Elusive black-thighed falconet spotted in S'pore again

Singapore welcomes a rare and feathery visitor again - the black-thighed falconet, the world's smallest bird of prey.

Measuring just 14 to 16cm, about the size of a sparrow, this tiny but fierce hunter was recently spotted near Punggol North Avenue by wildlife photographer Mr Anderson Ng on Feb 26.

Mr Ng, who had previously spotted the falconet in 2024 at Ponggol Seventeenth Avenue, told Mothership he returned to the same location in hopes of encountering it again.

Though he managed to find the bird, it was perched far away, and poor lighting conditions made it difficult to capture sharp images.

Despite this, he shared his photos of the "fluffy predator" in the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook group.

The dedicated photographer spent two hours observing the bird, enduring neck pain in the process. However, he was unable to witness it hunting.

Historically, the black-thighed falconet was considered a resident species of Singapore, with records dating up to the 1990s.

However, it was later believed to have become locally extinct according to the Singapore Bird Group.

That changed in 2021 when the species made a surprising return, with three separate sightings recorded that year.

Since then, the Bird Society of Singapore's database has documented sightings annually, suggesting that this elusive bird of prey may be making a quiet comeback.