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Vol 10 No 3 VIP Guests Community Involvement Programme by Jurong West Secondary School Photographing Nature Workshop forCommonwealth Secondary School Experiencing Life in the Mangroves with the Canadian International School (Singapore) Doing what they do best for a good cause: Hillgrove Secondary School Volunteers Conduct Heron Counts at Sungei Buloh 13th International Coastal Cleanup Wild Boar Sightings An ASEAN Experience: Conference on ASEAN Heritage Parks Volunteer Outing to Pulau Kukup and Yong Peng Heronry Young Hearts for Nature: Young Naturalist Passport Camp		Volunteers conduct heron counts at Sungei Buloh Ramakrishnan Kolandavelu assistant conservation officer James Gan senior conservation officer Herons (and other species from the Ardeidae family) have been counted through systematic surveys, together with other groups of birds at Sungei Buloh since 1990 but the counts in 2003 represent the first time efforts were made to count the Ardeidae species regularly on a weekly basis. And what was even more special was that this was the first time Sungei Buloh volunteers, Prakash and Seema, had committed to one full year of regular Sunday morning counting the herons, egrets and bitterns in the wetland. The aim of the counts was to establish the abundance, species composition and trends regarding the species over a calendar year at the wetland. The dedication of the volunteers has enabled the wetland reserve to obtain a snapshot of the heron numbers over a calender year (See graphs attached). The survey results have established that Ardeidae species numbers in the wetland do not exceed 200 individuals at any one time. The Little Egret is the most abundant Ardeidae species with a maximum of 163 individuals counted in January with three lesser peaks of 130 in late February and 80 and 128 in late November. The Great Egret is much less abundant than the Little Egret with a peak count of 19 also recorded in January. The Grey Heron was found to be generally more abundant than the Purple Heron. Peak counts of 41 individual Grey Herons were noted in July with lesser peaks scattered throughout the year. The Purple Heron had peak counts of 10 individuals. Bitterns were not abundant and being secretive with a tendency to hide among the thick vegetation, the numbers counted during the surveys are certainly less than the actual numbers present. The Yellow Bittern was the most abundant bittern with a peak count of 7 followed by the Black Bittern and Cinnamon Bittern with peak counts of 2 and 1 respectively. Based on the count data, the bitterns appeared to be more abundant in the first half of the year especially between the end of March and May. The data collected over time will be invaluable for the conservation management of the wetlands. In general, the count data obtained has provided an indication of the Ardeidae species and numbers that might be expected in Sungei Buloh over the next few years and in similar wetland sites in the vicinity of Sungei Buloh at different periods of a year. Post Script: The results of the heron counts has translated into the presentation of an abstract and poster to be presented at the Singapore Institute of Biology, Biology in Asia International Conference held at Nanyang Technological University from 7 to 10 Dec 2004. The title of the abstract is: “Gan J.T.W.M , Ramakrishnan R.K., Prakash S., & Seema S. 2004. Ardeidae species abundance and diversity in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Singapore in 2003.”
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