Choosing a Mata Puteh

About a week or so ago, a couple of friends decided to "chai" Mata Puteh in an orchard. Very nice setting, much privacy and natural surrounding.

Testing of a pikat Merbok:

Breeding Jambuls Pt.4

Gave up breeding Jambuls yesterday. Firstly, the nest was placed too high for me to see the inside. Even with a 5 steps ladder, I couldn't peek into the nest to determine whether there are chicks or eggs. Bad design, bad layout ......sigh!

Then came the task of taking the birds out. The female got no problem hopping out from the aviary to an open Shama cage placed outside the door. The male is a little tricky. I tried luring him out with food (mealworms), another male and the female. He just refused to come out and preferred to perch high and sing his heart out. As a last resort, I went inside the aviary and caught him with a net.

Then, surprise, surprise! there are 2 eggs in the nest when I took it down.



I have read about candling and all that, but when comes to practical, I can't tell whether its fertile or not. Anyway, I decided to lower down the nest so that the small tree will actually block it from view, but when I peek from higher up, i could see the inside. Now, the challenge is whether the pair would mind after the nest has been shifted and they have been harassed (taken out of the aviary) ;)

......glad to report that on Christmas Day today, the female Jambul is spotted using the nest and continued incubating the eggs. Since I do not know when the eggs were laid, I would take yesterday as day 1 and start counting to determine whether the eggs are fertile or not. That is me, the amateur weekend breeder hehehe!

Puteh - an Experiment in Relocation Pt.2/3

It has been more than a week, and at least one of the released Mata Puteh is still loitering around. This time, when I returned from a 5 days holiday, I spotted it in a Jambul cage (this Jambul belongs to a teacher in Endau). Luckily the Jambul did not harass the Puteh. Hmmmm.... time to re-think a multi species cage ;)

Anyway, the Puteh couldn't find his way out and was fluttering around in a panic state when I handled the cage. I transfer it to a bathing cage and released it again, but not before the Puteh managed to injure his head banging around :(

He must have made his way in through the gap marked with red arrow:





Couldn't make time to collect my newly acquired Hwa Mei from K.L. This fella, I was told is quite good. Would make for some lively topic to write about. Since this would be the first time I will be keeping one......

...... heard that its a bit challenging, especially the part about keeping it covered for months hahaha!

Hatyai

Was in Hatyai recently with family. Haven't been there before...... must say that its a paradise for Jambul keepers. Everywhere now and then as I travel, I would see the the unique square cages outside of shops, houses and even factories. Thus in my opinion, it could be the favourite national past of the epople of Hatyai. Not much time to do any bird related shopping, just managed to grab some cage cloth from a shop a short walk away from my hotel......



Language is a problem though. The shop owner, a lady does not understand "cloth", "kain" (Malay), "pu" (Mandarin), "por" (Hokkien) so I end up tugging at my shirt and pointing to the cage to get the message across ;)

A short walk from my hotel is a money changer where I got my currency exchanged. Outside his shop is a Barau (Straw-headed Bulbul) and inside on top of a cabinet was another bulbul which I did not get a good look at. But it sounds like the Stripe-throated Bulbul. Wow! hope to be back again in April next year ;)