Saturday, June 18, 2011

Sunday Stills, Birds and bees


This giant bee was snapped in Brunei airport.






Sunday Stills, the next challenge: The Birds and the Bees
Posted in Sunday Stills with tags Sunday Stills on June 12, 2011 by Ed
This challenge is from WanderWoman who asked if we could do this challenge. It may be a bit difficult but I’m sure ya’ll can rise to this challenge and to help out a bit you can do any insect and not just bees..:-))

Good luck..:-)
http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/

In Singapore, there is a hobby. Songbirds and their owners, I must say this is almost another of this :Girls not allowed. Men groom their song birds, and meet under the void deck of the high rise housing blocks. You see the special rails for the cages to be hung up.

I don't see any women indulging in this hobby. Perhaps Jama will correct me.

In Singapore, there are four categories of competition birds namely:

The Shama (Copsychus malabaricus)
The China Thrush (Garrulux canorus)
Mata Puteh (White eyes) (Zosterops palpebrosa)
Red Whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)
When these imported birds are trained, they soon loose their fear of man and are then put to task to compete in the “singing abilities”.

The bird singing competitions are organized by the local clubs or the Community Centers of the Singapore People's Association. Each competition generally attracts about 450 to 600 entrants.

The birds -- merboks, China thrushes, white rumped shamas, red whiskered bulbuls and mata putehs (white eyes), some costing hundreds of dollars -- arrive in intricately carved, highly lacquered teak cages with porcelain and ivory fittings and custom-made cloth covers.

Owners proudly unveil the cages and move them from hanger to hanger with the strategy of international chess champions, trying to position their birds near those that will encourage them to sing their best. In nature, songbirds try to outperform one another in an attempt to attract the opposite sex.

http://youtu.be/lPE6ze8814U


Songbird Lyrics


For you, there'll be no more crying,

For you, the sun will be shining,

And I feel that when I'm with you,

It's alright, I know it's right



To you, I'll give the world

to you, I'll never be cold

'Cause I feel that when I'm with you,

It's alright, I know it's right.



And the songbirds are singing,

Like they know the score,

And I love you, I love you, I love you,

Like never before.



And I wish you all the love in the world,

But most of all, I wish it from myself.



And the songbirds keep singing,

Like they know the score,

And I love you, I love you, I love you,

Like never before, like never before.

Fleetwood Mac Songbird

http://youtu.be/9Ml8Gu0_R_E
Here;s a Chinese song about a song bird in a cage,
Pan Xiu Qiong/潘秀瓊 - Wo Shi Yi Zhi Hua Mei Niao/我是一隻畫眉鳥



hootin--anni has a new meme.
IT'S ALL ABOUT MY NEW MEME THAT I HOPE SOME WILL FEEL LIKE JOINING IN ON THE CHALLENGE AND THE FUN [at least I hope the weekly challenge will be fun!]. It's loosely based on song lyrics [recorded songs since the beginning of time to today] and associating them with photos of yours...as I've done in the http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifpast...If you click on the link above, it'll take you to the Meme's Homepage for rules and buttons. There will be a Mr. Linky Widget for each individual week also. Do consider joining me sometime. Hope to see it flourish in time.
http://hootin--anni.blogspot.com/

11 comments:

Ed said...

Very cool, the first pic is a classic..:-))

Wander Woman said...

I loved your story. I did not know about this custom. So interesting, thanks for sharing!

Jen

LilliStJohn said...

I love the photos. I saw all the birds in the hanging cages and thought, "they must be for sale" - DUH? Well, what a very interesting story, I too, did not know about this custom. I think it would be wonderful to listen to.
First Picture - loved it.
Wonderful Post.
Thanks for sharing
Lilly
p.s. you asked me earlier on my tulip photo, if that was how I grew my tulips - NO, just had a little space left in my garden and put a bunch of bulbs there. Cheers

Karin said...

Very interesting hobby! Had no idea it was limited to the men! Lovely pictures to go with the post.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Very interesting, I did not know of this sort of competition..and to only involve men..I bet the women could do much better at training their birds:)

Ginny Hartzler said...

I did not know about this custom, how really interesting!!! Do the men keep the birds as pets all year long, all the time? Songbird is Phil's favorite Fleetwood Mac song!!!

Ensurai said...

Both songs bring back a lot of memories.....thanks. Lovely article.

blee said...

watching birds is interesting!

Jama said...

Come to think of it, I've never seen women bird owner before....My late uncle used to have few birds he kept in cages, and he really took great care of them, always whistling at them, perhaps his way of training the birds, I'm not sure cos I don't understand why birds need to be caged like that..

Michelle said...

Wow, great photos and the story behind them is fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

Brenda said...

that had to have been lovely to listen to.