. So 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:55.220 I want to do that even more. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.918 So I'm going to go and learn genetics, right? I 0:02:57.929 --> 0:02:59.399 just want to sit in front of my computer and 0:02:59.410 --> 0:03:02.970 code it. So like in N us, the best genetics 0:03:02.979 --> 0:03:05.269 professor happens to be a bird guy, right? So it 0:03:05.279 --> 0:03:06.728 kind of made sense. I mean, I really like birds 0:03:06.740 --> 0:03:08.690 and I wanted to get like a new skill set 0:03:08.699 --> 0:03:11.119 under my belt. And so it kind of made sense 0:03:11.130 --> 0:03:13.360 to try and I managed to get a position in 0:03:13.369 --> 0:03:15.970 the university for the phd. And then here I am, 0:03:15.979 --> 0:03:19.089 I guess studying birds. I did not know this story, 0:03:19.169 --> 0:03:20.429 but was there a point 0:03:20.669 --> 0:03:23.369 in your life? Where you realize that, hey, I want 0:03:23.380 --> 0:03:25.860 to become a bird conservationist and I'm going to make 0:03:25.869 --> 0:03:28.160 this my career. I think it's never really been a 0:03:28.169 --> 0:03:31.369 single moment. It's been more of like a process, I think. So. 0:03:31.380 --> 0:03:34.130 Right after undergrad, I was consulting for a while. I 0:03:34.139 --> 0:03:37.360 went back to do research assistant. Then I worked for 0:03:37.369 --> 0:03:39.740 in conservation in the IUCN for a little bit. So 0:03:39.750 --> 0:03:41.928 like this thing called the Asian Species Action Partnership for 0:03:41.940 --> 0:03:44.139 a little while. And it was a very eye-opening experience 0:03:44.149 --> 0:03:45.699 because it really let me see how, 0:03:46.089 --> 0:03:48.570 what conservation planning looks like. So for those of you 0:03:48.580 --> 0:03:50.979 who don't know the IUCN is the International Union for 0:03:50.990 --> 0:03:53.169 the Conservation of Nature. And it kind of like one 0:03:53.179 --> 0:03:56.080 of the major groups that spearheads conservation throughout the world 0:03:56.089 --> 0:03:58.550 and they have a whole bunch of different subgroups and 0:03:58.559 --> 0:04:00.779 committees that do a lot of this conservation planning and 0:04:00.789 --> 0:04:04.330 then translate these plans into actions on the ground, right? 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:05.139 So 0:04:05.375 --> 0:04:07.615 when I was there, I realized I like conservation action, 0:04:07.625 --> 0:04:09.985 but I'm also very interested in this whole conservation planning 0:04:09.994 --> 0:04:12.803 aspect of it, right? Like the big picture stuff, what 0:04:12.815 --> 0:04:14.755 are the big things we need to put in place 0:04:14.764 --> 0:04:19.094 in order to safeguard all of nature before? Exactly. Exactly. 0:04:19.105 --> 0:04:20.765 I mean, like with, with most things, right? But I 0:04:20.774 --> 0:04:23.255 think what we fail to realize what I failed to 0:04:23.265 --> 0:04:24.605 realize with conservation is that 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:26.928 not only do you need to know your stuff. Not 0:04:26.940 --> 0:04:30.529 only do you need to know things about like animals, plants, nature, 0:04:30.540 --> 0:04:33.149 how your organism behaves, but it's also kind of like 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.678 really a study of people as well because people are 0:04:35.690 --> 0:04:37.730 the ones who are putting these things in danger. But 0:04:37.738 --> 0:04:40.459 at the same time, people are the ones saving these 0:04:40.470 --> 0:04:43.790 things as well. So convincing people to change the way 0:04:43.799 --> 0:04:46.510 that they view certain things can always be beneficial. So 0:04:46.519 --> 0:04:48.779 if people are always hunting a certain species, that means 0:04:48.790 --> 0:04:50.988 they are very good at finding that bird. For instance, 0:04:51.299 --> 0:04:53.868 if they realize that, hey, bird watchers would pay a 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.119 fair bit of money to come and see this bird 0:04:56.130 --> 0:04:57.669 and I can show them this bird because I'm so 0:04:57.678 --> 0:05:00.769 good at finding it. Then instead of selling the bird 0:05:00.779 --> 0:05:02.570 one time as a dead animal, right? You can keep 0:05:02.579 --> 0:05:06.558 selling the same bird multiple times to people, right? So 0:05:06.570 --> 0:05:08.329 you change the way that they think about 0:05:08.619 --> 0:05:10.959 the resource that they have. And so that was kind 0:05:10.970 --> 0:05:13.670 of like the interesting thing for me, right? Like how 0:05:13.678 --> 0:05:16.589 do we change mindsets and how do we reorientate that 0:05:16.928 --> 0:05:19.690 in a way that is like, exactly. Yeah. So a 0:05:19.700 --> 0:05:23.339 lot of it is really about creative problem solving almost. 0:05:23.350 --> 0:05:26.709 And that aspect of conservation was really what excites me 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.488 about it, which is that it's not just about the 0:05:29.500 --> 0:05:31.950 nerdy parts of it like, I mean, which we both love, right? 0:05:31.959 --> 0:05:34.349 Like being nerds is like in our blood, we love it. 0:05:34.488 --> 0:05:34.808 But 0:05:34.875 --> 0:05:37.234 at the same time, there's also this whole people aspect 0:05:37.244 --> 0:05:38.695 to it, which I'm sure as extroverts we can both 0:05:38.704 --> 0:05:41.125 kind of relate to, right? Which is the meeting, engaging 0:05:41.135 --> 0:05:43.803 with people and also getting to listen to people, find 0:05:43.815 --> 0:05:46.575 out more about people and that's kind of been the 0:05:46.584 --> 0:05:50.015 driving force behind this whole thing. Yeah, you get inspired 0:05:50.024 --> 0:05:52.915 and you inspire others as well, I mean, you hope, right? 0:05:52.924 --> 0:05:55.595 And you hope that you can make a change that way. 0:05:55.605 --> 0:05:57.605 So then after that, I realized like, if I want 0:05:57.613 --> 0:06:00.904 to be involved in conservation planning, it's either 15 years 0:06:00.915 --> 0:06:01.065 of 0:06:01.130 --> 0:06:04.239 experience or getting a phd. And for once getting a 0:06:04.250 --> 0:06:07.399 phd is the quicker option, which is very rarely is 0:06:07.428 --> 0:06:10.469 the case. So and then I was like, ok, back 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.359 to grad school here, I am, I guess and you know, 0:06:13.369 --> 0:06:15.859 just like every job, you know, there's always the good 0:06:15.869 --> 0:06:18.659 and not so good parts to it, right? What's the 0:06:18.670 --> 0:06:21.769 most rewarding part of the work that you do? You know, 0:06:21.779 --> 0:06:23.979 I have a moment to tell you. OK, so basically 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.309 share it with me. OK. So basically part of, 0:06:27.385 --> 0:06:28.875 of my work for phd involves like a lot of 0:06:28.885 --> 0:06:31.114 field work, which means I go out to get DNA 0:06:31.125 --> 0:06:33.415 from birds. Rest assured guys, we don't hurt the birds 0:06:33.424 --> 0:06:35.674 at all. It's just like a drop of blood, birds 0:06:35.684 --> 0:06:39.065 are released completely unharmed. And so what I study is 0:06:39.075 --> 0:06:42.755 understanding why species are distributed the way they are in 0:06:42.765 --> 0:06:44.815 the region, right? So my work is really centered in 0:06:44.825 --> 0:06:47.613 Southeast Asia. I do a lot of genetic work to, 0:06:47.625 --> 0:06:50.135 to study that. So I'm, I'm studying how many species 0:06:50.144 --> 0:06:52.394 we have in the region. What are the distributions of 0:06:52.404 --> 0:06:53.575 these species and things like that? 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.979 And to learn the distributions of these species and to 0:06:56.988 --> 0:06:59.450 get these samples, the field will kick me some pretty 0:06:59.459 --> 0:07:02.809 amazing places. And there's this place that we recently visited 0:07:02.820 --> 0:07:05.850 in the Philippines in the southwest, in the island of 0:07:05.859 --> 0:07:09.809 Mindanao called this place called Lake. And it's gorgeous. So 0:07:09.820 --> 0:07:11.450 I think one of the, one of the best things 0:07:11.459 --> 0:07:13.470 about the job is like the places it takes me, 0:07:13.500 --> 0:07:17.029 we were sitting at this ridge just overlooking. So we 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.029 kept at this ridge just overlooking this beautiful crystal clear 0:07:20.059 --> 0:07:21.890 blue lake and it was 0:07:22.269 --> 0:07:24.450 gorgeous and it was one of those moments where you 0:07:24.459 --> 0:07:26.799 look down and you're like, you know what life is? Good. 0:07:26.809 --> 0:07:30.109 Life is pretty good. PD is fine. Yeah, of course. 0:07:30.119 --> 0:07:32.540 Ph isn't always easy. There's always a lot of challenges 0:07:32.549 --> 0:07:34.230 and I'm sure any phd student can tell you that. 0:07:34.239 --> 0:07:36.489 But it's like moments like that when you're like, you 0:07:36.500 --> 0:07:38.450 know what, when you feel super centered and you're looking 0:07:38.459 --> 0:07:39.320 out and you see 0:07:40.260 --> 0:07:42.220 the world and you look at nature and you're kind 0:07:42.230 --> 0:07:45.480 of like, yeah, this is what I'm doing this for. 0:07:45.489 --> 0:07:48.779 Oh my God. This sounds amazing. Speaking about observing birds, 0:07:48.790 --> 0:07:52.540 we do have a pretty big and huge birding community 0:07:52.549 --> 0:07:56.140 here in Singapore. We do definitely do. What are the 0:07:56.149 --> 0:07:59.279 people like, you know, in this birding community? And I've 0:07:59.290 --> 0:08:02.959 seen before, groups of uncles and aunties with bazooka cameras around. 0:08:02.970 --> 0:08:05.589 I mean, I'm one of them like once in a while. Yeah. But, 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:07.179 you know, some people have the notion that it is 0:08:07.190 --> 0:08:09.899 like an old people activity. Well, 0:08:10.420 --> 0:08:12.779 ok, that's actually a really good question because I think 0:08:12.790 --> 0:08:15.890 the budding community in Singapore is really, really, like you said, 0:08:15.899 --> 0:08:17.140 it's massive. But 0:08:17.559 --> 0:08:19.250 because of the fact that it's massive, I think in 0:08:19.260 --> 0:08:21.779 part of that it's also highly diverse. Yeah, of course, 0:08:21.790 --> 0:08:23.329 you get your fair bit of uncles and aunties who 0:08:23.339 --> 0:08:25.640 are doing it. You also get people around our age, 0:08:25.649 --> 0:08:28.609 late twenties, thirties type of thing. Uh, but recently there've 0:08:28.619 --> 0:08:30.489 also been a bunch of like, teenagers who have started 0:08:30.500 --> 0:08:32.659 entering the hobbies, maybe it started off as an old 0:08:32.669 --> 0:08:34.650 person hobby with very few young people back in the 0:08:34.659 --> 0:08:36.739 eighties and the nineties and maybe even in the early 0:08:36.750 --> 0:08:38.440 two thousands. But now I think it's really picking up 0:08:38.450 --> 0:08:40.390 amongst our demographics as well as 0:08:40.489 --> 0:08:43.419 people who are even younger than us. So that's pretty cool. 0:08:43.429 --> 0:08:47.059 It's true that I've been seeing also younger folks joining 0:08:47.068 --> 0:08:49.239 and sometimes, you know, the parents is the one that 0:08:49.249 --> 0:08:51.549 was encouraging. So both of them like a dad and 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.648 son team and I guess there's also a lot of 0:08:54.658 --> 0:08:57.499 resources for bird watching now. Like I'm part of this 0:08:57.508 --> 0:08:59.778 group called the Singapore Birds Project. And we have a 0:08:59.789 --> 0:09:02.908 whole bunch of resources online to help people identify birds 0:09:02.919 --> 0:09:03.318 more easily. 0:09:03.419 --> 0:09:05.250 Like all the bids in Singapore, we have PS for 0:09:05.260 --> 0:09:08.098 them and things like that a lot. So I think 0:09:08.140 --> 0:09:11.429 not only is it that bird watching is becoming more 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.799 famous as a hobby, but there are more resources available 0:09:13.809 --> 0:09:16.549 for people to learn and more access to it. So 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:18.080 you don't have to necessarily like back in the day, 0:09:18.090 --> 0:09:19.950 go to a library to borrow the field guide and 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.348 things like that. Now, you can literally just check on 0:09:22.359 --> 0:09:26.270 your phone, what the right times have changed? 0:09:26.919 --> 0:09:31.210 Well, speaking of technology and how things have improved along 0:09:31.219 --> 0:09:35.228 the years, do bird conservationists and researchers like you guys, right? 0:09:35.239 --> 0:09:37.510 How do you guys do your bird research? Do you 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.109 guys like act like detectives and you see like the 0:09:40.119 --> 0:09:43.330 birds movement and you track like, I don't know bird poop, 0:09:43.390 --> 0:09:45.960 things like that? Ok. So there's many ways of doing 0:09:45.969 --> 0:09:48.909 bird research, right? So there are people who do 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:53.090 huge ecological work, which often means like you put up 0:09:53.099 --> 0:09:55.440 your miss nets, mis nets are sort of like these really, 0:09:55.450 --> 0:09:57.650 really fine nets that you put up in the forest 0:09:57.669 --> 0:10:00.189 in the right? Lighting in the duck and the story, 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.510 it is almost invisible, right? So once we almost got 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.250 uncle in a mis net before. Yeah, it was hilarious. 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:10.359 The area was actually closed off but someone was naughty 0:10:10.369 --> 0:10:12.539 and got into the area and we were like, oh, 0:10:12.549 --> 0:10:16.359 please don't go there. He ran past us and then 0:10:16.369 --> 0:10:18.890 he almost got caught in the net. That was very funny. 0:10:19.270 --> 0:10:21.530 But yeah, so we typically put up mis nets. So 0:10:21.539 --> 0:10:23.989 like my job is relatively easy. I catch the birds. 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:25.849 I take a little like a tiny, tiny, tiny, 0:10:25.979 --> 0:10:30.989 like like literally guys, microliters of blood. OK? Like so little, yeah, 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.380 like practically a drop and we bring that blood back 0:10:33.390 --> 0:10:35.570 to the lab for extracting DNA and stuff. We let 0:10:35.580 --> 0:10:38.280 the blood go, which is like it sounds exciting, but 0:10:38.289 --> 0:10:41.640 it's also very little actual fueled work per se, right? 0:10:41.650 --> 0:10:43.440 Like a lot of our time is spent in the 0:10:43.450 --> 0:10:45.690 lab and on our computers doing the analysis, 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:47.820 which is OK. It means that I get to go 0:10:47.830 --> 0:10:50.229 to a lot of different places rather than staying for 0:10:50.239 --> 0:10:52.380 a very long period in one field site. Some people 0:10:52.390 --> 0:10:54.270 are bud Ecologist. So they want to find out about 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:56.280 bird movement and stuff like that. So they might put 0:10:56.289 --> 0:11:00.150 transmitters on birds to track their movements. Yeah. So then 0:11:00.159 --> 0:11:01.900 they can find out things about like, oh what is 0:11:01.909 --> 0:11:03.880 the area that the bird is feeding in? How far 0:11:03.890 --> 0:11:06.500 does it go? So things like that actually are really 0:11:06.510 --> 0:11:09.010 important for conservation as well. So the work I do, 0:11:09.020 --> 0:11:10.429 I find out what species live with, 0:11:10.533 --> 0:11:12.552 where, what are the areas that need to be protected 0:11:12.562 --> 0:11:14.801 to protect all the species in the in the area? Right? 0:11:15.122 --> 0:11:17.812 Uh But a question is that can be answered from like, 0:11:17.822 --> 0:11:19.942 you know, using your radio transmitter is what is the 0:11:19.953 --> 0:11:23.882 minimum area required for this bird to exist? You know. 0:11:24.043 --> 0:11:26.822 So if I know it needs this kind of habitat, 0:11:26.843 --> 0:11:29.102 given the total area of the habitat and I know 0:11:29.112 --> 0:11:31.412 how much the territory size of each bird is, right? 0:11:31.422 --> 0:11:33.223 How much of the area it will go through? I 0:11:33.232 --> 0:11:35.002 can calculate how many birds can be supported. 0:11:35.106 --> 0:11:37.995 But this area, right? So that is a very powerful 0:11:38.005 --> 0:11:39.995 tool for conservation because it kind of tells me like, oh, 0:11:40.005 --> 0:11:41.895 this area can support how many birds or how many 0:11:41.905 --> 0:11:44.455 pairs of birds in this area, how many? And so 0:11:44.466 --> 0:11:46.795 it can give me a very good numerical sense of things. 0:11:46.806 --> 0:11:48.786 Not perfect, of course, because a lot of these things 0:11:48.796 --> 0:11:51.056 are like, you know, relative, but it can give me 0:11:51.065 --> 0:11:53.556 good answers on that. And then of course, you have 0:11:53.565 --> 0:11:55.976 other people who are observational studying, right? Like you do 0:11:55.986 --> 0:11:58.125 real natural history work, which is something that a lot 0:11:58.135 --> 0:11:59.616 of people don't do nowadays, which is 0:11:59.849 --> 0:12:01.959 there is a bird nesting. I'm going to set up 0:12:01.969 --> 0:12:05.210 a small tent and just watch the bird and see 0:12:05.219 --> 0:12:08.299 what the parents are feeding the baby, you know, like 0:12:08.309 --> 0:12:11.460 things like that. So you could. But the thing is like, 0:12:11.469 --> 0:12:13.109 what you observe at the camera is never going to 0:12:13.119 --> 0:12:14.738 be as a good, you're never going to be able 0:12:14.750 --> 0:12:17.109 to pick up exactly the thing in the bill as 0:12:17.119 --> 0:12:19.419 if you were sitting there with binoculars being like, ok. Yes, 0:12:19.429 --> 0:12:22.359 it is bringing this species of frog, this species of spider, 0:12:22.369 --> 0:12:24.890 you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. So that is very, 0:12:24.900 --> 0:12:27.478 very rarely done nowadays. I think we need more of it. 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:29.380 But I know some friends in the Philippines who are 0:12:29.390 --> 0:12:31.270 doing this kind of work. It takes a long time 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.209 like they are literally in the field 10 hours a day, almost. 0:12:34.219 --> 0:12:36.348 They bring snacks into the field in the field. They 0:12:36.359 --> 0:12:39.250 are sitting in the tent watching the birds. That's true dedication. 0:12:39.260 --> 0:12:41.400 It is, it is, it's crazy. Can you share with us, 0:12:41.409 --> 0:12:43.130 you know, some of the interesting birds that you can 0:12:43.140 --> 0:12:46.209 perhaps find in Singapore other than the usual miners, peaches 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:48.400 and crows, which I know all of us have seen 0:12:48.409 --> 0:12:49.090 it before. 0:12:49.349 --> 0:12:51.409 Like how many species do we have here? And do 0:12:51.419 --> 0:12:53.640 we have like really, really cool birds that the public 0:12:53.650 --> 0:12:56.359 don't know about? So I think if we include visitors, 0:12:56.369 --> 0:12:59.530 migrants and things like that, we have about almost 400 0:12:59.539 --> 0:13:02.530 species of birds in Singapore, like around 400 species of birds, 0:13:02.969 --> 0:13:03.799 which is a lot 0:13:05.195 --> 0:13:07.564 like ours. We're lucky in the sense that we are 0:13:07.575 --> 0:13:10.343 along one of the migratory flyways. So a lot of 0:13:10.354 --> 0:13:12.684 birds in the higher areas like the high latitude. So, 0:13:12.695 --> 0:13:16.564 like places like northern China, Russia, places like that. It 0:13:16.575 --> 0:13:18.515 gets really cold in the winter. So winter, they take 0:13:18.525 --> 0:13:21.054 a little summer holiday, they come to the right to chill. 0:13:21.294 --> 0:13:22.955 And so we have a lot of birds that kind 0:13:22.965 --> 0:13:25.655 of do that here in Singapore because we're along the way, 0:13:25.664 --> 0:13:31.065 I suppose, to destination. Not exactly, not just for people 0:13:31.075 --> 0:13:32.125 but also for birds. 0:13:32.609 --> 0:13:35.939 Yeah. What are some of the coolest birds in your opinion, 0:13:35.950 --> 0:13:38.169 especially if we include the migratory ones that you know, 0:13:38.179 --> 0:13:40.859 even for you, you get really excited and 0:13:41.119 --> 0:13:43.939 not sure if you have rushed down before to actually capture. 0:13:43.950 --> 0:13:45.400 There have been a few times. Ok? So there's a 0:13:45.409 --> 0:13:47.809 group of birds called Pita. So peters are like super 0:13:47.820 --> 0:13:51.179 colorful and every loves take photo of them. Ok? Like not, 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:53.468 I also love to look at them. There's this one 0:13:53.479 --> 0:13:56.609 species of Pita that is typically people find in Taiwan 0:13:56.630 --> 0:13:59.368 but also in the southern coast of China and maybe 0:13:59.380 --> 0:14:02.020 maybe northern most Vietnam where they breed there. It's called 0:14:02.030 --> 0:14:05.650 the Fair Pita. Perfect name like it is, it is, 0:14:05.659 --> 0:14:08.299 it has a really beautiful coloration 0:14:08.619 --> 0:14:12.988 and usually conventional wisdom has that the whole population goes 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:17.909 to Borneo to migrate. So like Brunei, but a few 0:14:17.919 --> 0:14:23.909 years ago we got one record of came to central catchment. Oh, wow, 0:14:23.919 --> 0:14:30.190 everyone went, everyone went whole Singapore was there whole Singapore 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.859 just packed into the forest and then there's another bird 0:14:32.869 --> 0:14:34.130 that turned up in 0:14:34.549 --> 0:14:38.260 Chick and pull out U oh, so there's a few things. Ok. 0:14:38.270 --> 0:14:41.809 So there's a few things that turn up in Chick Java. 0:14:42.330 --> 0:14:44.210 So there's the Green Brought Bill, which is a very 0:14:44.219 --> 0:14:47.260 cute plush. But, and it's really interesting because like the 0:14:47.270 --> 0:14:48.799 green brought bill is one of those. But you used 0:14:48.809 --> 0:14:51.210 to live in Singapore back in four days, right? But 0:14:51.219 --> 0:14:51.979 it went extinct. 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:54.890 And then now we're slowly getting records of it from 0:14:54.900 --> 0:14:57.590 Chik Java. We're not entirely sure what the reason is. 0:14:57.599 --> 0:15:00.679 Maybe there's some deforestation happening in southern Johor. Then the 0:15:00.690 --> 0:15:02.119 birds are like, I can't live here any, any money 0:15:02.130 --> 0:15:03.799 you find somewhere else. Then they are like, oh there's 0:15:03.809 --> 0:15:06.169 a green spot there and the green spot happens to be, right? 0:15:06.179 --> 0:15:09.599 So maybe that's what's happening. We don't necessarily have evidence 0:15:09.609 --> 0:15:11.710 for that per se, but that's like my best guess 0:15:11.719 --> 0:15:14.549 I would say. But recently there was this huge horn 0:15:14.559 --> 0:15:17.799 bill called the White Crown Horn Bill that turned up 0:15:18.380 --> 0:15:20.429 in Uber. And it's a big horn bill, ok. 0:15:20.849 --> 0:15:24.200 And the Oriental pi is actually the smallest horn bill 0:15:24.210 --> 0:15:27.989 in the region, which is like shocking one of the 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.989 smallest horn bills in the region probably shares that with 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:32.710 the Busy Crested Horn bill, which is also quite a 0:15:32.719 --> 0:15:35.280 small horn bill. And I say small in relative terms, right? 0:15:35.289 --> 0:15:35.869 Because like even 0:15:36.039 --> 0:15:38.650 the smallest at horn bill is going to fill up 0:15:38.659 --> 0:15:43.469 this table comfortably, right? Like, yeah, you just be like, ok, so, 0:15:43.479 --> 0:15:45.969 but the white Hobo is a big horn bill. It's 0:15:45.979 --> 0:15:48.440 over a meter long. So the thing about it that 0:15:48.450 --> 0:15:50.489 makes it particularly interesting is that it's not a common 0:15:50.500 --> 0:15:52.919 horn bill. If I had to predict which hon bill 0:15:52.929 --> 0:15:57.260 would randomly turn up at, right. The first few choices 0:15:57.270 --> 0:15:59.010 would not be white crown. So this was kind of 0:15:59.020 --> 0:15:59.950 a surprise for us. 0:16:03.729 --> 0:16:06.710 Hello, my name is Steve and I'm Theresa Tang. And 0:16:06.719 --> 0:16:10.210 we are the hosts of CNA correspondent, a podcast that 0:16:10.219 --> 0:16:13.219 takes you to the heart of the work our correspondents 0:16:13.229 --> 0:16:17.000 do across the globe from China's COVID response to the 0:16:17.010 --> 0:16:19.919 Childcare Center massacre in Thailand and 0:16:20.094 --> 0:16:22.585 the fall of Najib Razak to the rise of Anwar 0:16:22.594 --> 0:16:26.215 Ibrahim as Malaysia's Prime Minister, we speak to the people 0:16:26.224 --> 0:16:29.094 at the reporting front lines. So if you want to 0:16:29.104 --> 0:16:32.635 know how the biggest global stories unfold, make sure you 0:16:32.645 --> 0:16:36.385 follow or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.690 Ok. Move in now it's time to put your skills 0:16:44.700 --> 0:16:47.369 to the test with a little surprise game segment that 0:16:47.380 --> 0:16:49.830 I have prepared for you. So I'm going to play 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.429 two different bird calls. Just two. Alright. And for each call, 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.510 you will have to guess the species of bird within 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.260 five seconds. And I'm super excited for this one because 0:16:58.270 --> 0:17:00.719 I actually do send some of the unknown bird calls 0:17:00.729 --> 0:17:02.570 that are here when I'm out in Asia to move 0:17:02.580 --> 0:17:04.849 in whenever I cannot figure out which bird it belongs to. 0:17:04.859 --> 0:17:06.550 And he just magically tells me the answer. 0:17:06.869 --> 0:17:09.660 So, move in. Are you ready to wing it? Let's 0:17:09.670 --> 0:17:13.119 do this. All right. Ok. But call number one. 0:17:17.819 --> 0:17:19.948 Ok. So this is the Asian coal. This is also 0:17:19.959 --> 0:17:22.399 the bird that wakes us all up on like lazy 0:17:22.410 --> 0:17:24.560 weekends when you want to sleep in. Right. This is 0:17:24.569 --> 0:17:26.438 the bird that we hear. So it's the Asian coal. 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.040 This bird is really interesting because it used to only 0:17:29.050 --> 0:17:31.530 come to Singapore as a migrant and it was very rare, 0:17:31.930 --> 0:17:34.430 but it is a nest parasite which means it lays 0:17:34.439 --> 0:17:37.410 its eggs in other people's nests and the butter, it 0:17:37.420 --> 0:17:44.150 lays its eggs in. It is actually the house crow. Oh, interesting. Right. Ok. 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:46.359 Are you ready for the second call? 0:17:51.910 --> 0:17:55.280 Ok. This one is the straw, which is basically the 0:17:55.290 --> 0:17:59.199 flagship species of bird conservation in Singapore. Is it? Oh, 0:17:59.219 --> 0:18:03.069 I'm surprised that you get both. Correct. They're like, this 0:18:03.079 --> 0:18:05.229 one has a super distinctive call and often times when 0:18:05.239 --> 0:18:07.149