Shama Competitions

Two weeks ago, a shama bred by me won 1^st prize at the Penang shama competition.  This shama has tails exceeding 13”.  It is owned by Ah Choon.  I am told that it performed very well throughout the competition.  Birds like this help to establish that captive-bred shamas with long tails can compete on more than equal terms with wild-caughts.

After many years of being away from the shama competition scene in Singapore, I entered Apache for the Kebun Bahru competition yesterday morning. I had had no time to train him for the competition but he was singing well at home. 

Shama competitions in Singapore are mostly held nowadays over 3 to 4 rounds.  Yesterday’s competition was over 3 rounds.  Where the competition is over 3 rounds, there will be 3 judges who take turns to judge about 1/3^rd of the birds in each round.  The average of the marks awarded by the judges, decides the placings.

Five minutes before the 1^st round commenced, Apache began dry-bathing, preening his wings, tails and body feathers as he would when taking a bath.  This is an indication that the bird has no form or it has not been well prepared for the competition.  After a few minutes, he settled and began singing.  I didn’t think there was anything special about his performance but it was good enough for him to take 2^nd place in his section, losing to the top bird in his section by only 0.1 points.

I had breakfast with friends during the 2^nd round and did not see Apache’s performance.  His marks were not good.  He lost to the top bird in his section by 2 points.  This is a lot since the top birds can be separated by only 0.xx points.

In the 3^rd round, Apache was much better than he had been in the first round.  While he still did not “play” the cage, he was alert, dominating, and consistent in his song.  I expected him to receive top marks in his section and he did.  The final result was a 6^th placing.

I guess Apache’s poor showing was due to his lack of training.  There will be another competition this coming weekend and I will probably enter him.  One week is too short a time to train him and I will just take the coming competition as part of his training and use it to prepare him for competitions next year.