Bukit Batok's Bird Calls

12:00 AM  ,  

Bukit Batok Housing Estate
North-West, Singapore
August 2012
Sunny

Merlion Wayfarer travelled to the North-West today. She was on her way to the Bukit Batok Nature Park when she noticed an interesting phenomenon at the housing estate there.

Hundreds upon hundreds of bird cages were hooked up to the ceiling of a void deck there. The cacophony of bird calls permeated the normally quiet neighbourhood. When Merlion Wayfarer got a little closer to the bird cages, she noticed that hey, it was not just a single species, but four different kinds:
  • The Shama (Copsychus malabaricus)
  • The China Thrush (Garrulux canorus)
  • Mata Puteh (White eyes) (Zosterops palpebrosa)
  • Red Whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)
The enthusiasts, mostly men in their 40s and older, were gathered around, catching up with each other, or just enjoying the sounds of the singing. Apparently, this is a weekly occurrence to train their birds. It is necessary to keep their birds exposed to other birds to train them for upcoming bird singing competitions around Singapore.

A relaxing Sunday afternoon with the men catching up on each other's lives and bird singing...

Many different types of birds here...

Red-whiskered bulbuls were going at S$100-S$200 each for the "ordinary" ones...
 
Special bird perches were also used...

Another row of bird cages in a different part of the void deck...
 
 
The full album is available at:
Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa (Bukit Batok)

 Sources

  • "Shama As A Competition Song Bird In Singapore" (June 1983) by Lin Heau Dong. Retrieved from http://www.shama.com.sg/article_1.html.
     
  • "Bird Singing Competitions in Singapore" by Wendy Craig (06 September 2011). Retrieved from http://suite101.com/article/bird-singing-competitions-in-singapore-a384603 (Expired as of 2014).