PUBLISHED
MAY 9, 2018, 5:00 AM SGT
Birdwatchers hail reappearance of
species here after it was spotted in nature reserve
Environment Correspondent
The great slaty woodpecker is not
the most attractive of birds, with its bald head and grey cloak of feathers.
But a rare sighting near the
summit of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve last week has got the birding community in
Singapore buzzing with excitement.
The reappearance of the
woodpecker, thought to be extinct in Singapore due to forest clearance during
the Republic's developing years, has been described by veteran birdwatcher Alan
OwYong as the greatest ornithological event in Singapore in the last decade.
"Since 1950, the great slaty
woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in the world, has disappeared from our
forests along with seven other woodpecker species," Mr OwYong, committee
member of the Nature Society's (Singapore) Bird Group, told The Straits Times.
"Its reappearance a few days
ago was most unexpected, as it is the rarest among the eight species."
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