Bird singing contests in Thailand

In Southern Thailand the Red-whiskered Bulbul (นกกรงหัวจุก Nok krong hua juk) is so popular that there are some places where every house has dozens of caged birds hanging around the house. Some older men spend their retirement showing and trading birds. A good bird can cost as much as $5,000. Almost every day you will see a man riding his motorcycle while holding a covered cage in his left hand.

Yesterday i was lucky enough to catch a bird-song contest.

The caged birds are hung from a frame and judges stand at a distance listening to the birds.

After a few minutes the chief judge blows a whistle:

and the judges then move to the birds that they thought sounded loudest and sweetest and mark a score on a card hanging beneath the cage:

This is repeated many times. The bird owners sit around and talk bird-talk:

It's a big day for bird lovers and everyone gets in on the fun:

more info here and here

you can hear what the birds sound like in this vid:




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ps

good owners hang their birds in low stress locations away from other birds except when "training" - hanging birds in the sun close to each other to stress them and listen for the health of their protests

then they go back for the easy life

all the while in a cage

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