Green Broadbill Bird Declared 'Extinct' Decades Ago Sighted in Singapore!

Seventy years ago, the green broadbill was declared extinct in Singapore. However, the green-feathered bird has been sighted recently in an island to the northeast of Singapore on 27^th of June.

Bird watcher Joyce Le Mesurier unexpectedly spotted the extinct bird on the offshore isle of Pulau Ubin according to local news.

According to the Singapore Birds Project, the green broadbill had populated Pulau Ubin years ago, but was 'hardly seen in Singapore' since 1941. Other local bird watchers said that it was their first time to see such bird species in the island, describing the sighting as a 'lifter'.

Ecological Behavior of Green Broadbill Bird

In a 2019 study of broadbills behavior in Malaysian Borneo, series of observations on these birds suggest that green broadbills, scientifically known as Calyptomena viridis, respond to imitation of a call with a wing-raising display. The birds were more common in the highlands in 2013, but were barely encountered in the lowlands of Tawau Hills in 2012 and 2013.

It was also found that green broadbills have nomadic tendencies as evidenced by broad and sporadic records. They tend to disappear and reappear in places that they had not been before, depending on the scarcity or abundance of food such as fruits and figs in the area.

Experts suggest that the bird seen at Pulau Ubin is likely a 'long-distance disperser' that could visit neighboring countries from time to time, although it was not known how long it had been staying in the island before it was sighted.

Green broadbills have bright deep green overall plumage. To distinguish male broadbills from female broadbill, the males have blackish patch on rear of their ear and broad black bars on wing-coverts. Females have no black markings, while juveniles have the same features as the female ones but with paler breast and greenish-white vent.

Experts say that green broadbill seen at Pulau Ubin is 'likely male'.

Local and Conservation Status of Green Broadbill Bird

In Singapore, the green broadbills are 'rare, non-breeding visitor' typically found in forests, wooded areas, and gardens according to the Nature Society (Singapore) Bird Group Records Committee. Several recent sightings of the juveniles were recorded at East Coast Park on 27^th and 29^th of November, 2014 followed by another sighting at Sensory Trail, Pulau Ubin on 25^th December of the same year.

Much earlier records of sighting include one at Nee Soon Swamp forest in July 2002.

According to Lim Liang Jim, the group director for conservation at the National Parks Board in Singapore, the bird extirpated from Singapore since 1941 but was spotted occasionally including the sighting of an adult male on 11^th of April, 2021 and a juvenile without leg bands seven years ago in 2014.

While green broadbills have inhabited the Thai-Malay Peninsula to Sumatra and Borneo, Singapore-based digital media outlet Mothership said that their population had rapidly declined, currently marked as near threatened in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.