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ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 155, © 2006
No reprints without permission
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For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com.
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"I love your website, your information has made me a very well-informed canary friend/owner. Thank you."
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"Robirda's website, bird board and e-zine are invaluable tools for any birdlover."
"I ordered 'Canary Tales' by Linda Hogan last year...Although I fully recommend buying the book, I find Robirda's book much more complete, easier to read with less difficulty finding information."
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"Thank you so much for the book on canaries. That is a really nice book. I needed one, because I bought my Mom two canaries, a male and a female, we don't know anything about them. I'm so glad to have this book, I couldn't believe how much was in there. Thank you so much!"
Welcome to Robirda's Companion Bird eZine
For breeder or pet bird owners who care.
We continue to get great responses from readers who've bought the latest edition of Robirda's book, Brats in Feathers, Keeping Canaries.
A recent customer says, "I'll start off by saying that 'seed sprouting' did not register with me until I got my copy of "Brats in Feathers". My first attempt was a disaster until I read about 'stale seeds'. That's when you told me about Herman Bros and I placed an order with them. I sprouted four teaspoons of the Herman Bros 'soak seed' mix, according to your recipe in Brats and they were ready today.
"The results are almost miraculous. Enrico sang from 9am until noon. I am hearing 'riffs' I didn't even know he was capable of. I also went to the organic food store and got some fresh kale and a leaf as big as my hand lasts about 1/2 hour. He absolutely loves kale. Enrico has gotten less aggressive, flies to his sprouts perch which is inches from my hand and waits for his sprouts and NOW is singing like his namesake, Don Enrico Caruso. Your book has been yellow magic marked to unrecognizability. What a wealth of information."
Brats in Feathers is available in a cost-effective black and white format, or you can order the version that includes the full-colour photos section, chock-full of fantastic canary photos. Learn more here.
Feature Article
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Contents
Some of the best advice that I've ever heard given on keeping birds consists of only two words; emulate nature. It sounds simple, but these two short words encompass a world of ideas.
In order to do this, it's first necessary to understand more about the environment where that species evolved; the climate, the seasonal variations, other plants and animals that live there, and how they interact. With this thought in mind, let's spend a little time examining the original...
by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © Sept 2006
Mankind has kept canaries for over 500 years, and during that time has assisted in the development of a broad spectrum of breeds. But whatever their colour or kind, canaries everywhere share a similar ancestry; they all descended from a family of little green songsters originally found in the wild in only one place in the world; the Canary Islands.
It's said that if you stand on the beach at the furthest north-western point of the African continent, on a clear day you can see the peak of Tenerife rising above the mists of the sea. This volcanic island has an area of 795 square miles, and is the largest island of the group called the Canary Islands. It is situated roughly 200 miles west of the Moroccan coastline, at approximately 28 degrees latitude and 16.5 degrees longitude, and possesses the tallest volcano in Europe.
The entire group consists of seven larger islands: Tenerife, Fuertenventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera and Hierro, and four smaller islands: La Graciosa, Alegreza, Lobos and Montafla Clara.
It's thought that these islands formed during the movements of the African and European continental plates during the middle of the Cretaceous period, about the same time the Alps were formed.
The islands nearest the African coast are the most ancient. As you move towards the open ocean, the islands become younger. These changes are echoed underwater; moving from east to west the sounds around the individual islands get deeper, from about 3000 feet between the African coast and Lanzarote to more than 12,000 feet around La Palma.
The islands were originally inhabited by a variety of indigenous peoples. The people of Tenerife were known as Guanches, while the inhabitants of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote were referred to as Maxos. Gran Canaria was inhabited by the Canarii, El Hierro by the Bimbaches, La Palma by the Auaritas and La Gomera by the Gomeros. Evidence suggests that interaction between these groups was relatively low, with each island populated by its own distinct socio-cultural group.
In general, wildlife found in the Canary Islands differs little from that found in Europe, with two exceptions; the dromedary and the canary, often known locally as the 'thistle-finch'.
Plant life found on the islands, is in many ways a reservoir of history; species which vanished from the nearby continents hundreds of years ago or more, can easily be found. These islands contains a world's worth of genetic history that becomes more fascinating and unique the more it is examined.
The climate of the islands ranges widely from near-desert conditions, to icy alpine ranges, and just about everything inbetween. Snow and fire are the two characterising extremes of the whole archipelago, highlighting the almost dual nature of the Canary Islands.
The volcanoes, with their awesome heights, are the origin of widely varying climatic contrasts. The Trade Winds bring humidity and fresh air from the west and northwest and establish a typical oceanic humid climate on the windward sides. This results in a great luxuriance of plant growth. The effects of these winds is the most obvious between 900 and 3400 feet; under this zone the effect can hardly been felt, while above it is an arid climate of hot dry summers and icy cold winters.
On the other hand, the sides of the islands that face towards Africa are influenced by the hot, dry winds blowing from the Sahara, resulting in a dry, arid climate. Thes contrasts between these two extremes have spawned an amazing array of plants.
Geologists and ecologists recognise six distinct micro-climates on the islands (some add two human-created zones termed 'ruin' and 'artificial', to create eight). These are, Coastal, Arid, Laurel-like Forest, Pine Forest, High Mountain, and Rocky.
The coastal zone is similar in nature to that found around the Mediterranian, but more rocky, with small areas of sand and salt water. These provide a home for those species able to withstand both the salt and the aridity, many of which are found only in these diminutive coastal island habitats.
This arid zone forms a fairly even strip between the coast and the first slopes of the mountain relieves, up to a height of 2000 feet or so. It is characterised by a hot, arid sub-desert climate with rainfalls fluctuating between 50 and 100 inches per year and by an annual average temperature almost always beyond 30 degrees F. The vegetation compares with that of the arid areas of Sudan, Ethiopia, Arabia and Iran and is typical of the steppes in the African continent. The plantlife is dominated by cactus-like plants and small creeping lianas.
The Laurel-like forested zone is found in the humid areas and on the mountain slopes, and is characterized by luxurious groups of evergreen trees with laurel-like leaves. The trade winds bring a constant supply of moist air from the northwest, which climbs up the slopes of the mountains and condenses into thick fogs, present in varying densities for most of the year. This fog belt allows the development of optimal conditions for sub-tropical evergreen forests on slopes facing north or north-west, which range upwards from an average of 1500 feet above the ocean, although they will occasionally dip as low as 300 feet above sea level. The upper range can extend as high as 4,800 feet above sea level.
These forests are widely regarded as a kind of living Paleo-flora, relics of sub-tropical humid vegetation which, until the end of the Tertiary period (late Miocene and early Pliocene), could be found in large parts of South Europe and North Africa. In fact, fossils of plants belonging to genera still living in the Canary Islands have been discovered in many countries around the Mediterranean: Spain, France, Italy and Georgia. These forests have diminished greatly, and now cover less than 7% of the islands.
The pine forest zone is found directly above the laurel-like forests, and harbours a wide variety of bird life. It is here that wild canaries can often be most easily found, although apparently the canary is one of the few birds native to the islands that does not restrict its ranges to only one zone, but is in fact pandemic to all areas of the islands. However, it is said that wild canaries do seem to be a little more frequently seen on Gran Canaria, the second largest island of the group.
Vegetation in the pine zone is dominated by the tree 'Pinus Canariensis', a species of pine whose closest living relative is native to the Himalayas! In general these forests range from approximately 3000 feet to 6000 feet above sea level, but on occasion they can be found ranging as high as 8000 feet before giving way to the high mountain habitats.
The high-mountain zone is characterized by hot, arid summers and very cold winters, and is subject to frequent hard frosts between October and April. These high mountain areas provide little water and much sun, and are dominated by low-growing plants adapted to withstand the extremes of temperature, mostly shrubby and undershrubby legumes.
The final zone (unless you consider the manmade 'ruin' and 'artifical' zones) is simply known as 'Rocky'. This seems an odd name for a microclimate, but in this case the name fits well. The irregular topography of the mountains frequently favours the development of a community of plants living on rocks. These are characterised by a large number of local plants, sometimes found in very restricted areas.
Typical species belong to genera in the family of Crassulaceae. Their appearance is that of small shrubs or perennial herbs, often with succulent leaves held in basal rosettes. Rosettes will take root on perpendicular rocky areas and persist all the year. Some floral scapes (sometimes very long and narrow) will branch off and hang down the cliffs or walls. These can be seen on both natural rocks and artificial structures such as walls, unless they are made of concrete.
It's difficult to determine quite where the canary fits, in all this; although pandemic to the islands, and often regarded as a symbolic representative to the rest of the world for the island group, the canaries themselves don't seem to be a subject of much interest to those who study the islands and their unique species. Rarer avian species under threat of extinction are studied intensely, but the sturdy, hardy, thrifty and tuneful little birds who originally brought the world's attention to these islands, rarely earn much more than a passing comment.
There seems to have been no studies conducted on just what canaries eat in the wild, but given the widely varying climactic conditions and the fact that these little birds can be found in all areas of the islands, suspicion arises that the canary has become a specialist in the same trait that humans historically rely on for survival; adaptability.
Wild canaries are about 5 inches or so long, and are coloured yellow-green, with obvious striations on their backs. They are larger, longer and less contrasted than their relative the European Serin, with more grey and brown in their plumage. They are thought to be primarily seed-eaters, and are often found in semi-open areas near mankind, such as orchards. These bold little birds nest in bushes or trees, and have a kind of silvery twittering call, more varied although less refined than the songs of many domestic canaries.
One often-observed trait of the canary is their inclination to gain much of the water needed by their body from foods, rather than through direct intake of water. Looking at the islands, it is easy to imagine how a species known for ranging through the various island micro-climates could develop such a habit as a survival trait; in the areas where free-running waters are rare to non-existent, the ability to get water by consuming plantlife could mean the difference between living well or suffering.
Another observable trait is the species' apparent tolerance for relatively high levels of salt, accompanied by a need for more iodine than a species that evolved further away from the ocean usually seems to require. Domestic canaries living inland are often found to require supplemental iodine, an element which is provided simply through breathing the salt air when living in an island environment.
Likewise, the widely varying island temperatures show how these hardy little birds developed their ability to tolerate wide-ranging extremes of temperature. As long as they are allowed to adapt at their own rate, canaries can tolerate temperatures from well below freezing, to sizzling hot. Indeed, stories abound of canaries seen freely playing in snow-drifts, or happily bouncing about in baking hot sunshine that would send most humans running for shade!
Likewise understandable, is the entire species' love of water for bathing. When pools of water are not always easy to find, the discovery of such a pool will be eagerly greeted, and instantly taken advantage of. This instinct seems to have been inherited by most domestic canaries, even those 500 or more generations away from their wild cousins.
While much remains to be learned about the wild canary and how they live, one thing is certain; their domesticated cousins have earned their place in our homes and in our hearts, forever.
by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © Sept 2006
Song CD
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Do you like to keep your canaries singing? Help encourage your canaries to sing more with our CD, featuring Robirda's canaries in full song. Or, use it to help call more wild birds to your feeders, or to help make your pet parrots more comfortable.
You'll get 12 16-bit true-stereo tracks, each averaging almost 5 minutes long, for a total of over 58 minutes of canary songs, with no distracting background music. We've even posted a short sample for you to listen to!
We get a great deal of positive comments from happy customers, so we're sure you'll be pleased. One recent customer told us:
"Received the 'New Songs from the Birdroom CD a few days ago... Professionally done, great sound quality! I enjoy listening to this CD very much but most important, I have happier canaries. They looooove listening to the other birds! So happy I bought it, thank you."
Another says, "Just a quick message to thank you for your prompt delivery of my CD. Your CD has done wonders for my canary,he hasn't sang for months and now he tries to out sing the CD, very fulfilling for me to watch! Thank you for a great product!"
Find out more about our Canary Song CD here.
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