The third Asian Ornithological Conference is being held at the National University of Singapore this week, and Ryan presented an opening plenary talk, titled “The Asian songbird crisis: a view from Singapore”. He discussed our lab’s work on estimating extinction rates in Singapore over the last 200 years. Although roughly 41% of bird species have gone (locally) extinct, some remaining species are doing surprisingly well.

A case in point is the critically endangered Straw-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus; pictured on the slide below), which has a stronghold in Singapore. Ryan discussed recent work by the lab, led by former intern Aadithi Gopalakrishnan and in collaboration with Frank Rheindt’s lab, on estimating the population size of the bulbuls on Singapore’s Pulau Ubin using automated acoustic monitoring and statistical modelling. Across most of its range, the Straw-headed Bulbul is widely poached because its beautiful song makes it a target for the captive bird trade, but in Singapore poaching is almost nonexistent.

Ryan ended with some speculation about lessons for bird conservation across Southeast Asia, where poaching has brought many species to the brink of extinction. Singapore’s experience shows that some bird species can thrive, even in disturbed habitat, if they are protected from poaching.