Written By Miaw-Yi Tu / Translated by Hui-Wen Chen
An early Spring in March, the local food market was splattered with radiant sunshine. It was a fair day for fruit- and veggie-picking activity in the market. Right after strolling inside the market, I found myself at a temporary stall selling various kinds of birds. My whole heart was twisted and entangled immediately by the scene.
Being restrained and constricted in narrow cages, the birds were categorized and jailed in groups. There were manikins, culvers, quails, mynahs, and some other domestic birds. A Muller’s barbet was staring at me with its sparkling and glittering eyes. I knelt down and had a chit-chat with it. In the forests, these Muller’s barbets used to shelter themselves securely from detection with their camouflage. People’s only chance at observation was watching their shadows flying afar when they were finally discovered by any chance. Far beyond my expectation, this was the nearest distance I had ever been able to have an encounter with a Muller’s barbet ever, and more unfortunately, the location was in an exceedingly noisy and crowded food market. I could not help but sigh with full grief. Beside the Muller’s barbet, there were two tiny rusty-cheeked scimitar babblers. Based on my judgment, one could be an adult bird, and the other a sub-adult. The two rusty-cheeked scimitar babblers occasionally chirred out “Guo-Guei”, while the Muller’s barbet remained in still silence.
“Mam, this is a wild bird, where did you catch it?” I asked.
“No, it is not wild, it was raised and bred by commercial breeders.” the woman argued.
I left the stall resentfully. Feeling doubtful of her words, I kept turning my head back to see my wild bird friend. After finishing my shopping and starting on the way home, I passed by the bird stall again. The Muller’s barbet was staring at me with its eyes wide-opened again. Its brilliant verdant plumage shone so glitteringly in the market, which emphasized its incongruous existence in the market, like a green pixy accidentally falling down to this earthly world.
I walked back and called my friend A-Ying, who worked for the wildlife conservation research division in Yangmingshan national park, as soon as I reached home. He was doing his field research in the middle part of the island. He replied me in a hurry: “That bird is definitely a wild bird! It’s impossible that it’s raised by humans!” I shared the same thought as his. Those birds of the bird stall remained quiet and calm inside their cages, while the Muller’s barbet and the rusty-cheeked scimitar babblers were struggling to burst out of the cages. Their intention to return to the free open sky was so vivid and apparent it was really heart-breaking. Thinking of this, I could no longer bear the idea of sitting here without taking any action. Thus I rushed back to the food market.
Approaching the bird stall once more, I saw that there were gathered some people watching the birds in front of the stall, and the Muller’s barbet was the main attraction of the spectators who were judging it appraisingly.
“What bird is this? It is so pretty!” A middle-aged woman knelt down and stared at the Muller’s barbet with full attention.
I explained to her that it was a Muller’s barbet, caught in the wild and brought caged to be sold here. The woman seemed to be very astonished in the beginning, but then hinted to me not to be over-critical as the peddlers were just dickering for a living. I truly could not identify myself with this sort of indiscriminate complaisance commonly shared by the Taiwanese. There are so many ways to make a living that it is not an acceptable reason for them to hurt the wildlife.
“Mam, I have asked the conservation research division of the National Parks Department. It is impossible to domesticate a Muller’s barbet; so where did you catch it?” The female peddler did not expect to see me so properly prepared and informed, and she hastily defended herself, saying that someone caught and sold it to her, and she had reared since it was still a baby bird. Three wild birds were still bumping their bodies against the cages ceaselessly. How possible was it that domestically reared birds would behave as madly as this? But this was not the right moment to explore this question, the more urgent and critical thing to do now is to set them free in the forests.
“What is your price for this?” I pointed at the Muller’s barbet.
“Eight hundred.” I was furious and thus speechless after hearing this. Eight hundred? For the sake of such a little money, the right of survival of the wildlife could be neglected so brutally? Wild birds are so unaccustomed to small and narrow cages, they will keep bumping themselves against the cages ceaselessly. Sometimes, they may keep doing so until their lives end, they seem to declare that “Give me liberty or give me death!”
“How about the other two?” I pointed at the two rusty-cheeked scimitar babblers.
“Also eight hundred each.” said the female peddler.
“How much for the three in total, mam? I plan to return them to the forest.” I shifted to a more persuasive attitude to her: “Please don’t catch wild birds any more. Don’t buy them even if they are caught by others.” The woman who knelt beside me also tried to haggle the price down on my behalf.
“Alright, three for NT$1,700.” Eventually the female peddler felt ashamed and kept shifting the blame to others who she claimed to be the bird catchers. I had no further intention to rebut her lies. At this time, there was a crowd gathering in front of the stall, I interpreted and explained to people in the market that it is against the law to catch birds belonging to the protected species.
“No, it is not Muller’s barbet but fairy pitta which is the protected species!” said the female peddler.
The careless word exposed how cunning the bird peddler was. Her statement was trying to argue that she had not yet impinged upon the threshold of the conservation law. But the truth is the reason why the fairy pitta became an endangered species was the continuous pressure of bird catching. They were sold and kept as pets only for the sake of their bright light feather. I feel it is more
essential is to respect life.
Muller’s barbets are messengers connecting cities and forests. Their crawling sounds like “Co-co-co” which resemble the knocking sound of wooden fish. If you hear their unique calls, you can tell you are not far from forests. There shall be a hardwood forest nearby, it is the habitat where Muller’s barbets nest and rest.
After purchasing the three birds, I drove to the mountain immediately. The mountain is a tranquil natural Zen retreat park with abundant plants and animals.
While driving, I continuously paid attention to the condition of the birds. They continued to peck the net bag time after time, it seems they would never give up the hope to pursue their freedom. It was very affecting indeed.
When the car drove through the city center, “Gui-gui-gui!” the Muller’s barbet was fighting with the sub-adult rusty-cheeked scimitar babbler. The peddler put the three birds in the same net bag. The Muller’s barbet and the sub-adult rusty-cheeked scimitar babbler were pecking each other. I moved and changed the place of the net bag, but out of my expectation, it turned out to be the adult rusty-cheeked scimitar babbler pecking the Muller’s barbet. It really worried me.
Passing near a friend’s home in Mu-Chia, I went for help immediately: “Hurry! The birds are fighting!” My friend’s eyes were wide-opened in surprise seeing the birds entangled in fighting and pecking so fiercely.
We found a cat cage and a food basket, and requested a man to assort and place the three birds into the cage and the basket according to their species, and eventually ceased the warfare. But the rusty-cheeked scimitar babblers were still crying loudly seeming to urge me to hurry to the mountain as fast as I could. The journey would usually take an hour.
I drove like the wind all the way to the Zen retreat park located deep in the mountains. I drove my car to a red cedar and parked underneath the tree. This is where I used to observe Muller’s barbets. I cited the Three Refuges to the birds, then opened the cat cage. The Muller’s barbet shot out straight as an arrow to a palm tree, where there was one bird of its kind, then came another bird not long after. There were three Muller’s barbets on the palm tree. I looked at the green elf who just had a great fight with the two rusty-cheeked scimitar babblers, it now perched unrestrictedly high above in the tree, obviously declaring that this was exactly where it belonged! I opened the basket afterwards, and the two rusty-cheeked scimitar babblers flew together and rested in the low bushes, the whole scene looked perfectly harmonious. I waved them good-bye, and knowing very clearly that, in the future, I would not be able to recognize them when they happened to fly into the range of my binoculars. However, I could be assured that they would live in this safe and beautiful mountain forest from now on.
Beauty always attracts people’s attention. Aren’t Muller’s barbets suffering from their beauty?
Is my way of dealing with this incident fair? Will it abet bird peddlers to catch more beautiful birds from forests? Later, I asked for advice from A-Ying on how to deal with issues of bird vending. He told me: “It is still illegal conduct to catch and sell wild birds even though the birds don’t belong to the category of the protected species. You should take photos of the incidence as proof, and report to the local police to clamp down on the peddlers.”
Are you the one who likes to restrain the beautiful nature in your restricted house space? Think about your selfish deed before making that decision. Think about how the beautiful and high-flying Muller’s barbets are brought so low as to seem to be little green pixies caged in a food market!
* Muller’s barbet (Megalaima oorti): Muller’s Barbet is one of the most engaging birds to be seen in the south of Taiwan.
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