Al from Tamworth, AustraliaI love to hear both of these ladies sing, but Christine's groove sends shivers up my spine. (no offense to Eva, RIP) Take it from Keshore, who followed his father into bird-singing. “Someone’s son, the next generation, will take over. There will definitely be people who keep this hobby going.” Nocturnal bird song can be quite common in cities and urban areas and there are two trains of thought that explain this behaviour. However, some birdmen, like Jerry, prefer the bred counterparts. They believe the voice of a bred songbird can be better, as these birds would be trained from a younger age for bird-singing competitions. Meocyber from Alma. Co.Christine completely owns this song. Listened to all the covers. Sorry, they dont match/repeat the depth, musicianship Christine gave this. Like 99.9 % of covers they bend fm. the writers soul in the song.

Colin from London, United KingdomThis is a lovely song, written and performed beautifully by my fellow Brit, Christine McVie. However, I cried when I heard the version by Eva Cassidy, a wonderful voice who came to our notice too late. Our results suggest that songbird ownership in Singapore exists within a complex social network ( Fig. 5), with the community centred around hanging spots being a highly influential driver, starting with friends and family members who influenced survey respondents to take up bird-keeping. An amalgamation of physical (hanging spots), virtual (online marketplaces), commercial (bird shops) and socio-cultural factors are interwoven within the community, driving the demand for songbird ownership ( Fig. 5). Bird shops, cagebird hanging spots and other informal gathering spaces (e.g. coffeeshops) serve as important social spaces to motivate, connect and bond the songbird community about their pet birds ( Fig. 5; Layton Reference Layton1991, Lai Reference Lai2010), more so for the older individuals that make up the majority of songbird users in Singapore, and can be expected to bond at physical gatherings and events. In contrast, parrot-keeping in Singapore attracts more youth perhaps because it is portrayed as a ‘fashionable hobby’ by the media (Jain et al. Reference Jain, Aloysius, Lim, Plowden, Yong, Lee and Phelps2021). Equally, the average age of songbird owners in Indonesia is also somewhat lower at approximately 40 years (Burivalova et al. Reference Burivalova, Lee, Hua, Lee, Prawiradilaga and Wilcove2017), implying that songbird keeping in Singapore may not be as fashionable anymore.Surprisingly, the pandemic has unfurled renewed interest in songbird-keeping among many younger Singaporeans—just like keeping plants did for millennials. The global trade in wildlife is a highly lucrative industry that is driven by increasing demand in certain countries, with large volumes of wildlife and their derivatives being traded both internationally and domestically (Tingley et al. Reference Tingley, Harris, Hua, Wilcove and Yong2017, Symes et al. Reference Symes, McGrath, Rao and Carrasco2018, Di Minin et al. Reference Di Minin, Brooks, Toivonen, Butchart, Heikinheimo, Watson, Burgess, Challender, Goettsch, Jenkins and Moilanen2019). Birds are the most heavily traded taxa in the live animal industry (Bush et al. Reference Bush, Baker and Macdonald2014). Approximately one-third of global bird species are implicated in this trade (Nijman Reference Nijman2010, Ripple et al. Reference Ripple, Wolf, Newsome, Hoffmann, Wirsing and McCauley2017). While a portion of the global trade is legal and legitimate, much of the trade is illegal and underground in nature, preventing the efficient execution of enforcement and regulation measures (Haas and Ferreira Reference Haas and Ferreira2015, Ribeiro et al. Reference Ribeiro, Reino, Schindler, Strubbe, Vall-llosera, Araújo, Capinha, Carrete, Mazzoni, Monteiro and Moreira2019). This often results in overexploitation of wildlife leading to the loss of biodiversity and disruption of ecosystem processes (Broad et al. Reference Broad, Mulliken and Rose2003, Wasser et al. Reference Wasser, Poole, Lee, Lindsay, Dobson, Hart, Douglas-Hamilton, Wittemyer, Granli, Morgan and Gunn2010).

But as the popularity of songbird keeping has grown, so have concerns. While many enthusiasts keep birds that were bred in captivity, wild songbirds are still caught and sold at unsustainable levels. “They are known to sing well, so they are never safe,” Lee says. “Wherever they are found to pop up in the wild, they’ll be caught.” The vulnerable greater green leafbird ( Chloropsis sonnerati) has recently become popular among songbird keepers, which has contributed to its decline in the wild. David Tan/Wildlife Reserves Singapore A 2022 survey by Straits Times showed that 17% of 114 hobbyists prefer wild songbirds, driving demand for unsustainable bird poaching. Many poachers have resorted to cruel methods, like using another songbird to attract wild songbirds or placing wet glue on a tree branch where a wild songbird would land.As part of this work, Lee and her team recently carried out a series of interviews with more than a hundred Singaporean songbird keepers, to better understand their motivations and how this might relate to conservation efforts. One of the questions they asked was whether the hobbyists prefer to keep birds caught from the wild or bred in captivity. These underground activities have revealed an unsavoury part of the hobby: some birdmen simply prefer wild songbirds, allured by their irregular singing tempo and raw tunes. Though the songbirds appear to be cheerfully domestic, this nugget of information from Malik reminds me that songbirds are indeed, wild. I wonder then if these birds—even those bred in captivity—could live a happy, healthy life while crooning in a cage.

If you work eight to five, you will come home at 5 p.m., and if you keep a lot of birds like me, you won’t have the time to take care of your birds. I am very passionate about this; that’s why I try to find the time.” He notes that the time commitment is a significant deterrent for aspiring birdmen. After realising that he needed more time to care for his birds properly, Keshore left his full-time job as a ship surveyor to be a freelance renovator. My previous birds were very expensive, but I sold them for cheap. I like to hang my birds outside and see my friends, but at that time, I couldn’t bring them out or do anything. Keeping these birds becomes very boring and has no purpose.” Here are some examples of how birds use their syrinx to produce impressive sounds. More pitches than a piano Luke from Manchester, EnglandDessire, you've just made Americans look like a complete nation of arseholes.... Eva Cassidy, even tho' she's not a patch on Chritine McVie died of Cancer after recording her version of Songbird, she was tlanted and wonderful and you should give respect where it's due you wanker.All upcoming public events are going ahead as planned and you can find more information on our events blog Suggested citation: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2014. Bird Song. All About Bird Biology . Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. . But nowadays, COVID restrictions have loosened up, and a lot of people are returning to work in their office. So, many of them sell their jambul, matah puteh, or they put them up for adoption.” Our feathered pals seem happy, but are they?