[Feature image: This newly-bought Red-whiskered Bulbul is placed in a paper bag to be taken home by its future owner | Photo by Mukhriz Hazim]
Counting how many times birds sing in 13 seconds is fun for bird owners, but these ‘marathon’ competitions are endangering the Red-whiskered Bulbul.
OUTSIDE a birdcage repair shop in Kota Bharu, Kelantan is an open space with several metal stands. During the day, these metal stands are used to hang bird cages, dozens of them. They belong to different owners, who leave them at this shop while they are at work.
It turns out that this is a ‘songbird daycare’, not just for any bird but the Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus). Popularly known as Merbah Jambul, the birds are beloved pets and need regular sunlight, so their cages must be hung outdoors.
But some individuals—especially those used in bird-singing competitions—are worth tens of thousands of ringgit. Theft is a serious concern. “Even with CCTV, people still dare to steal them,” said ‘carer’ Roslan Nasir. So owners drop off their birds at his ‘daycare’ in the mornings and retrieve them after work.
Behind this ‘songbird daycare’ lies an extensive bird-keeping industry. It includes not just everyday hobbyists and bird traders, but bird selectors, trainers, competition organisers, judges, cage makers, as well as suppliers of bird supplements and medicine. And there are also the hunters and smugglers of wild birds.
To feed this industry, birds are caught from the wild. The steady, unrelenting demand for these birds, if left unregulated and unchecked, can drive a once-common bird towards extinction.
The many names of the Red-whiskered Bulbul
- Merbah Jambul (popular Malay name)
- Merbah Telinga Merah (official Malay name)
- Candik Murai (Kelantanese name)
- Candik (Kelantanese name for crested bulbuls, but often used to refer to this species)
- Pycnonotus jocosus (scientific name)
[Photo by Mukhriz Hazim]
The Red-whiskered Bulbul is easily recognised by its upright crest and red patches behind the eyes. Its melodious song and graceful movements have made it a beloved caged bird in Malaysia.
They are the most popular bird in Kelantan for bird singing competitions, where this hobby is a part of local culture—on par with Malay kites, spinning tops, shadow puppetry, and martial arts.
Hunted from forests
Birds are taken from the wild, and demand for them grew so much in Kelantan and beyond that the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan) put it on its protected list. Owners had to apply for a Perhilitan permit to keep, own, and enter it in competitions, paying RM10 annually for each bird.
According to Perhilitan annual reports, from 2005 to 2011, the wildlife agency issued more permits for this bulbul than any other bird. The average number of licences recorded annually in the peninsula was approximately 9,000, hitting a peak of 15,265 permits in 2010.
But hobbyists felt the regulations reined in their passion.
Mohd Arif Mohd Yaacob told Macaranga that he lobbied the then director of Kelantan Perhilitan to remove the bulbul from the protected list. Arif is the President of the Persatuan Seni Suara Burung Candik Negeri Kelantan (Kelantan Bulbul Golden Voice Association).
He said this was to “simplify the process of keeping birds and organising competitions for the people”. To Arif’s surprise, the then-director agreed.
Perhilitan Kelantan confirmed in an email to Macaranga that the Red-whiskered Bulbul was “removed from the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 [Act 716] during the amendment to the Act’s Schedules in 2012.
“This species was removed on the orders of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment at that time and the consideration for this matter was based on local communities’ cultural and hobby needs.”
Since then, anyone can freely keep and trade the Red-whiskered Bulbul.
The rise of ‘marathon’ competitions
About a year later, a new type of bird-singing competition further fuelled the fervour to own these birds.
Traditionally, competitions see judges evaluating the birds on their “golden voice” (air suara) and “dance” (gaya), including a bird’s singing quality, stamina, and style. Judges would score up to 40 birds simultaneously.
But this format needed skilful judges and could be held only by official bird associations in specific venues. The subjective scoring also sparked many disputes.
Around 2013, a simpler ‘marathon’ format emerged, specifically for the Red-whiskered Bulbul. At first, it involved competitors shaking the cage (ngosek) to observe if the bird sang. Two years later, the format had evolved: a winning bird would be one that sang the most within 13 seconds.
The scoring was now clear and objective, making the game accessible—”even kids can count [to get] the score,” players said. Furthermore, such competitions – simpler and shorter – could now be organised by any local enthusiast as community events.
Chance to make money
Marathon organisers also offer cash prizes. Traditional contests only award trophies. Some ‘marathon’ competitions offer up to RM5,000 for first place, attracting many newcomers.
As a player said, “We spend so much raising (the bulbul)—what use is a trophy?” A trainer named Hba Spekar proudly told Macaranga, “This hobby makes money.”
In addition, there is a healthy market for trained birds. The price of a Red-whiskered Bulbul starts at RM80 for newly-caught wild birds (burung reban). Birds undergoing training (burung separuh jalan), can fetch up to 5 times that. Once a bird wins competitions, its value can rise to RM10,000–15,000.
These ‘marathon’ competitions took off.
In Kelantan, this bird stands out as the most in-demand pet, according to bird sellers and customers Macaranga interviewed. In all 3 bird pet shops we visited, around 80% of the birds sighted were Red-whiskered Bulbuls.
Yusmizar Cikayub, a bird seller, said that demand for the bulbul soared after the COVID-19 lockdowns, quickly outstripping supply. “After the pandemic, more people started getting into bird-keeping. Teachers, police officers, even immigration officers buy them…Birds help people forget their worries.”
Elsewhere in the city, at a bird shop that was selling hundreds of Red-whiskered Bulbuls, the shop owner professed his affection for the bird. “Oh, listen to that song—it makes me happy even though I am poor,” he sighed. “It’s so beautiful, like someone playing the drums, or listening to P. Ramlee’s songs.”
Might the high demand drive the Red-whiskered Bulbul to extinction? Bird trainer Spekar brushed away the concern. “[They are] abundant in the wild and extinction is unlikely”.
But Spekar was wrong.
Many enthusiasts note that wild Red-whiskered Bulbuls used to be seen “everywhere in Kota Bharu” but are now rare; they blame urbanisation and habitat loss.
To meet local demand, bird sellers told Macaranga they now bring in the bulbul from Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam—often smuggled across the Malaysia-Thailand border via waterways.
Globally, the bird is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List. But Malaysian demand might have driven down wild bulbul numbers in these neighbouring countries.
Thai birds almost disappeared
Over a decade ago, a 2013 study found that trapping had nearly wiped out wild populations in Thailand. The bird has been reclassified as ‘nationally Near Threatened’, and is legally protected, requiring a permit to own.
Thailand is a warning: even once-abundant bird species can disappear if trade is unregulated.
“While the bulbul is listed as Least Concern, its current population trend is rated as decreasing,” the Malaysia Nature Society told Macaranga. “As such, while there may not be worry about the imminent collapse of its population, it definitely warrants attention.”
The conservation NGO did a study on bulbul numbers in pet shops and songbird competitions last year.
In agreement is Chris Shepherd, Executive Director of the Monitor Conservation Research Society. He pointed out that when bird trade is unchecked, even the most widespread species can vanish.
He used the example of the Straw-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus). Once plentiful in the wild in Malaysia, demand for this bird for songbird competitions has pushed it to be Critically Endangered in the wild. The same fate has hit Straw-headed Bulbuls in Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.
Government action
The Malaysian government has taken steps to solve the crisis faced by songbirds. In 2023, it successfully got the Straw-headed Bulbul listed in CITES Appendix I, which bans its global trade. In addition, it got the White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) listed in CITES Appendix II, which regulates its trade.
Known locally as Murai Batu, the shama continues to be a popular songbird to own, but because it is a protected bird, it requires licences and permits to keep, breed and sell.
Birdkeepers told Macaranga that it is becoming more difficult to own the shama as enforcement has become stricter. Last August, 40 unlicensed White-rumped Shamas were seized in a bird-singing competition in Rawang. This has made birdkeepers turn to the Red-whiskered Bulbul because it is not protected.
Seizures of illegal songbirds indicate the scale of the problem. Between 2020 and 2024, TRAFFIC collated data of over 36,000 songbirds seized across Malaysia in 79 operations. Yet convictions remain rare, underscoring enforcement woes.
In January this year alone, a series of 10 enforcement operations by Perhilitan in Johor, Kedah and Pahang, saw the confiscation of White-rumped Shama and other songbirds such as Stripe-throated Bulbul (Pycnonotus finlaysoni), White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) and Common Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa) [see Screenshot]
An ongoing trial in Seremban that Macaranga attended involves 13 men charged for hunting or keeping 14 Stripe-throated Bulbuls, a totally protected species. All the men were neighbours in the same group of flats.
What change requires
The Perhilitan Kelantan Director told Macaranga in an email that the agency was in the midst of amending the Wildlife Conservation (Amendment of Schedule) Order 2012.
But to re-list the bulbul requires “thorough research” in Kelantan and Peninsular Malaysia, as well as “detailed discussions”.
Shepherd warns that the songbird trade and competitions in the region need better regulation and monitoring because they are major drivers pushing songbird species towards extinction. “Southeast Asia has more songbird species being threatened by trade than anywhere else.”
The decline of the overall bird population is “enormous”, across every species and habitat, warns the editor of the Malaysian Bird Report and experienced bird watcher Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS.
“In the past, whenever I went to Cameron Highlands, I saw a whole range of species. But now I have to ‘hunt’ for it, I have to go to the exact spot to find it.”
Back at the bird shop Macaranga visited – the one where the shop owner loved the Red-whiskered Bulbuls for singing his troubles away – the owner showed us where he kept the birds.
It was a storeroom at the back of the shop. There, hundreds of bulbuls were crammed into the crowded, foul-smelling room. They frantically flapped their wings as we approached. Customers would come to this storeroom to select birds to buy.
Birds left unchosen would be temporarily let out of their cages to fly around the room. That helped the birds to avoid “being cramped” and “look better” by stretching their wings, said the shop owner.
Then the birds would be put back into the cages to await the next customer.
[Edited by SL Wong]
The story was produced as part of the Macaranga Mentorship on Covering Wildlife Trade and Crime, supported by Internews Earth Journalism Network (EJN). See also the related photo essay, Ingrained in Culture, Songbird Competitions Reign.
Update: 6 May 2025 @7.30pm: The information related to the White-rumped Shama has been corrected to reflect how it is enforcement, and not trade regulations, that is pushing demand for Red-whiskered Bulbuls. | 8 May 2025 @11.03am: The Kelantanese names for the species were corrected.
Like the Red-whiskered Bulbul, the Oriental Magpie-robin (Murai Kampung) is also threatened by trade for songbird competitions. Read Calls Grow to Protect Magpie-robins as Trade Soars.
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