A bird singing contest is a competition or hobbyists' get-together of singing bird family, including the long-crowing cock, wild species usually kept in cages. Such contests and meetings are held in at least 22 countries of the world, and at least 36 different species are used in this way. [1] [2]
In the Americas, the American Long Crower is a recent breed of the Turkish Denizli chicken, known for the exceptional crow.
The bird singing contest is a popular sport in Guyana [3] , while in Brazil singing contests featuring the chestnut-bellied seed finch (curió in Portuguese) are held. [4]
Bird singing contests are especially popular in the countries of Far East, such as China and Japan, and Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia and Thailand.
In Southern China, it is a common sight to witness the elderly people bringing the cages of Chinese hwamei to the local parks to enjoy their singing. In Japan, there are nationwide societies to exchange information on improving singing of the Warbling white-eye [5] and other birds and chickens (such as Tomaru).
In Indonesia, hundred of songbird competitions are held all over the country every year. [6] In Thailand, bird singing contests are also held frequently. [7] The practice of wild species caged in is particularly widespread in Southeast Asia, where it increases trade in songbirds and may contribute to the decline of threatened species. [2]
In Turkey, Denizli chickens, from Denizli, participate in the bird crowing contests.
In the Dutch-speaking Flanders of Belgium, Vinkensport is a contest of how many bird calls per hour of common chaffinches.
In Germany, cock crowing competitions of the Bergische Krähers, are held in the Bergisches Land of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting useful animal products such as meat, eggs or feathers, and the practice of raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes. The term also includes waterfowls of the family Anatidae and other flying birds that are kept and killed for their meat such as the young pigeons, but does not include wild birds hunted for food known as game or quarry.
The chicken is a domesticated species that arose from the red junglefowl, originally from India. They have also partially hybridized with other wild species of junglefowl. Rooster and cock are terms for adult male birds, and a younger male may be called a cockerel. A male that has been castrated is a capon. An adult female bird is called a hen, and a sexually immature female is called a pullet. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food or as pets. Traditionally, they were also bred for cockfighting, which is still practiced in some places. Chickens domesticated for meat are broilers, and for eggs, they are layers.
The warbling vireo is a small North American songbird.
The red junglefowl is a tropical bird in the family Phasianidae. It ranges across much of Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. It was formerly known as the bankiva or bankiva fowl. It is the species that gave rise to the chicken ; the grey junglefowl, Sri Lankan junglefowl and green junglefowl have also contributed genetic material to the gene pool of the chicken.
The Java sparrow, also known as Java finch, Java rice sparrow or Java rice bird, is a small passerine bird. This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in Java, Bali and Bawean in Indonesia. It is a popular cage bird, and has been introduced into many other countries. Some taxonomists place this and the Timor sparrow in their own genus Padda.
The red siskin is a small endangered finch.
The warbling white-eye, also known as the Japanese white-eye and mountain white-eye, is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family. The specific epithet is occasionally written japonica, but this is incorrect due to the gender of the genus. Its native range includes much of East Asia, including the Russian Far East, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, and the Philippines. It has been intentionally introduced to other parts of the world as a pet and as pest control, with mixed results. As one of the native species of the Japanese islands, it has been depicted in Japanese art on numerous occasions, and historically was kept as a cage bird.
The red avadavat, red munia or strawberry finch, is a sparrow-sized bird of the family Estrildidae. It is found in the open fields and grasslands of tropical Asia and is popular as a cage bird due to the colourful plumage of the males in their breeding season. It breeds in the Indian Subcontinent in the monsoon season. The species name of amandava and the common name of avadavat are derived from the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, from where these birds were exported into the pet trade in former times.
The British finches are made up of several species of finch which were formerly very popular as cage birds in Great Britain. They are not currently commonplace, but are still kept by a few dedicated fanciers.
The East Asian–Australasian Flyway is one of the world's great flyways of migratory birds. At its northernmost it stretches eastwards from the Taimyr Peninsula in Russia to Alaska. Its southern end encompasses Australia and New Zealand. Between these extremes the flyway covers much of eastern Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, South-East Asia and the western Pacific. The EAAF is home to over 50 million migratory water birds from over 250 different populations, including 32 globally threatened species and 19 near threatened species. It is especially important for the millions of migratory waders or shorebirds that breed in northern Asia and Alaska and spend the non-breeding season in South-East Asia and Australasia.
The global spread of H5N1 in birds is considered a significant pandemic threat.
The pin-tailed parrotfinch is a common species of estrildid finch found in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand and China. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km2.
Vinkensport is a competitive animal sport in which male common chaffinches are made to compete for the highest number of bird calls in an hour. Also called vinkenzetting. It is primarily active in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium.
The collared finchbill is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found in China, Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam.
The red pileated finch, also known as the red-crested finch, is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, on the eastern side of the Andes. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest. This is a common species, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as "least concern".
The Bergische Kräher is a German breed of domestic chicken from the Bergisches Land, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is named for its unusually long crow, up to five times as long as that of other breeds, and belongs to the group of long-crowing chicken breeds, which are found from south-east Europe to the Far East.
Ayam Ketawa, or "laughing chicken", is a breed of chicken originating from the area of Sidenreng Rappang in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is one of several breeds of long-crowing chicken prized for the clarity and unusual length of their crows. The crow of Ayam Ketawa cocks has an unusual similarity to a human laugh. The breed was originally held as a status symbol of the Buginese royal family, but has entered into higher popularity in recent times since the fall of the monarchy. Today it is still seen as a symbol of courage, social status and heroism and they compete in contests for the most perfect crow, for the Governor of Sulawesi Cup.
Long-crowing chicken breeds are characterised by the unusually long-drawn-out crow of the cocks, which may in some cases last for up to 60 seconds. The oldest references to long-crowing cocks are from China. Long-crowing breeds are found in the Far East, in Turkey, in the Balkans and in western Germany.
There are numerous cultural references to chickens in myth, folklore and religion, language, and literature.
