HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM – The third Viet Nam Bird Race brought together a record 32 teams and over 200 participants to the forests and wetlands of Cat Tien National Park, where they raced to photograph the most bird species in the area. Cat Tien National Park is south Viet Nam’s best known national park, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. Home to some of Southeast Asia’s most iconic species such as the Endangered Green Peafowl and the Bar-bellied Pitta, Cat Tien is known to birdwatchers as a must-visit site in Viet Nam’s birdwatching circuit.

This year’s race was hosted by Cat Tien’s park management, WildTour, Viet Nam Wildlife Photography Club (“VWPC”) and BirdLife International (“BirdLife”), with sponsorship from Mapletree Investments (“Mapletree”) and support from Conservation Viet Nam, Sony, Lexar and BH Asia. As with past years, the third Viet Nam Bird Race also brought together students from local schools and Ho Chi Minh City to participate in a morning birdwatching and arts session.

The race saw participants from across Southeast Asia. While majority of teams were from Viet Nam, including two teams representing Mapletree, there were also international teams from Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Indonesia, alongside a few multinational teams.

The third Viet Nam Bird Race began with a welcome ceremony on Friday evening (8 May 2026), followed by the official kick-off on Saturday. Cat Tien National Park’s Director Mr Pham Xuan Thinh, Mr Nguyen Truong Sinh, Chairperson of VWPC and BirdLife’s Dr Yong Ding Li welcomed participants. Key guests in attendance include Mr Pham Hong Luong, Deputy Director of the Department of Forestry and Forest Protection, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Dr Ha Thang Long of Conservation Viet Nam, Dr Tran Triet from Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City and Ms Nguyen Hong Nga, Vice President of HCMC Photography Association.

Race participants departed in teams of three to four via scheduled shuttles. They visited a variety of bird habitats in the sprawling park, ranging from bamboo forests and grasslands to dense tropical forests and marshes. In parallel, about 100 students attended the youth birdwatching session. To ensure that all bird species recorded were verifiable, teams needed to submit photographic evidence of every species spotted to the judging panel, and use the standardised names provided in the Cat Tien bird checklist.

Sony Alpha Wings from south Viet Nam, won the Champion ‘Mapletree’ prize this year with 95 species photographed. (For more information on the winners, please refer to Annex A.)

Mr Tran Nhat Tien, a team member of Sony Alpha Wings, shared, “We are excited to be part of this race and managed to spot over 90 species although it required a lot of hard work. We also needed time to sit down and process the photos we have taken.” Javan Plover, the first Indonesian team to join the race, took third place. “We are proud to represent Indonesia in this race for the first time, and didn’t expect to do so well!” noted Mr Khaleb Yordan, a team member and an avid birder.

A new category, Bird of the Race, awarded the team with the most interesting ornithological observation during the race. This went to Cu Dem with their photograph of the Grey-headed Fish Eagle, an exceptionally rare species in Viet Nam. “It was not easy to award the most unique bird of the race as most teams had captured interesting or unusual species. Our panel took a while to make this final decision to recognise the team,” observed Mr. Nguyen Hoai Bao, who leads the organising team and also sits on the panel of expert judges.

Global real estate investment group Mapletree worked with BirdLife International and WildTour to launch the first ever race in 2024, following a series of successful bird race events held in both Singapore and Malaysia, which have drawn steady interest.

Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman, Mapletree, added, “Recognising the value of biodiversity as part of our commitment to environmental responsibility, Mapletree is committed to supporting initiatives that positively impact communities, while also highlighting the importance of protecting migratory birds across Asia.”

“The Viet Nam Bird Race has been very meaningful for me, as a second-time participant and observer, and there are several insightful approaches that we may learn and adopt in bird races,” observed Mr Albert Liu, Assistant Director for Conservation at Nature Society Singapore, who attended the race in Viet Nam and oversees the Singapore Bird Race. The Singapore Bird Race has been supported by Mapletree for seven consecutive years since 2019.

The organising team aims to build on the success of the third Viet Nam Bird Race and continue to introduce new elements and birdwatching sites to draw more bird enthusiasts from across the country and beyond. New birdwatching destinations for the next edition include possibilities such as the vast Yok Don National Park, Viet Nam’s largest national park.

ANNEX A

List of winning teams of the third Viet Nam Bird Race, and the number of species observed.

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