Bathing Birds

Bath time has always been a favourite thing to do for most of the birds (there are actually exceptions). It is also a time consuming activity especially so if you keep an unsane number of birds. Just sharing how I manage.

For Oriental White Eyes (Mata Puteh), the occasional luxury I can accord them is a hanging bath cage in a sunny area where I know the shadow will cover it within 20 minutes. In this bath cage, I provide food and a big cup of water (to bath). A tray would be out of the question as it would be too heavy when filled with water. It has the purpose of providing extra space, activities, sunning and "bath all you like" for the enjoyment of the birds.



Then there are the Red-whiskered Bulbuls (Merbah Jambul) which is more straight forward. A round aluminium container filled with water is placed inside their cage for them to bath as and when they want.

The White-rumped Shamas that tends to get their tail damaged in a bathing cage, the set up would be like below. Cage and bath cage is aligned so that the bird is free to bath and get back to its cage to shake and preen itself.
This is not without risk especially where there are energetic pets running around or the inquisitive children at home ;)



Territorial birds like the Shamas can turn a mundane bathing event to a "mini singing contest". Its a joy or nuisance depending on how much time one has. If all the time in the world, then its a fun thing to observe. If rushing to fetch the kids or something, not many birds will get their bath :(

Zosterops Palpebrosa Pt.3

This is Thor, personally I think quite potential to be developed into a good bird if no bad habits set in.



He came to me uninvited, meaning I wasn't actually looking to increase my stock of Puteh. But after hearing stories about him, I was tempted. See, among hundreds of Putehs that passed by this trader's hand, 2 caught his attention and he dumped them with another 8 Putehs that he thinks got potential into a "ladung" (big cage, usually 4 feet by 2 feet). 1 broke its leg and left 1 which he thought he better let me keep.
Well, only time will tell whether this trader knows his stuff or maybe whether I know my stuff

Captive Bred vs Wild Caught

Now, this is an old topic that was hotly debated many times before. My thoughts are that it is an unfair comparison especially when proponents of wild caught Shamas points out to the many good wild stocks that is in the competition arena. I have kept many wild caught Shamas and I can say that not all of them are equal. As is always the way life is - its never fair ;) Some are just more gifted than others just like us humans.

The reasons why there are a lot of good wild Shamas around are just a game of probability. See, most Shamas kept in this region are caught from the wild and for every good Shama found in the arena, many more has been rejects. Serious breeders of the Shama can be counted. There are not many of them around. What the proponent of wild caught Shamas need to do is point to a lesser captive bred specimen and loudly proclaims that "I told you so", "cannot play one". He fails to realise that captive bred birds are not yet well represented. Given time and as the numbers of captive bred Shamas become available, I am more than certain excellent specimens will emerge on the competition scene.

After decades of harvesting good birds from the wild, could it be possible that the gene pool of excellent Shamas from the wild has been depleted? Many old timers who has been around long enough to see birds of yesteryears and what is available now would testify to that. It seems that it is becoming more and more difficult to find Shamas that are truly excellent.

I believe Shama connoiseurs has no choice but depend on captive breeding to maintain the quality of birds. Breeding from fine specimens and selecting traits that are desirable appears to be the best way forward.

Of course not all will agree with me. But that is the beauty of us humans. We can agree to disagree and only time will tell. :)

New Member in the Family

Long tailed Shamas are quite hard to find. Harder still are long tailed Shamas that are good structurally and most importantly, to me is one with a good "heart". One that is brave and not easily spooked. This is so that on a rough and tumble cross country journey to compete in faraway towns, they will still arrive in top form ;)

I am lucky to come into possession of a good specimen of the long tailed Shama. Its considered a gift from a good friend who is a connoiseur of the White-rumped Shamas as I only paid a fraction of its worth. Currently just completed his molt and hopefully will rise in form in the coming one or two months time (keeping my fingers crossed that it won't happen the other way round ;) - drop on form.... yikes!)

A few molted mealworms smeared with a liquid vitamin for breakfast:



He went for it with great enthusiasm:





Because I was rushing out to work in the morning, I only manage to capture a few shots using my mobile phone. So, quality is a bit grainy. Will get down to more serious video shooting when he really gets settled down.