WILLIAM AND HIS SHAMAS

My Indonesian friend William recently bought 2 captive bred taimongs:





This taimong (yet to be named) has a longer tail. At 1.5 months old, his tail measured 4.5 inches. His father has a 11+ inches tail and his mother has a 7+ inches tail. William hopes to be able to breed from him someday, for his long tail genes.














This is LT, the father of the taimong above. He is in my opinion, a very handsome male.


















This taimong was named Isamu (Japanese for courage and bravery). At 2.5 months old, his tail measured 3.1 inches. William was told by the breeder that he was bred from a Sumatran champion male. William had witnessed the Sumatran champion performing at competitions and described his songs to be very "tajam" (high pitched). William described Isamu to be very loud voiced and alert to his surroundings.

Isamu fell sick not long after arriving at William's place. He deteriorated quickly and had became weak and was not eating much. At this stage, I had thought that he was not able to pull through.

Sometimes we can feel very helpless when our birds fall sick because usually, for most of us, there is no avian vet around that has experience in species like the shama. Despite what seemed to be a hopeless situation, William did not give up hope and spared no effort in giving the debilitating bird all the supportive care that was needed. Miraculously, Isamu is now recovering and going into his first molt. I received an email from William and among other things, this was what he said: " it opens up my eyes that bird keeping is not just about beauty and sound. It is also about caring and nurturing."

I think my young friend William will one day be a great shama keeper. He is now planning to acquire another taimong from a famous breeder in West Java.