Malaysian Laws on Birds

Was in a bird shop today buying some extra plastic cups for the birds. Normal chit chatting about the birds, economy and goverment ensues. These are difficult times and the topic of economic downturn is on everyones lips. Then came a topic that catches my attention. The owner told me that a customer complained to him that there is somebody in a certain place keeping lots of birds blatantly.
Oh my God, that can only be me :( as the place mentioned clicked hahahaha!

Now, as brief summary of Malaysian law on wildlife is strict to say the least. There are many common birds that are totally protected, some are not mentioned and a small handful that are allowed required a license to keep. The issuance of new licenses have been suspended for some time already. And the only way we can obtain one is to get a previous owner to transfer it to us albeit for a small payment.

Back to the story - the shop owner told him off and ask him to complain to the wildlife department if he is not happy. Now, I am not worried of him complaining as I have ample amount of licenses, maybe a few pieces extra (which presents another problem) but the sad thing to note is why are some people just so nosy. Its not as if I am torturing the birds under my care or something. In fact they are better off than being in some of their previous places (not all, but a majority). A case of sour grape? I can only guess. Which is why now my new ground rules is to avoid bringing people over to my house (hobbyists that is).

Lets consider wildlife conservation, bio-diversity and all that craps. Shouldn't it all start with nurturing a culture that promotes understanding of animals? What better way to understand animals than to keep them happy and healthy in a captive environment and learn how to breed them. I have actually grown to appreciate the many restrictions in Malaysia, in a way it is really keeping in check excesses by hobbyists. However, I would think the wildlife smugglers and exporters are more of a threat to the wildlife than the hobbyists like myself.

Shama Tai Mong

Tai Mong refers to juvenile birds. Could be Shamas, Magies or even bulbuls. There has been many opinions given as to which stage of Shamas (age) makes a better songbird. Wild adults are said to posess their wild naturally learned repertoire of songs whereas baby birds would lack the capacity to do so as they have been removed from their wild environment. To compensate them from such disadvantage, often, a tutor bird is highly recommended.

For me, my preference often are skewed towards young juveniles for the mere fact that they tame down much easier than the adult birds. And often start singing after their first molt to adult plumage. Young juveniles, or often I prefer to call them the "flying babies" (vs those that still require hand feeding), have acquired their own style of songs.

This year, I kept two of such babies - one from Rompin which I kept for a friend and another from Grik which a friend decided to give up on. Both have developed nicely enough and started singing well before the adult plumage has fully grown. However I should be keeping them away from stressful competitive environment until after their second molt for best effect.

Rompin Tai Mong:


Grik Tai Mong:

Want not waste not

Bought 3 packets of insect food that doesn't look too fresh. Still usable but seems to deteriorate quite fast. Left a balance of 2 packets which I was thinking of feeding to the chicken. Then I thought why not start making bird food again. Since I am applying a theory of not letting the birds' system get too used to a single type of dry food, cooking my own food should accord this flexibility for me.

Didn't want to try something too complex, so a basic chicken feed base should suffice and it will sort of give a holiday from all those peanut feeds I have been relying on.

500g of chicken feed (Cargill Brand)
100g of dried insects
3 eggs

Method:
Sieved the chicken feed of the powdery feed to get a consistent larger pellets. Weigh the feed to get an exact 500g. Add 3 eggs and stir evenly. Then left to dry in oven at approximately 110 Celsius for 30 minutes. Fry in low fire in wok and work at getting the lumps to break down. Add 100g of dried insects (the not so fresh insect food), stir evenly and further roast at 125 Celsius in the oven for 15 minutes. The end result appears dried and palatable enough.

Not trusting my own food processing skills, I kept it in a fridge for storage until feeding time. So far so good......

Next batch, I may consider adding beef and probably egg shells.

Ready for the oven (minus the insects):


The dried insects:

Training a White-rumped Shama

Consider this - in the East Coast of Malaysia, the Red-whiskered Bulbul (Merbah Jambul) is competed at around eye level. Elsewhere, they are competed above head level, same as with the White-rumped Shama (Murai Batu) and Oriental White-eye (Mata Puteh). The Zebra Doves (Merbok) and Spotted Doves (Tekukur) are universally competed on top of poles 18 to 20 feet high. Hmmm...... how does all this come about? Maybe this all has to do with a bird's natural behaviour.

But hold on - in nature, the Red-whiskered Bulbul plays atop trees, so shouldn't they be hoisted up as well? Maybe it has more to do with commonly accepted avian culture (in Asia particularly) rather than anything. I do not know.

Well, since I have a pole for Zebra Doves, there is no harm in knowing how a caged Shama responds to higher altitude. I have tried it for a few days now on Apollo 6 and what I can say is that on the first day itself it took less than 5 seconds for him to start singing (which is more than I can say for my Zebra Doves). However, it should be noted that unlike Zebra Doves, Shamas do not tolerate heat too well, so I only start doing it about 6.30 to 7.00pm when there is no longer direct sunlight and leave him until dark about 8.00 to 9.00pm.

Below is Apollo 6 on day one at the pole.