There are many bird corners in Singapore, such as Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10, Serangoon North Avenue 1 and Bukit Purmei, but probably none is as old as the one at Tiong Bahru.
Initially situated at one end of Tiong Bahru Block 53, the bird corner, being around for some 50 years since the sixties, was a favourite gathering place for the bird lovers from all around Singapore, and even from Malaysia and Thailand. When the old blocks were torn down in 2007 to build the current Link Hotel, the bird corner was preserved and renovated.
In the past, hundreds of bird-lovers would gather here on weekend mornings, admiring each others’ prized pets in their nicely decorated cages, chatting and sipping coffee at Ting Heng Kopitiam just beside the bird corner. In fact, the bird corner was a brilliant idea of the former owner of the kopitiam, who started it to attract more businesses.
Tiong Bahru bird corner even gained global fame in the late eighties when a Dutch reporter Guus van Bladel wrote about it, attracting attention from other reporters in United States, Holland and Japan. It prompted Dutch airline KLM to sponsor hooks, number tags and even bird-singing competitions.
Currently, the bird corner boasts more than 320 hooks with number tags, but no bird cages are found, not to mention the song birds. Despite spending $200,000 by the hotel in the renovation, the corner failed to regain its former glory. Gone were the enthusiastic owners with their songbirds such as jambu, sharma and mata puteh. Today, the corner is quiet and deserted, unnoticed even by the passers-by.
Let’s hope the half-a-century-old bird corner will be filled with the chirping and songs of birds again.
Published: 02 June 2011
This is really such a pity. My father, my family, we had so many great memories there. Well, I’m glad at least the bird corner still actually exists. Thanks so much for this great blog!
I think there use to be a bird shop where the ground floor of the link hotel is now. I guess it grow from the bird corner. Bukit Purmei still has quite a number of folks bringing their birds there .
Really? I know there used to be kopitiam beside the bird corner, where the bird lovers would gather, drink coffee and appreciate the singing competitions held…
Think its past glory will never return
Do you know of any remaining bird corners that still function? I saw a bunch of what I think was bird hooks in Sembawang area a year or so ago and have been struggling to find out WHEN there are birds there, would be a beautiful site to photograph. They did not look like this though, they were tall steel poles in a field… any idea?
The largest bird singing arena is now at the open field near Blk 159 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5. Every morning merbok are hung up for training. On Sunday mornings there are a variety of birds on display.
I’ve found one at Tanglin Halt that fits your description of tall steel poles to hang the cages!
Go Jurong west St 81. Blk 816 during sat, sun and ph. The bird lovers will gather there as early as 530am to 1pm. Easily you can find 500 cages or sometimes more than a thousand.
The old tiong bahru bird corner during its “happier” days
Block 53 with a kopitiam stood beside it before it was torn down and replaced by the current hotel
Thank you for bringing back the memories. I spent quite a bit of my high school days living in Tiong Bahru… the bird corner was among one of the many other attractions in the area. I read with sadness the passing of one of the many traditions that used to exist… a place that I used to recommend to my many friends abroad to visit! I guess the bird corner could not have continued without the old-style kopi-tiam and its many customers!
Hi, I was wondering if you knew what the number tags were for?
Maybe they’re used for identification purposes by the various owners, when they hang their cages?