Pied Bushchat

Time to pay a little more attention to the Pied Bushchats.
Bath them today, feed with tiny crickets and sun bath.


Nice little fella that I bought for an internet friend:

Chai Merbok

Today is the first time I go and "chai" merbok.
7 month old merbok that I obtained from Yusuf, a friend. B class.
Hang him at half pole and at the fringe of the field as advised by some old timers there. Tan, a fellow hobbyist said that he heard the merbok called once and was impressed. If it could maintain its voice, then I probably could compete him later on. As for me, I didn't actually hear him because I was busy chit chatting, observing other people's merboks and went off for breakfast. Was there about 10am and went back by 12.30pm.

Well, the purpose wasn't that actually (competing merboks), just want to blend in with their crowd...... then the Shamas could make a smoother transition to the adjoining field hehehe! Never good to isolate ourselves. We must move with the bigger crowd ;)

However something seems to be wrong with my camera phone. Pictures all turn out very dark. Must have been all the mishandling it is receiving. Have to brighten it with with some software.

This is my new pet - circled in red:


Scene at the other end of the field:

Free Flying Mata Puteh

This was an experiment with a Mata Puteh kept much like a Pigeon.
First there was a flight enclosure to get him accustomed to his area, then the door was left open with fruits, water and pellets available in the flight enclosure so that he can fly in to eat whenever he wanted to. It worked well the first 4 days he was free with even a night spent in the enclosure with the company of a sunbird.

However of late, he appears to be taking an interest in other birds, coming into the house, roosting on top of other Mata Puteh's cage. He even took a liking to my female Shama that he squeezes himself inside the cage to eat and just hang around (as shown below).



On the night that he decided to spend the night in the house, I have to put a stop to it for a few reasons. Firstly being the danger of him flying and hitting the ceiling fan. Secondly for fear of him unknowingly venturing into the Shrike's cage. His freedom temporarily ended on the 8th of September when I caught him with a trap (he is actually semi wild). Maybe I would experiment with a Shama next ;)

Here he is deciding to become an indoor bird at night:

New Chai Place in Melaka

Manage to get 5 Shamas together to try out the Merbok field in Bukit Serindit.
Quite a nice place with plenty of trees to hang. So far no complaints yet. Have to get to know and speak to the Merbok president next week.



Besides the Shamas, also in attendance are 2 mata Putehs and 2 Terkukur (pikat).



I did take delivery of a competition Merbok yesterday night. Did not bring him out today. Waiting for him to get used to my place first before training him. Then there will be a lot of activities to take part in hehehe!

Ceh! after reviewing my post, I realised that the picture did not turn out well - too small. So below is a blow up of where we hang the Shamas.



The Mata Putehs:


Update:
Just got a great idea from a friend (Mr. John Yim) on how to jump start the Shama "chai" event.
This goes back to the 60's when Shama competition as we know it today was non existent.
Fellow hobbyists would be hanging out at the local coffee shop for a cuppa and of course hobbyists being hobbyists would inevitably get into a discussion about who has the better Shama. They would debate and eventually vote the winner who then get treated with "kaya" toast, half boiled egg and "kopi-o" or whatever they fancy. All debate and judgements are done with the utmost honesty and sincerity (sad to say we are losing these virtues nowadays).

So, this is what I will be brain storming with a few fellas over here to see how we could carry this out. What better place to do it than in Melaka that is well known for its historical legacy.

Draft:

1) Set a date - maybe the last Sunday of every month.
2) Get some gifts - cage cloth, cups, clocks, notepads, pens, cheap cages, breakfast.... anything that we fancy at the time.
3) Promote the scoring system that was laid out during the online competition (ahem! gotta move my butt to speed up the prizes for the winners :oops: thousand apologies)
4) Get the Shama "kaki" together for a picnic by the "Padang Merbok"
5) Then over breakfast, we vote each others' bird in or out and the winner gets the goodies (gifts la)
6) Winner gets to give a 5 minutes speech to thank the rest and highlight the good and bad points of his Shama.

of course then the issue...... in a small group, a Shama may be winning every month :shock:
then we could try another category......

7) Winner can also goes to the owner of a Shama that has improved itself vastly over others throughout the months.

note: at least one spectator from the Merbok crowd has moved forward to express interest to "chai" his Shama with us :D This is progress hehehe!