THERE are two Guyanese pastimes that have been a fixture in our society for ages and are either outrightly illegal or tethering on the brink of illegality or instigate illegal activities as a by-product. In this column, I want to take a dive into this Guyanese fixture.
It would not be unusual to see young men with caged birds in a wire mesh enclosure measuring, on average, about 10 by 14 inches. We affectionately refer to men carrying around bird cages as “bird men.” They are assuredly carrying a bird from the seed-finch family. Some of the local names for the various species are: fire red, towa-towa, twa-twa, black and white stache, keck, and yellow fever. These birds are exclusively male. The choice of male birds is deeply rooted in eco-ornithological beliefs about the lifestyle of these birds. Males in the seed-finch family are said to have high libido and use singing routines to attract females.
The conventional belief among local ‘bird men’ is that when the male finch is kept away from females, their libido becomes more intense, prompting longer and more intense singing routines. Further, conventional wisdom suggest that males have to outperform other males to get the girl. Therein lies the commodifying of bird whistling in Guyana.
It is therefore not unusual to walk past a couple of youths at the side of the street, having heated discussions about someone who has a “bad bird” and someone else who got a “badder bird” than that. A bird is considered to be ‘bad’ if it consistently whistles during the day but has a turbo charged whistling routine during the early morning sun rising hours.
As it turns out, these ‘bird minding’ activities have strong links to speculative gaming competition. Birdmen usually are part of a highly organised but informal association where information is shared word of mouth. Bird whistling competition with highly developed, but unwritten, gaming rules are organised. Large groups of mostly men would gather at designated places to witness these songbirds strutting their stuff. These competitions attract hundreds of thousands of dollars or items of value in bets. Some events attract an entrance fee for patrons, in some cases patrons simply turn up to witness the show and an impromptu, church-like collection basket is passed around for a voluntary spectator’s fee. In some instances, certain whistling benchmarks are set, once the bird hit those benchmarks, patrons throw money at them similar to the way men do in a typical strip club.
On a side note, in Guyanese lingo, the term “bird” is also synonymous with women. Most assuredly, when a man says he is going to check out a ‘bird’ it has noting to do with members of the biological avian family. The title “birds-man” is therefore reserved for men who are articulate and know their way around the ladies.
Guyanese exported this practice to the USA, chiefly in Brooklyn and Queens New York. These birds, especially those with a proven track record, are traded locally for handsome profits. These profits can skyrocket if sold to New Yorkers. It appears that attempts were made to breed these birds in captivity in New York but were not successful in raising mean aggressive whistlers that meet the standards of wild caught finches in Guyana. As such, a viable market for Guyanese bred finches exist. However, moving birds from Guyana to America would be subjected to certain quotas, licenses, health checks and quarantine to ensure that the birds are not carriers of any avian pathogens that may infect other animals or humans. This is a stringent and rigorous mechanism that the informal gaming association wishes to sidestep to avoid scrutiny and payment of associated fees.
There are several occasions where birds were sedated in Guyana and smuggled in luggage through Timehri only to wake up at JFK Airport and serenade their way to airport security and vector control personnel who have no choice but to euthanise the birds and lay charges on the smugglers.
The other subject at caption is the horse-drawn cart being used as alternative transportation for moving services. There is also an informal underground association for racing horse-carts on some of the main streets of Georgetown, where huge wagers are made. This practice involves disrupting traffic and using the roadway as a racetrack with a full complement of spectators and betting gamers drawn to the location strictly by word of mouth through the underground mechanism.
There has been some talk about eliminating horse-drawn vehicles in Guyana and entreaty to the government to give grants to owners of these vehicles to transition from horse to canter. I am personally indifferent to these proposals but tending on the side of getting the horses out and offering funding for canters.
That said, I will advocate for both horse-drawn cart racing and bird whistling competition to benefit from some form of regulation to bring them into the formal economy. These activities can also benefit from special facilities fit for purpose, in favor of unregulated spontaneous underground events.
These two Guyanese pastimes have been with us for well over 75 year and there were several attempts to eliminate them, but yet they persist. Both of these activities will make Guyana one of the only destinations in the world where people can safely participate in and witness these activities.
It can be a good tourist attraction and a formal employer and income stream for many.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.