Popular cage bird in Singapore and Malaysia

Mata Puteh (Oriental White-eyes)

The most popular cage bird in Singapore and Malaysia is the Oriental White-eye. The Oriental White-eye is also known as Mata Puteh (i.e. “white eye”) in Malaysia and Singapore. This name is derived from the ring of white around the eyes which thicken as the bird gets older. It is not unusual to find 100 to 200 Oriental White-eyes at each of the more popular gathering places in in Singapore on Sundays.

The cages for these birds are very small and each owner can comfortably carry 2 to 6 birds. Canvas bags can even be purchased for the specific purpose of carrying cages for these birds. These bags look very much like large shopping bags with each bag being able to hold up to 3 cages. This enables the more enthusiastic hobbyist to personally transport 6 cages at a time with the help of 2 of these bags, one bag in each hand.

I believe that most forumers would agree with the logic that as bird keepers or even if you are keeping other animals (dogs, cats, fish etc) you would try to provide the animal with food which is its natural diet. Of course now we have dog biscuits for dogs, cat food for cats and so on. But even such commercial preparations always advertise themselves that the ingredients are very close to natural food. 

The same applies to birds. Why do people take the trouble to catch grasshoppers or pay for crickets which are troublesome noisy insects, to feed their birds? Again it’s simply that we wish to feed our birds with the closest substitute to their natural diet. 

Any experienced birdwatcher will tell you that the 

Mata Puteh's natural diet consists mainly of four things: nectar, fruits, grubs (and small caterpillars) and small insects (including small spiders). 

Most of us will feed our Putehs with commercial pellets and supplement it with fresh fruits. The question is whether we are giving the Puteh too much fruits. The answer is simply: No. 

An animal such as a bird (or any other animal except Carp) eats only what is necessary and never over eat. So you may stick a whole apple or orange inside the cage, but the Puteh will not gorge itself to death, instead it will peck only a small portion of it. The only harm is that it’s a waste to put an entire orange or apple in the cage. If anyone tells you that his Mata Puteh ate an entire apple in one day - it’s either he is joking or he is delusional.

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Keeping Puteh For Pleasure Of Listening To Their Songs

Pleasure Of Listening To Puteh Birdsong

Most of the suggestions and postings made here are meant for anyone who wished to maintain his Puteh in good health and hence in good form. This will ensure that your Puteh will be in form but by no means will you be guaranteed a "Champion bird' or even a second and third placing.

All over the world, people keep songbirds for the pleasure of listening to their songs. In the east, such a hobby is taken a little bit further, and enjoyed like an art. Actually it is a combination of both art and science. Hence over here, we had cultivated the taste to appreciate birds in a certain way which can be very strange to westerners or new comers to the hobby (but once they have acquired that taste, it will be like getting bitten by a bird bug that will remain with them for the rest of their lives).

To begin with, we must listen and learn what kind of songs is most pleasurable to our ears. Next we must have the eye for a good bird - in the case of the puteh, the way they stand, their physique, their movements etc. Then we must have the patience and know-how to train and nurture it to be close to a stage of perfection vocally and appearance wise. Finally, the way they are being presented in public - the beautiful cages and accessories most suitable to compliment the species of bird.

So as you can see, the serious hobbyist in this part of the world don't just walk into a shop, ask for a Puteh, throw it into a cage, hang it up and say, "a Puteh is a Zosterops and it can sing".....

Ok, now how a bird should sound like, how it should move about, how it should carry itself etc., the guidelines are not set overnight because someone fancy it to be so. Most of these are in some ways, interpretations of the bird in its natural state during the period when it is at its peak. For example: The aggressive territorial songs, the aggressive stance and the displays of a Puteh.

These guidelines are also used in judging birds in the competitions - certain number of points awarded for song, certain points for loudness, certain points for 'play' etc. etc. Some movements are deemed undesirable perhaps because they don't coincide with the smooth flow of the bird in full display or 'play'. Example: if during the middle of an aggressive territorial display of the Puteh, it suddenly stops and twist its head in a very awkward way, how would it look like to you? This is also not in any way the natural movements of a normal Puteh in the wild. Such movements are obviously very undesirable when presenting your bird in a competition or in public ““Chai”” places. Hobbyists refer to these undesirable movements like bad habits in movements.

Putehs, jumping from the perch to under the roof and back again onto the perch (if that is what you meant by somersault) - can this be considered a bad habit? It all depends on how people interpreted this movement - whether it is deemed to be a natural part of the 'play' or whether it is considered as a distraction from the normal 'play' of the bird. Some do and some don't. During those days when Putehs are plentiful, some hobbyists will discard birds with the slightest of 'imperfection' and such movements then could be a little more undesirable than now. Guidelines and interpretations do change because of circumstances. In these days when birds are hard to come by, not many will regard this as an 'imperfection'.

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Intro To Mata Puteh

Mata Puteh

The Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus) is a small pas-serine bird in the white-eye family. It is a resident breeder in open woodland in tropical Asia, east from the Indian Subcontinent to Southeast Asia, extending to Indonesia and Malaysia. They forage in small groups, feeding on nectar and small insects. They are easily identified by the distinctive white eye-ring and overall yellowish upper parts. Several populations of this widespread species are named subspecies and some have distinctive variations in the extent and shades of yellows in their plumage.

This bird is small (about 8–9 cm long) with yellowish olive upper parts, a white eye ring, yellow throat and vent. The belly is whitish grey but may have yellow in some subspecies. The sexes look similar. The species is widespread and is part of a super species complex that includes Zosterops japonicus, Zosterops meyeni and possibly others. The taxonomy of the group is still unclear with some island populations being distinctive while some subspecies are not well supported. The population from Flores, Indonesia for instance is found closer to the Pale White-eye. The family itself is now questioned since they are nested along with the Stachyris babblers.

About eleven subspecies are well recognized. These include the nominate form (type locality Bengal, India) which is found from Oman and Arabia, Afghanistan, northern India and extends into China and northern Myanmar. The population in the Western Ghats and hills of southern India is placed in nilgiriensis while salimalii of the Eastern Ghats hills (Shevaroy, Chitteri, Seshachalam, Nallamalai) is sometimes subsumed into the nominate race. The population of the plains of India, Laccadives and Sri Lanka are sometimes placed in egregius (= egregia) but is restricted by other works to the population in Sri Lanka. The populations in southern Myanmar, Thailand and Laos are placed in siamensis. The Nicobar Islands form is nicobaricusand is sometimes also used for the population on the Andaman Islands which are however distinctive and a distinct unnamed population. The populations from southern Thailand to western Cambodia are placed in williamsoni. Other Southeast Asian island forms includeauriventer (=aureiventer), buxtoni, melanurus and unicus.

Race occidentis (now often subsumed into the nominate race) of the Western Himalayas has the upper side dark green and the flanks are tinged in brown. The form salimalii has a shorter bill and is brighter yellow-green above. Some authors consider the nominate race to be restricted to Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam and Yunnan and consider the peninsular race asoccidentis (or amabilis if the form from Kathiawar described by Koelz is considered valid).
In Sri Lanka, race egregia is smaller and has a brighter back and throat than the endemic Sri Lanka White-eye, Zosterops ceylonensis found in the central hills.
The English and scientific names refer to the conspicuous ring of white feathers round the eyes, zosterops being Greek for 'girdle-eye'.

Distribution and habitat

The species is found in a wide range of habitats from scrub to moist forest. They sometimes occur on mangrove areas such as in theKarachi area and on islands they may lead a more insectivorous life. They are somewhat rare only in the drier desert regions of western India.

A feral population was detected in San Diego, California in the 1980s and subsequently eradicated.

Behavior and ecology

These white-eyes are sociable, forming flocks which only separate on the approach of the breeding season. They are highly arboreal and only rarely descend to the ground. The breeding season is February to September but April is the peak breeding season and the compact cup nest is a placed like a hammock on the fork of a branch. The nest is made of cobwebs, lichens and plant fiber. The nest is built in about 4 days and the two pale blue eggs are laid within a couple of days of each other. The eggs hatch in about 10 days. Both sexes take care of brooding the chicks which fledge in about 10 days. Though mainly insectivorous, the Oriental White-eye will also eat nectar and fruits of various kinds.

They call frequently as they forage and the usual contact call is a soft nasal cheer. They pollinate flower when they visit them for flower insects (such as thrips) and possibly nectar (questioned) that form their diet. The forehead is sometimes coloured by pollen leading to mistaken identifications. They have been observed bathing in dew accumulated on leaves.

When nesting, they may mob palm squirrels but being small birds they are usually on the defensive. Their predators include bats (esp. Megaderma lyra) and birds such as the White-throated Kingfisher. Endoparasitic Haemosporidia of the genus Haemoproteus and Dorisa have been isolated from the species although these rarely cause death.

Like some other white-eyes, they sometimes steal nest material from the nests of other birds. Cases of interspecific feeding have been noted with white-eyes feeding the chicks of a Paradise Flycatcher.
Although not strong fliers, they are capable of dispersing in winds and storms to new areas including offshore islands. A feral population of this species established itself in California during the 1980s requiring their capture and destruction. They were captured by luring them using call playback and live decoys into mistnets.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.