Back on 11th May, 2007 I made this blog entry about a caged bird I had spotted in the countryside:
"Keeping singing birds is a very popular hobby in China. If you walk along the street and hear a chirping bird overhead, you can be fairly sure it’s in a cage hanging from a branch! The most commonly kept breed of bird looks pretty dull, but sings beautifully. But this bird [see photo, right] looked as pretty as it sounded. The owner said it had no name (birds are rarely named) so I called it “Bluey”. I have no idea what kind of bird it is but I’d love to know. I’m trawling the internet, but if you know, or you know where I could find out, please drop me a line!"
"Keeping singing birds is a very popular hobby in China. If you walk along the street and hear a chirping bird overhead, you can be fairly sure it’s in a cage hanging from a branch! The most commonly kept breed of bird looks pretty dull, but sings beautifully. But this bird [see photo, right] looked as pretty as it sounded. The owner said it had no name (birds are rarely named) so I called it “Bluey”. I have no idea what kind of bird it is but I’d love to know. I’m trawling the internet, but if you know, or you know where I could find out, please drop me a line!"
I never did find out what the bird was until, that is, last week when JD and I visited Kunming's Zoological Museum. There, in one glass cabinet, was "my" bird, looking a bit the worse for wear, but definitely the same species. It turns out it is a "Green Magpie", though quite when green becomes blue is still a mystery.
