Asian Fairy-bluebird 'Cucak Gadung' (Irena puella)

The Asian Fairy-bluebird, Irena puella, is a medium-sized, arboreal passerine bird.

This fairy-bluebird is found in forests across tropical southern Asia from the Himalayan foothills, India and SriLanka east through Indochina, the Greater Sundas and Palawan (Philippines). Two or three eggs are laid in a small cup nest in a tree. It was described by British ornithologist John Latham in 1790. The only other member of the genus and family is the Philippine Fairy-bluebird, Irena Cyanogastra, which replaces the Asian Fairy-bluebird in most of the Philippines.


The adult Asian Fairy Bluebird is about 24 to 27 centimeters (9.4 to 11 in). The male has glossy, iridescent blue upper parts, and black underparts and flight feathers. The female and first year male are entirely dull blue-green.


It eats fruit, nectar and some insects. Its call is a liquid two note glue-it.

That's what I have read, a part about this bird kind, if you wanna know about this bird further more, click this Wikipedia link. One thing they missed, seems this bird widely spread in Java.


Well, I have known this bird since I was a teenage, when I was a newbie in bird business, around mid of '80's in my neighborhood. I thought, that time, that was a very nice looking bird, until someday I have heard this bird sung a little bit, what a weird sound to me [ain't heard as my favorite common singing birds that time, such as Hwa Mei [Garrulax Canorus], Kacer [Copsycus Saularis], Murai Batu [Copsyscus Malabaricus], Asian Pied Starling (sturnus Contra), etc.) but I could not remember what kind of sound it was. What I still remember, somebody told me about its name 'Cucak Gadung' when I asked it. Maybe it's a common name.


Rarely I found bird lovers has this bird. Of course, the reasons are this bird might has no good sound/songs, they also not the commonly found bird around the village population, so they must be not included in the preferred pet birds in Java. The exception is they had beautiful color that we could not deny.


One day, it was couple weeks ago, I was attending a seminar, held by Govt Ministry of Resources and Energy, in Hyatt Hotel Jogjakarta. This session gave me a chance to take a look a this city's bird market. Previously, the bird market in Jogja was Ngasem Bird Market, so we were just looked around 'Pasar Ngasem' and we could not see where the he** the market was. After several times we drove around, we asked someone in there and then we heard that the market has been moved to another new built place designated as a bird market. In the opposite, across the road, there is another new place for plants & flowers market. We parked the car and then get into the place.


The market is very big, bigger than I thought before. I think it is now becoming the biggest and the best in Indonesia, even better than Sanglah, Denpasar Bird Market. Pramuka Bird Market in Jakarta is biggest based on the seller booth/kiosk, which very much (this is normal, upon the population of Jakarta). But based on the area, Bird Park in Jogjakarta, the new one in Bantul Street, is bigger.


There are 3 kiosks at least, that had this bird. Fortunately, I found a kiosk that had 2 birds, which one of those is Sub-Adult/Juvenile. It has feather's color like the female/hen. Black color back ground, with tosca [color between green & blue] all over the body part. But I have seen at some part, some feathers already turned to blue color, very bright blue, as seen in those picture in above. Those pictures were taken a week after arrived in my home, in the end of July 2011. In my opinion, this bird already 3-4 months old, in regards of its first molting period. It shows how this chick looks becoming an adult male bird.