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BESG’s website logged 300,000 visitors: A tribute to bird photographers

on 5th May 2008

The BESG website has passed another milestone – 300,000 visitors. And after nearly three years of posting more than 700 items on bird behaviour.

We initially planned to wait until half a million visitors to make an announcement. But things are changing fast in the local birdwatching scene. There are signs of a possible paradigm shift in the mindset of local birdwatchers. And we are eager to announce this.

The local nature society’s birdwatching community is at last returning to observing bird behaviour – after a decade and a half of obsessive listing (above). Birding stalwart Lim Kim Chuah recently teamed up with prize-winning photographer Lee Tiah Khee to make a simple post on the behaviour of a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. This may be a small start but it is a significant start. We welcome such a major move.

The teaming up with Tiah Khee, a major player in bird photography, also indicates that local birdwatchers are recognising the role digital photographers are playing in gathering information on birds, especially bird behaviour. Initially viewed with some suspicion, they are now accepted as the major player.

Photographers are focused in getting more than just portrait shots. They are out in the field most of the time. They are the ones to make sightings well before birdwatchers. Furthermore, they have the images, not just any images but excellent images, a standard that birdwatchers have yet to reach.

BESG has been collaborating with photographers ever since we started three years ago – amateurs as well as professionals photographers. And believe it or not, most of our contributors have been and are, bird photographers.

So a big THANK YOU to bird photographers and a big WELCOME to birdwatchers who are returning back to the fraternity of bird behaviour observers.

YC Wee
Singapore
May 2008

If you like this post please tap on the Like button at the left bottom of page. Any views and opinions expressed in this article 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.

YC Wee

Dr Wee played a significant role as a green advocate in Singapore through his extensive involvement in various organizations and committees: as Secretary and Chairman for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), and with the Nature Society (Singapore) as founding President (1978-1995). He has also served in the Nature Reserve Board (1987-1989), Nature Reserves Committee (1990-1996), National Council on the Environment/Singapore Environment Council (1992-1996), Work-Group on Nature Conservation (1992) and Inter-Varsity Council on the Environment (1995-1997). He is Patron of the Singapore Gardening Society and was appointed Honorary Museum Associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) in 2012. In 2005, Dr Wee started the Bird Ecology Study Group. With more than 6,000 entries, the website has become a valuable resource consulted by students, birdwatchers and researchers locally and internationally. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not represent those of LKCNHM, the National University of Singapore or its affiliated institutions.

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