Bird singing club

 Last weekend the horrible haze had lifted a little and Papa T and I took a trip to the very centre of Singapore to a town called Ang Mo Kio where the traditional pastime of keeping and displaying caged song birds is alive and well.
The name of the town is believed by many people to come from the Hokkien term "Ang Mo Kio  meaning "Westerner Bridge". The term "kio" means bridge and "ang mo" (literally "red hair") is often regarded as a somewhat derogatory Hokkien reference to the caucasian people who settled in Asia!

As soon as we got off the bus we could hear the beautiful sound of birdsong coming from the dozens of birds in individual cages suspended from tall poles in the bird singing corner used by the Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club

This traditional pastime is very popular in Asia and one almost exclusively enjoyed by men. We were told this is because women haven't the patience (and I suspect time) to sit around for many hours every day to train the birds. Of course during this time the men have the time to play chess, drink coffee, chat and 'put the world to rights'

We watched as a cage was attached to a rope and pulled up to the hook at the top of the 20ft high pole

 A young 'inexperienced' bird is initially kept at a low height, only the more 'experienced' birds are hoisted to the very top to enjoy the sunshine and company of the other birds

 The cages, like the birds they contain, are quite beautiful, some are made of rosewood, some split bamboo. Many are decorated with ornaments or crystals and have decorative draped covers to offer shade to the bird. The shape of the bird cage varies with different species being kept in different shaped cages

 Above is the most popular bird; the Merbok or Zebra Dove, this type of bird is the one that is hoisted up one of the 426 poles in the 'Merbok' field.

 Below is the Oriental White Eyed Zosterops

 This is the Jambul or Red Whiskered Bulbul, which has an especially tall cage as it likes to 'jump'

 Displayed under cover were cages containing the Long Tailed Shama which is usually the most expensive bird to buy. We were told that recently a champion bird exchanged hands for a record $96,000!

 We asked how the birds are judged and were told their singing ability, tonal quality, stamina, liveliness, length of tail and beauty are taken into account. Like their owners all the birds are male as being territorial they sing more than the females, they also tend to have more colourful plumage.

The birds are all captive bred but due to regulations to avoid any further Avain Bird Flu outbreaks breeding of birds is not allowed in Singapore so the birds are imported mainly from Thailand and Malaysia. Young birds generally cost several hundreds of dollars, older birds which sing more cost more

 Across the road, the local hawker food court had hooks where birdcages can be hung

 Next door to this is a shop where we met a gentleman who makes and repairs the bird cages 

I spotted some trophies on a desk which as the gentleman did not speak English his son explained his father had won at the bird singing competition the previous weekend 

Before leaving we had one last look at the men enjoying their hobby. The men generally all seemed to be 60 plus and I can't help but wonder if the next generation will continue with this peaceful and rather delightful tradition in the years to come