The practice of keeping birds is a long-held tradition in South-east Asia, including in Singapore. Beyond market surveys that have documented Singapore’s sizeable bird market, there is a compelling need to understand the underlying drivers of demand for songbirds, and how these are influenced by social factors. We conducted semi-structured surveys of 114 songbird owners in Singapore, so as to determine their behaviour, demography, and preferences for owning songbirds and mapped Singapore’s songbird trade network. Forty-four percent of respondents reported to not prefer either wild-caught or captive-bred birds and another 37% preferred captive-bred birds. Over half (51%) did not think that there were any differences in the singing capabilities of the songbird from either source. Influence from family members and close contacts were cited as the most influential motivational factor for bird-keeping. The majority of respondents were middle-aged (77% aged 40 and above), and two-thirds (67%) were of Chinese ethnicity. Purchasing power and socio-economic status were not deemed to be strong considerations for owning songbirds. Neither was songbird ownership regarded as a status symbol, in contrast to parrot ownership in Singapore. Instead, social factors played influential roles in the songbird community, shaping the way owners gather, interact, and trade at bird shops and bird cage hanging spots. This study offers novel insights into the motivations underlying songbird ownership and its complex community linkages. We advocate for conservation interventions to target specific demographic groups that are embedded and influenced by communities so as to promote sustainable trade in songbirds.

养鸟的做法在东南亚（包括新加坡）是一项由来已久的传统。除了记录新加坡庞大的鸟类市场的市场调查之外，迫切需要了解鸣禽需求的潜在驱动因素，以及这些因素如何受到社会因素的影响。我们对新加坡的 114 名鸣禽所有者进行了半结构化调查，以确定他们的行为、人口统计和拥有鸣禽的偏好，并绘制了新加坡的鸣禽贸易网络。44% 的受访者表示不喜欢野生捕捞或圈养的鸟类，另有 37% 的受访者更喜欢圈养的鸟类。超过一半（51%）的人认为这两种来源的鸣禽的歌唱能力没有任何差异。家庭成员和密切接触者的影响被认为是养鸟最有影响力的动机因素。大部分受访者为中年人（77% 为 40 岁及以上），三分之二（67%）为华裔。购买力和社会经济地位不被认为是拥有鸣禽的重要考虑因素。与新加坡的鹦鹉所有权相比，鸣禽所有权也不被视为身份象征。相反，社会因素在鸣禽社区中发挥了重要作用，塑造了鸟主在鸟店和鸟笼悬挂点聚集、互动和交易的方式。这项研究为鸣禽所有权的动机及其复杂的社区联系提供了新的见解。