One of the tall trees close to the tower provides for multiple roost points for various birds from the surrounding hill and mangrove forests. Naturally, some of the magpie robins prefer to use the branches of this tree from which to propel their song. I saw both male (darker-black necks and heads) and females (greying necks and heads) singing from the branches. Replies could be heard from the surrounding forest as other magpie robins sang their chorus out.
[Naturally, there were other visitors at the Tower besides me. Some of them failed to appreciate the oppurtunity to listen to the songs and chirps of the forest and kept on talking about worldy issues. This explains the background discussions heard in the clip.]
Due to the captive songbird industry which has long held sway since the later-half of the 1900s, the Singapore magpie robin population has suffered greatly as many wild birds were caught to feed the captive industry. Fortunately, it is now illegal to trap these birds and despite almost disappearing from mainland Singapore except in some small pockets of coastal mangroves, these birds have managed to hold on and are becoming less rarely sighted. They can sometimes be sighted on mainland Singapore in the city (like at the roof garden at the Esplanade Theatre in the city and at Fort Canning Park). Another place to see them is at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
Find out more about the rare Oriental Magpie Robin here :-
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a071b.htm - read about how the Magpie reintroduction programme failed - Article by Lim Kim Seng c/o Nature Watch.
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