Compilation of Family History Through Genealogical Records

January 27, 2010 at 1:00 am (Current Affairs, History, Science & Technology)

Genealogy has been defined as the study of family origins and its subsequent history through the compilation of lineages and lists of ancestors. The word is derived from the Greek word for lineal descent. In some ancient civilisations like China, some family histories can reliably date back to more than 2500 years as in the case of its most renowned philosopher, Confucius, whose more than one million descendants are distributed not only in China, but also in South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and elsewhere. In ancient times, the recording of family history would be the preserve and past time of a nation’s monarchs. This practice was later emulated by its nobility and other prominent personages. In more recent centuries, when awareness and interest in the value of genealogy became more widespread internationally, more and more families began to see the needs to trace their family roots as part of their heritage.  Be that as it may, to trace a family history from scratch is a complex process that requires painstaking and persevering efforts on the part of the various extended family members to work as a team and a leader to coordinate the data collected and to render them into an easy to digest format , especially when numerous families nowadays are spread in different parts of the world. It also requires changes in the family composition due to births, deaths and marriages to be brought up to date periodically. The unenviable tasks involved for such an undertaking have often discouraged the faint-hearted families from doing so. In the light of this, most families anywhere can, at best, trace their roots to no more than five or six generations.

Recognising that the keeping of genealogical records had become an established international practice, there had been several attempts aimed at reaching an international agreement on a common method of compiling it for universal application. This culminated in the first International Congress of Heraldry and Genealogy, held in Spain’s city of Barcelona in 1928, with only limited degree of success. However, it had aroused greater public awareness in this fascinating subject. A further boost to genealogy came from the well known African-American author, Alex Haley, when he published his novel Roots in 1957. Consequently, more and more people in his country and elsewhere, especially in immigrant societies like Canada, Australia and New Zealand, were moved to the need to finding their roots and cultural heritage. In this regard, it is fortunate that some overseas Chinese families still possess copies of their family’s genealogical records, which have been handed down to them by their ancestors. The more elaborate of these would not only record blood ties among them and their distant ancestors in China but also their migrations to other countries, as well as significant historical events and family achievements. The tremendous value of such a document will enable them to trace and locate their relatives whenever the need arises.

Because of the widespread destruction of family and clan genealogical records during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976),  the Chinese Government in 1988 found it necessary to set up the Chinese Genealogical Research Centre in Taiyuan in Shanxi province in order to encourage the revival of this time-honoured practice, which is an integral part of China’s cultural tradition. The Guo Clan of Singapore was one of the overseas Chinese groups to appeal to them in 1991 for help to trace the clan’s  common founding ancestor. After a year’s research work, the centre succeeded in confirming that this clan’s common founding ancestor was none other than Guo Zhiyi, a prince and hero of the Tang Dynasty (618-917), whose descendants then numbered more than 10-million in China alone and numerous others were scattered all over the world. The centre’s director, Pro Li Ji said: ”Genealogy is an important part of the historical and cultural heritage of the country, as it records the blood relationships of human beings and relates to such areas as sociology, ethics, history, ethnology, folklore and economics.”

In recent months, two interesting media reports on family histories made international news: one concerns a Eurasian Singaporean, Kevin Shepherdson and the other Warren Buffett, an American billionaire and philanthropist and  President Barack Obama of United States. At the launch of Mr Kevin Shepherdson’s book, Shepherdsons around the world, unite! , the writer disclosed that,  after a decade of painstaking research at libraries, archives and history centres in this region and in Britain to ascertain his family roots, he finally succeeded in piecing together that all the Shepherdsons in Singapore and Malaysia are descendants of two English merchants, Captains Robert and Matthew, who had come to Singapore from Britain during the 19th century, married local women and raised their families there. He further discovered that their British ancestors had links to England’s 14th century King Edward III. Another surprise came when the media report revealed that through the study and research into the family trees of these two prominent Americans, an American genealogical research firm has established that both Buffett and President Obama are seventh cousins three times removed. The famous pair had a common ancestor in a 17th century Frenchman, Mareen Duvall, who had migrated from France to America in the 1650s. He is therefore President Obama’s ninth great-grandfather through his mother side , and the sixth great- grandfather of Mr Buffett. These findings must have stimulated even greater interest in genealogy worldwide. This is good for genealogical studies and should spur more people to take an enhanced personal interest  in their own family origins.

This reminds me of an article on this subject that I wrote in 1996, which was published as an essay in Singapore’s national English language daily, the Straits Times under the caption “Tracing one’s roots through the family tree”. I now have much pleasure to share it with my readers immediately after this posting.

Lam Pin Foo

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Tracing One’s Roots Through the Family Tree

January 27, 2010 at 12:00 am (Chinese Culture, Current Affairs, History, Science & Technology)

This article first appeared in the Singapore Straits Times 19 October 1996.

It is a well-known fact that China is among the most family and history conscious of nations. Every dynasty compiled its own dynastic history documenting major events and outstanding achievements for posterity. In addition, all district governments also recorded important aspects of local histories that will be of interest to their inhabitants.

As family has always been of supreme importance in Chinese culture, hand written genealogical records of individual families and clans were produced painstakingly and methodically, and periodically updated, to keep track of their origins and subsequent development. These were preserved reverently and handed down from one generation to another.

These efforts ensured that, in China’s 5000 years of history, there were no “Dark Ages” in the evolution of its society, as there were in Europe and elsewhere.

While every country has its own method of genealogy, the Chinese have developed theirs into a fine art, with distinctive characteristics and a flavour all its own. It is possible for many Chinese families, including those who have migrated overseas, to trace not only their roots, but also the fortunes of other family and clan members, wherever they might be.

The Chinese tradition of maintaining genealogy percolated to the other East Asian countries and to overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia.

To produce a continuous and updated family history requires good organisation and consistent management. It is much more difficult drawing up a clan history (Zong Pu) - those with same surname and descended from the common founding ancestor. Consequently, only prominent families and clans would have the resources to embark on such a project.

It is not surprising that most Chinese, like their counterparts elsewhere, would only be familiar with their immediate forebears.Those with incomplete genealogy are often only able to trace their family-tree for no more than 200 to 300 years. Professor Wolfram Eberhard, a sinologist of international repute, once observed that, in many countries in Asia, if a person could enumerate the siblings of his grandparents and their in-laws, he belongs invariably to the upper-class of that society. Ordinary people rarely know beyond the names of the brothers and sisters of their parents, their spouses and the names of their grandparents.

The tie of kinship is a hallmark of the Chinese social structure. The bond which binds its members is thicker than water and will remain with them for life. This is evident from the regular gathering of Chinese clans in Singapore or elsewhere, which is attended by their clansmen from all over the world, to renew ties and to discuss matters of common interest.

The genesis of the Zong Pu goes back to Zhou dynasty (1050-221 BC), with refinements by subsequent dynasties. Its scope and function is wider than the mere devising of tables of descent of its clan members. It aims to glorify successful clan members, to instil pride in one’s ancestors and, ultimately, to exhort future generations to emulate their worthy forebears.

In old China, the village ancestral hall was the focal point for all clan activities, including that of ancestor veneration, and where all decisions affecting the clan would be taken.

In its more than 3000 years’ history, genealogy has dominated the traditional Chinese society. It reached its full flowering from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) to the earlier part of the Republic era (1911-1949).

What then are the main ingredients of the Zong Pu? Its format and manifold contents have undergone changes under different dynasties, but they became quite uniform from the Song dynasty (960-1276) onwards.

The family-tree would begin with the primogenitor who first settled in a particular location and started to raise his family there; and would end with the contemporary generation updating the genealogy, with all in-between ancestors duly recorded.

No margin of error was allowed in the compilation of the clan genealogy. All families within the clan were required to submit all births, deaths and marriages. Only brief bio-data were recorded: the person’s name, his parents’ names, his date of birth and death, names of his children and, finally, his burial place.

The place of entombment was of utmost importance. Often a detailed account of its selection in accordance with the time-honoured principles of fengshui, the Chinese art of geomancy, would be documented. Good fengshui would bring good fortunes to the family members. It would be the duty of the descendents to perform ancestor-worship rites at appropriate times and to keep the grave in good repair.

Frank Ching, author of 900 years in the life of a Chinese family, gives a fascinating account of how he, armed with his Zong Pu, succeeded in finding his founding ancestor’s long forgotten 900 year-old grave on Mount Hui in Wuxi.

Clansmen who achieved distinctions in life would earn honourable mention in the clan genealogy. In addition, their portraits would also be displayed in the clan hall. In old China, Confucian scholars were held in high esteem and often became top government officials through successes in imperial examinations. This would bring vicarious glory to their families and clans.

Today, this tradition is still being followed in some overseas Chinese communities. The Khoo clan of Penang, for example, still displays plaques of all members who hold university or professional qualifications, or have otherwise distinguished themselves in public life, in their clan hall of fame.

The inclusion of a clansman in the Zong Pu was generally regarded as testimony of his good character and acceptability. Conversely, one who became notorious or was deemed to have disgraced the clan, would have his name expunged.

Events of local and national importance, which affected the clan, would also be included. This would include wars, social upheavals, natural calamities and other significant occurences.

Another feature was the movements of clan people through migration to seek better life away from home. A case in point concerned the southward migration of the Hakkas, originally from North China, when their homelands were occupied by warlike nomadic tribes. They underwent five arduous trans-China migrations, the first of which predated Mao Zedong’s famous Long March by more than 1600 years.

The writing of Zong Pu would be entrusted to a committee of scholars, with necessary information given by individual families. It would be revised at regular intervals to take account of the changes that had occurred during the interim. Each family would receive a copy, and the remainder would be kept in the village clan hall.

The importance accorded the clan genealogy reflected the Chinese people’s immense pride in their civilisation and their abiding love for their family and clan. As the latter grew in number, more and more such genealogies were produced and reached their peak  during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).

This pride was shattered during the 19th century when Chinese sovereignty was repeatedly violated by aggressive foreign powers who, for selfish reasons, brought the country to its heels under the threat of gunboat diplomacy.

Revulsion against China’s military backwardness set in, as reform-minded Chinese began to reject traditional values and turned to Western science and democracy as a panacea for China’s ills. The keeping of genealogical records was seen as a reflection of China’s feudal past and frowned upon. It was eradicated  completely with the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

The preservation of genealogy suffered its severest blow during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), a period of senseless destruction of cultural heritage, unprecedented in Chinese history. In response to the call “to sweep away all remnants of old habits, old customs, old culture and old ideas”, the fanatical Red Guards raided homes all over the country mindlessly, making bonfire of any genealogical records they could uncover as these were considered the symbols of the decadent rich. At the same time, many Chinese families, fearful of persecution, had to destroy these invaluable heirlooms which had been passed down from generation to generation.

The losses suffered, both on a personal and national scale, were incalculable and irreplaceable. Professor Luo Hsiang Lin, one of the foremost authorities on Chinese genealogy, lamented that the cultural accumulation of China in the past several thousand years was reduced to ruins in a few months of unmitigated  absolute madness.

The writer’s clan and family genealogical histories kept in the ancestral hall in China did not escape the ravages of the Red Guards. Fortunately, copies of these had been handed down by his grandfather in Singapore to remind him of his origins, which date back more than two millenia.

Despite the above outrage, a fair number of old Chinese genealogical records, both family and clan, have been preserved in libraries in China, Japan,  South Korea, Taiwan,  Hong Kong, United States and in private collections elsewhere.

The oldest Chinese genealogical works extant are  of Tang vintage (618-906), one is in China and and another two are abroad. One of the latter, along with many other Chinese national treasures, were removed from the world-renowned Dunhuang grottes by Sir Aurel Stein, a British archaeologist, and it is now kept in the British Museum in London.

Works of Song, Yuan (1276-1368) and Ming vintage are now rarities. Fortunately, a small number of these can still be found in Chinese institutions and elsewhere.

The Qing and the Republic genealogy are available in large numbers, especially in Taiwan, Hong Kong and among overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. However, most of these are from South and Central China, where most Chinese first emigrated overseas.

One of the most complete clan histories belongs to the Kung clan, whose famous founding ancestor was none other than Confucius (551-479 BC) himself . His descendents, who number more than one million, now live in China, Taiwan,  South Korea and in other countries.

The practice of compiling and updating Zong Pu, though long past its heyday, is still being carried on in Taiwan and, to a lesser degree, in Hong Kong. It is hoped that, before long, it  will be revived in China itself.

How would one evaluate the contributions of Chinese genealogy? Historians and scholars generally share the view that it  is a useful vehicle for the studying and understanding of the evolution of the Chinese society. It often complements historical records by filling up gaps or by elaborating on details omitted by history. It is also an extremely valuable resource for researching aspects of  social and political developments which had helped shape China and its people.

Moreover, scholars and researchers have convincing evidence that China’s earliest  histories were derived from its genealogical sources.

Finally, because Chinese genealogies also provide detailed information on migration, they enable us to follow the fortunes of a given family over a considerable length of time, sometimes for as long as a millenium or more.

The increasing pride in one’s cultural heritage has made roots-tracing a worldwide phenomenon. This palpable fervour is felt especially in immigrant societies such as the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore.

A renewed interest in genealogy is also discernible among the more homogeneous communities which are, once again, devoting greater effort and resources to this important field of human endeavour, both for their own benefit and that of mankind.

Lam Pin Foo

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Arithmetic in Ancient China

October 3, 2009 at 12:00 am (Chinese Culture, Guest Writer, History, Science & Technology)

An article by guest writer Oon Lay Yong. Refer to “About the Writer” at the end of the post.

Let us consider the basic arithmetic when children begin to learn. First, they are taught the names of the numerals and gradually they are shown how to use them to count. Next, they are taught how to write them and use them for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Arithmetic is considered a very important and necessary learning subject for all young children. As the children progress they will go on to learn algebra and geometry. When we know arithmetic well, algebra is a natural development of arithmetic. Geometry deals with space and the objects in space and its most well known early associations are with Euclid’s Elements. In this article we shall focus on arithmetic and explore its origins.

Our children begin by learning the names of the numerals, that is, one, two, three, four, … etc., and learning how to write them, namely, 1, 2, 3, 4, … etc. They then learn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide using them. All these operations are familiar to all of us. Let us list the essential properties of this numeral system: It has nine different signs, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and the “zero” sign 0. From these signs, any numeral however large can be written. For example, three thousand five hundred and ninety two is written as: 3592. This written numeral is said to exhibit a “place value” system. The place value where each numeral is positioned is of great importance. The numeral 2 is in the units place, 9 in the tens place, 5 in the hundreds place and 3 in the thousands place.

Let us look at how the numeral nine thousand and sixty five is written: 9065. 5 is in the units place, 6 is in the tens place and 9 in the thousands place. There is no digit in the hundreds place so the “zero digit” is written there. We can use this numeral system to perform numerous operations including the basic ones of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We can also use the system for fractions and their operations. There are also other properties such as expressing a numeral as large or as small as we wish and finding square root or cube root of a numeral.How did the concept of this numeral system originate? Do note here that we are emphasizing the concept of the numeral system and not the shape of the numerals.

The Chinese used this concept as early as the Warring States period (475 to 221 BC). It probably began with simple addition or subtraction by forming the numerals with the use of bones or sticks. With the passing of time, these “sticks” or rods (as I shall call them) became more refined, and the people who needed to do calculations would carry them in a holder or container. The first nine numerals were represented as follows:

As you can see, they had an ingenious way of representing numbers 6 to 9 by making a horizontal rod to denote the quantity 5 while a vertical rod denotes the quantity 1. With these nine numerals in place, they had another remarkable device to represent numerals greater than these. The digits of a numeral in units, tens, hundreds, thousands and so forth were placed side by side, with adjacent digits rotated, to tell each apart. The rotated digits would look like this:

In this case the vertical rod represents the quantity 5 and a horizontal rod the quantity 1. I quote here a written description of these numerals taken from Sun Zi suanjing 孙子算经 (The mathematical classic of Sun Zi) which was written around 400 AD. An English translation of the book can be found in “Fleeting Footsteps. Tracing the Conception of Arithmetic and Algebra” by Lam Lay Yong & Ang Tian Se.

“In the common method of computation with rods, one must first know the positions of the rod numerals. The units are vertical and the tens horizontal, the hundreds stand and the thousands prostrate; thousands and tens look alike and so do ten thousands and hundreds.”

By using this rotation of rods in alternate positions, they discovered that they could denote a numeral no matter how large it was. For example 75,169 and 706,528 would be as shown:

Note that in the notation of the numeral 706528, there is an empty space between 7 and 6. 7 is in the hundred thousands place; there is no digit in the ten thousands place which accounts for the blank space, and 6 is in the thousands place, followed by 5 in the hundreds place, 2 in the tens place and 8 in the units place. With this ingenious device, they had discovered a notation that could express any number no matter how large it was. What is of paramount importance is that each digit of the numeral has to occupy its correct position.There is no existing written account on how addition and subtraction were performed with the rod numerals. As these methods were very commonly and easily performed, they were probably considered too trivial to have them written. We can speculate how these are being performed. For example, in the addition of 16 and 7, this would probably be shown as follows: The numerals 16 and 7 would be placed on the board. The “board” could be any flat surface such as a table top. The numerals were probably displayed in this manner:

The first step is to add the 2 sets of vertical rods which give the quantity 3 represented by three vertical rods. The next step would be to add the two horizontal rods of the digits in the units place, knowing that each represents the quantity 5 so that their sum gives one tens, which is added to the existing horizontal rod on the left. The result 23 is shown below:

In the case of subtraction of 7 from 16, the two numerals are again displayed as above, the two fives are subtracted and thus removed leaving “2” subtracting from “11” above to give “9” as shown below:

Step-by-step descriptions on multiplication and division can be found in Sun Zi suanjing. With the invention of this marvelous numeral notation, the Chinese were able to know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Furthermore, the remainder in the division method led to the concept, formation and notation of a fraction. This in turn led to the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions, the methods of which were very similar to what is being taught to our school children today. All these operations were performed with counting rods.

Despite the vast time difference between the use of the rod numerals and our present numeral system, one cannot help but note that they share similar properties. One of the earliest and most well known book on mathematics in ancient China is Jiu zhang suanshu 九章算数 (Nine chapters on the mathematical art). Li Yan & Du Shiran in their book “Chinese Mathematics: A Concise History” stated that this book “constitutes a consummation and, at the same time, a work representative of the development of ancient Chinese mathematics from the Zhou and Qin to the Han dynasties (c. 11th century BC to 220 AD)”. (Li Yan & Du Shiran’s book has been translated into English by John N. Crossley & Anthony W. C. Lun).

Each of the nine chapters in the book has specific names. Chapter One is titled fang tian 方田 which involves the measurement of areas in square units. This chapter also shows the manipulations of fractions. The title of Chapter Two is su mi 粟米 which means “millet and rice”. It deals with problems on proportions especially on the exchange of cereals. Chapter Three is called cui fen 衰分 meaning “proportional distributions”. Chapter Four is called shao guang 少 广 (short width), Chapter Five shang gong 商功 (discussing work), Chapter Six jun shu 均输 (fair transportation), Chapter Seven ying bu zu 盈不足 (surplus and deficit), Chapter Eight fang cheng 方程 (rectangular tabulation, lit.square procedure), Chapter Nine gou gu 勾股 (right angled triangles, lit. the perpendicular sides of a right-angled triangle).

In the above I have emphasized that both our present arithmetic and the ancient Chinese arithmetic are built on numeral systems which have the same properties although the shape of the numerals are different. Besides the above two Chinese books, the ancient Chinese had also written numerous other mathematical texts. However, it is sufficient from the above two works to note that the Chinese were the initiators of the arithmetic that is still being taught to our school children today.

About the Writer

Oon Lay Yong is a retired professor of mathematics, formerly from the National University of Singapore.

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From Watching Birdwatchers to Watching Birds

July 16, 2009 at 12:00 am (Current Affairs, Guest Writer, Science & Technology)

An article by guest writer Wee Yeow Chin. Refer to “About the Writer” at the end of the post.

Introduction

Trained as a botanist, I have always been involved in plants before getting interested in birds about fours years back. But I have been watching birdwatchers watching birds far longer that that. At a vulnerable stage of my working career, I was conscripted to fill the post of Hon. Secretary of the then Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch). I was then a newly recruited junior teaching staff of the then Department of Botany, National University of Singapore. As secretary, I had the opportunity of associating closely with the birdwatching members of the society. More than a decade later, I was pushed into the post of Ag. Chairman when the incumbent went on sabbatical. In that year, I had the privilege of leading the local branch into a fully national society, the Nature Society (Singapore). As its founding Hon. President for the next five years, I had close and personal dealings with birdwatchers.

In 1995 I stepped down from the post, a few years prior to my retirement from my teaching position in the university. In retrospect, I am glad I stepped down when I did. It is always to your advantage to move aside when you are doing reasonably well than otherwise. After an absence of some years from directly watching birdwatchers, I started watching birds.  This came about when a female Asian Koel laid her egg in the nest of a pair of Common Crows lodged in the crown of one of my palms. The koel is a nest parasite and by not wasting time building its own nest and by getting other birds to incubate its eggs and brood its chicks, it can concentrate on the more serious job of propagating its species. Although such behaviour has long been known by birdwatchers in the western world, details were not locally documented after decades of watching birds.

Then a pair of Pink-necked Green Pigeons built a nest in one of my trees. Seeing the male always in the nest, incubating the eggs and brooding the chicks, set me wondering what role the female played other than laying the eggs. A search in the net as well as among local ornithological writings drew a blank until I chanced upon a book on British birds. There, I learnt that the female shares responsibilities with the male, except that she takes on night duties. Again, local birdwatchers were unaware of this, or if they knew, they were not sharing.

It suddenly dawned on me that local birdwatchers were more interested in watching birds than studying them. We generally know what birds we have and most birdwatchers can identify them in the field. But few were concerned with what birds do, other than fly, feed and breed. This realisation led me to abandon watching plants to the joys of watching birds.


Birdwatching Pre-1990s

Watching birds is a western phenomenon, one that has a very long history. It was brought to Singapore during the colonial years when British biologists were sent over to collect specimens to stock the museums of Europe. With them came colonial civil servants, not a few watched birds as a pastime. A handful of these nature enthusiasts set up the Malayan Nature Society and eventually a Singapore branch appeared on the scene. The society encouraged nature appreciation but birds became the main focus, being colourful as well as plentiful.

Birdwatching then was an informal affair. A few birders would get together to watch birds or indulge in mist-netting and bird-ringing activities. Only in 1984 was a formal Bird Group (BG) formed, with mainly expatriate members and a few locals, mainly undergraduates and academics. Organised guided walks and activities such as bird race, surveys and censuses were arranged in an effort to attract new members.

The leadership came from knowledgeable birders who had years of exposure to birdwatching in their home country Britain as well as in colonies like India and Hong Kong. Birdwatchers were encouraged to play the role of citizen scientists, collecting field data on bird behaviour. The data collected were published in an in-house newsletter, the Singapore Avifauna, which proved to be a valuable source of information on the avian fauna of the region.


Birdwatching Post-1990s

Just before the society was re-registered as a Singapore Non-governmental Organisation in 1990, locals took over the leadership of the BG. Full of enthusiasm and eager to prove their worth, they did not heed the advice of the expatriate birdwatchers who gradually left to watch birds on their own. The leadership continued with activities put earlier into place. But with no further inputs from more experienced birdwatchers, members were led into a decade of recreational birdwatching. Activities became mundane and science took a backseat. It did not take long for new members to have ticked off the more common species of birds listed in their checklists. And in the absence of anything challenging to do, many simply allowed their membership to lapse. Contributions to the in-house newsletter slowly dried up. From a lively monthly, the Singapore Avifauna was transformed into an irregular quarterly. Interesting observations seen earlier were replaced with mainly sighting records and trip reports that carried lists after lists of birds purportedly seen.


Call for a New Approach to Birdwatching

Around mid-1990s an eminent ornithologist was invited to address local birdwatchers. He commented that there were eagerness among regional birdwatchers, especially the twitching genre, to simply add new species to a country’s checklist of birds, often based on casual sightings and a total lack of verification. He further urged birdwatchers to do more than simply look at birds, as there was a “need to know what the birds look like, where they live, what they eat, when and where they breed and so on.” There was then a dearth of information on the behaviour of regional birds. And although there was an earlier attempt at encouraging birdwatchers to record bird behaviour in the field, enthusiasm dissipated after 1990. Traditionally, such observations were always collected by birdwatchers, and the call was to remind them of what they were expected to do.

His call for a new approach to birdwatching in the region was not published in Nature Watch, the society’s magazine. His manuscript was then offered, and eventually published, in the Malayan Naturalist, magazine of sister organisation, the Malaysian Nature Society.


Bird Photographers and Birdwatchers

Digital photography became popular in the early 2000s and this in turn led to the popularity in bird photography. A group of photographers approached the society offering to join up and revive the then dormant Photo Group. Apparently they were rebuffed. The subsequent formation of a nature photographic society and a number of loose photographic e-groups saw bird photography flourishing beyond anyone’s expectation. This has forever changed the local birding scene. Photographers proved enthusiastic and focused while birdwatchers, after more than a decade of looking at birds, had mostly lost their enthusiasm. In no time photographers led the field in bird sightings and bird behaviour documentation.

Any new sightings saw hordes of photographers stalking the birds. Inevitably, disputes arose as photographers were accused of stressing the birds with their constant flashes, chatters and general lack of field ethics. What birdwatchers forgot was that the most conscientious of them started off being obnoxious in the field. It is with time and experience that one gradually becomes sensitive to the possibilities of disturbing birds, especially nesting birds. By not accepting photographers under their wings in the first place, birdwatchers lost a valuable opportunity to work closely with them and in the process, steer them to practice better field ethics. To the credit of photographers, their leaders are fully aware of the problems large crowds create and have set in place their very own codes of ethics.


An Alternative Bird Group

The failure of the BG to provide exciting activities short of simply looking, ticking and counting birds in the field, led to the eventual formation of the Bird Ecology Study Group (BESG) in 2005. This new group was to complement the existing bird group and provide a forum for birdwatchers interested in the study of bird behaviour. There was then an urgent need to introduce some science back to birdwatching, to the pre-1990s days when birders were actively observing birds in the field, not just looking at them.

However, getting the BESG formally recognised was a major hurdle. An alternate group posed a direct challenge to the BG’s monopoly on birds that had already been challenged by photographers outside the society. The BESG had the support of all but one member of the Executive Committee, the governing body of the society. However, not wishing to offend the powerful BG lobby, the then President consulted with the larger council members that included co-opted members, many allied to the BG. Naturally things dragged on and acceptance failed to materialise. It took the need of bringing the matter to an Extraordinary General Meeting that finally saw Exco members voting on the issue. So the BESG became an official activity group of the society.

The BESG started a weblog to propagate its aims of encouraging the study of bird behaviour, and so birdwatching entered cyberspace. The weblog began posting information that birdwatchers as well as nature enthusiasts were thirsting for and traffic increased by leaps and bounds. Currently, the number of visits to the weblog is fast approaching a million. Visitors come from all over the world, although locals make up about 40% with 37% coming from the US, UK, Australia and Malaysia. The weblog has proved to be one of the top five birding blogs in cyberspace.

Postings have always been regular and consistent, beginning with once in a day or two, increasing to daily or even twice a day. This is necessary as the volume of contributions from members as well as the public increased. So far we have posted more than 1,250 items of bird behaviour and contributions continue to flood in.


Impact of the BESG on Birdwatching

Four years after, the BESG has contributed much in terms of making birdwatchers aware of the different aspects of bird behaviour. With the help of photographers and birders, we have documented the different foods birds take as well as their foraging strategies. Data have also been gathered on nest types, which of the sexes help build them, the materials used, the nesting habits in terms of who incubate the eggs and brood the chicks, the length of the different stages, etc. Bits and pieces of information on inter-specific and intra-specific interactions of local birds were also received and posted. The weblog has in fact becomes an important database on bird behaviour that students, nature enthusiasts and even birdwatchers regularly consult.

So detailed are the observations that many of the posts have been consolidated and published in scientific journals. Obviously contributors are always acknowledged, many included as co-authors. We strongly follow the policy of giving credit where credit is due. In this way contributors will continue to share their images and observations with us.

In the process, we have made birdwatchers aware of certain of bird behaviour that are well known among their western counterparts. Two examples illustrate this. The first is anting. This is the phenomenon where certain species of birds pick up ants and place them onto their plumage. This is an unusual method of feather maintenance where the ants help get rid of microorganisms that damage the feathers. This was first observed in 1988 when a young nature enthusiast saw a Javan Myna picking up kerengga ants and placing them on its feathers. Each time it did this, it went into a curious dance, flopping around on the ground with wings outstretched. Local birdwatchers were totally unaware of its significance until 17 years later when BESG posted the account and made the phenomenon of anting common knowledge.

The second example involves birds casting pellets. Raptors and owls casting pellets of compressed bones, teeth and feathers of the preys they take are well known. Not so pellet casting by non-raptorial birds. Bee-eaters regurgitate pellets of undigested exoskeletons of the insects they eat. The pellets of kingfishers are similarly composed of bones and insect exoskeletons. Herons cast pellets made up mainly of mammals’ furs and birds’ feathers. But local birdwatchers were generally unaware of this until accounts began to appear in the BESG’s weblog. Then we received a series of images on birds in the act of casting pellets.


The Future

The 2009 Annual General Meeting of the Nature Society (Singapore) has voted in an Executive Committee that has proven to be proactive. The committee has deemed it necessary to rejuvenate the leadership of the various activity groups by encouraging long-serving leaders to give way to fresh talent. Hopefully, the society can then reinvent itself and move on to the next phase of dealing with the influx of young conservationists and nature enthusiasts. These youths have forsaken traditional organisations, operating independently as e-groups. Their energy and idealism need to be tapped and guided by more experienced practitioners, many of whom may not be all that net-savvy to be able to effectively interact with them on their turf. This is why older leaders need to move aside, taking the role of advisors and let younger members take over the leadership.

Organised birdwatchers especially, urgently need younger leaders to be able to confront the challenges ahead, whether as twitchers or citizen scientists. They need to touch base with the younger generation and work towards the same aim of enriching our knowledge of the bird behaviour of the region. This will be to the benefit of regional ornithology.


About the Writer

The writer is a botanist and author of numerous books on wayside trees, ferns and medicinal plants. His last book, published in 2005, is Plants that Heal, Thrill and Kill. He has since taken up birdwatching after his retirement from the National University of Singapore. He is currently managing the BESG weblog, http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/ full time.

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