Information About The Canary Bird

Canary-bird

The canary bird belongs to the animal kingdom, the phylum Chordata, the class of birds , the order of passerines or passerines, the finch family, the genus Nagar, and 8 species fall under this genus, which are:

(Serinus Alario), the black-headed canary .
(Serinus Canaria), the Atlantic Canary .
(Serinus Canicollis), Cape Canary.
(Serinus Flavivertex), the yellow-crowned canary.
(Serinus nigriceps), Ethiopian Siskin.
(Serinus Pusillus), Red-fronted Serin.
(Serinus Serinus), the European Serin canary.
(Serinus syriacus), the Syrian serin.

The canary owes its beautiful colors and distinctive singing to the selective breeding process that humans have practiced on its ancestors for 400 years, thanks to which it is now possible to hear the continuous tweeting of both the roller canary and the chopper canary known as the trill, which is characterized by a group A large number of unique sound clips, and among the most famous canary breeds: Harts Mountain Canary, Norwich Canary, and Yorkshire Canary.

Domicile and origin

The domestic canary (scientific name: Serinus Canaria Domestica) is a domesticated species of the Atlantic canary (scientific name: Serinus Canaria), and the original home of this bird is the Macaronisia Islands in the Azores, Madeira Islands, and the Canary Islands, and the wild canary reached Europe for the first time when the Spaniards invaded the Macaronisia Islands in 1478 AD, and they transported the canary bird with them, and began to raise it in cages, and the canary bird underwent many changes to the extent that the canary bird that is now sold in pet stores differs in its genes completely from the wild canary, As the bright yellow color of the canary’s feathers resulted after it was exposed to a genetic mutation that hid the melanin pigment from its feathers, and erased the dark lines and bands that distinguished wild canary birds.

The canaries that arrived in Europe with Spanish sailors were sold at very high prices; Therefore, the possession of the male song canary bird was a privilege obtained only by the rich, especially with the Spanish controlling the sale of canaries through the sale of males only, and the canary trade remained under the control of the Spaniards until the sixteenth century, when a group of birds managed to escape while transporting them, and resorted to Elba Island in the Tuscan archipelago, and the Italians took advantage of this opportunity and raised canaries and sold them all over the world.

Formal description and age

The length of an adult canary ranges between 12-20 cm, and its average weight is less than 28 g. The wild canary bird is distinguished by its greenish-yellow feathers, which cover most of the body except for the belly area colored yellow. As for the domestic canary, it is distinguished by several bright colors, such as: Orange, red, white, and yellow are the most common.

Canary birds are classified into three types according to the purpose for which they are raised, and they are as follows:

Singing: There are birds that are bred for their distinctive singing – it is known that only males sing and that females do not sing – and these types are: the Russian song canary, the American song canary, the Iranian song canary, and the Spanish temprado canary.
Color: There are canaries bred for the colors of their feathers, such as: the mosaic or mosaic canary, the bronze canary, the brown canary, the ivory canary, and the onyx canary.
Shape: Of the species that are bred for their distinctive shape, they are: the Australian Blinhead Canary, the Spanish Raza Canary, the Norwich Canary, and the Yorkshire Canary.

The average age of a female canary is between 5-6 years, while the average age of a male reaches 10 years, and despite this, some canaries can reach 20 years.

Diet

Canary birds are classified as herbivores, that is, they feed on herbs and their diet consists mostly of seeds, and the domestic canary can eat vegetables, and small amounts of fruits can be added to its diet as well, and it can also be provided with vitamins and nutritional supplements to make sure He gets a complete diet.

Mating season

The mating season for wild canaries begins at the beginning of spring, as for local canaries, the mating season begins in February and March, and lasts for a period ranging between 20-30 days, and the willingness of the male canary to marry is inferred from the way it tweets, The female’s readiness for mating is indicated by seeing her carrying in her beak the leaves and materials that are used in building nests, so the male provides food for her, but sometimes the female canary asks him for food.

Wild canaries prefer solitude and tranquility during the breeding season , Wild canaries show their sensitivity to light, and they need to shed their feathers every year, and to provide conditions conducive to the mating process, it is preferable to place a full-spectrum light with a timer in the room where the canary resides, and we prepare a process Moulting It is preferable to increase the exposure of the bird to light every day until the period of exposure to light reaches 12 hours a day.

The female canary lays a number of eggs during one breeding season, the number ranges between 3-5 eggs, with the exception of some cases in which the number of eggs can reach 6 eggs, and the female canary lays eggs every morning, and they are small eggs, blue in color, speckled with brown color Fatih, It should be noted that the female canary stays with the eggs and takes care of them until they hatch, as long as the atmosphere and conditions are fully prepared and undisturbed, otherwise they will leave them completely.

For a local canary bird that lays its eggs in the nest, it is preferable to replace a plastic egg with the first egg, place it in a bowl containing seeds for birds and stir it every day, and repeat the same step until the fourth egg, then all the eggs are returned to the nest so that the mother can incubate them. This method is to prevent competition between the egg that hatches first and the rest of the eggs, and in this way all the eggs hatch at the same time.

Canary babies

Canary eggs hatch at night on the fourteenth day after laying the last egg , and they are small in size, about the size of the thumb of the hand and wrinkled, and they begin to make sounds in the morning, and when the mother approaches them, they open their mouths until they are fed, and when they feel full, they lie down and fold their heads towards their body, and it is noted that there are A swollen lump in their neck indicates that their need for food has been adequately taken, but in the event that the parents do not feed them, nutritional supplements must be provided to them, and the breeder may have to remove the mother to feed the young by hand every two hours, and among the foods that are recommended to be given to the young: rice grains mixed with water, and the yolk of boiled eggs, and usually the parents continue to feed the young for a period of up to several weeks, after which the feathers begin to grow, and they are able to fly 3 weeks after their birth.

Predation risk

A variety of predators in the wild can prey on canaries, including hawks , crows, or snakes such as tree snakes and pythons, and home-raised birds can be at risk from predators when placed in cages and hung outside.

Canary tweet

Canary birds are used to conduct several studies, including studies aimed at understanding how the formation of nervous tissue occurs, which is the process that results in the formation of new nerve cells in the brain of an adult individual, in addition to studies related to how songbirds can sing, and as a result of these studies they can Scientists have been able to identify the structure of the parts of the canary’s brain, especially those that contribute to the issuance of its unique sound, and among these parts:

The Higher Vocal Center: It is the part that controls the canary’s ability to learn new songs, and scientists have noticed that the rate of neural tissue formation increases when this part is preoccupied with learning a new song.
(Robustus Archistriatalis): It is a necessary part for the proper sounding of songs.
Hypoglossal nucleus: This part controls the sound-producing organ in birds, which is the syrinx.
(Lobus Parolfactorius): It is the part that functions as the olfactory lobe.
(Hippocampal Complex): Its function is learning and it is the memory of food storage.

The two scientists, Rebecca Hartley and Roderick Suthers, at the Department of Biology and the College of Medicine at Indiana University in the United States of America, conducted a study entitled (Air Flow and Pressure) during the canary’s singing. This study aims to find out how a bird can The canary sings for long periods of time compared to its normal breathing cycle, as it can sing for more than 25 seconds, which is thirty times longer than the length of the normal breathing cycle. ) are repeated, their repetition rate ranges between 3-35 musical notes/sec. As for the repeated songs they consist of musical notes (notes) or single audio syllables that are repeated at high rates ranging from 15-30 times/sec, accompanied by a period of silence. short duration, ranging from 20-35 ms.

The results of measuring the rate of air flow in the trachea and measuring the level of pressure in the air bag during tweeting indicate that the sound clips that make up a song that last between 11-280 milliseconds are associated with the flow of air in the bronchial tubes during the exhalation process, followed by a period of silence ranging from 15-90 seconds. milliseconds and accompanies the process of inhalation, except that the air flow is interrupted in some vocal sentences, and the two scientists indicated that the ability of canaries to sing for a long time is due to breathing patternsWhich it adopts, as the canary usually relies on the mini-breaths pattern, which means that the air that comes out of the lungs during exhalation is replaced directly by the inhaled air, and helps the bird to sing for a long time, and the bird sometimes uses the pulsating exhalation pattern which results in songs that consist of syllables with a high repetition rate which is not possible with microbreathing.

Canary bird care

Here are the most important tips that must be followed to take care of the canary bird:

Put the canary in a wide cage so that it can move easily, and allow it to fly outside the cage for several hours a day if the cage is rather small.
Place the cage away from air currents and direct sunlight.
Provide the cage with appropriate perches such as natural tree branches to help them grind their claws instead of cutting them.
Provide the cage with a suitable bathtub, as the canary bird needs to bathe at least once a week in normal conditions, and once a day in the seasons of molting and reproduction. Some dandelion leaves can also be placed in the cage and sprinkled with water to allow the bird to roll on it as wild canaries do.
Placing the female canary in a separate cage from the male; In order not to be harassed by the male who is usually ready to mate before her, and to give her the opportunity to build her nest before starting to mate.
Providing the cage with food suitable for canaries, such as seeds for canaries that are packed with vitamins, taking into account cleaning the cage from seed husks daily; So that the bird can easily reach the food , and it is preferable to provide vegetables, such as: peas, watercress, kale, broccoli, dandelion, spinach, celery, and small amounts of fruits, such as: apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, and melons, and sometimes solid parts of Boiled egg as a food supplement rich in protein.
Taking into account the shy and peaceful nature of canaries, and not putting them in one cage with parrots , and love birds that are famous for their aggressiveness, and avoiding putting more than one male in a small cage to avoid fighting among them, but a group of canaries can be placed together, or they can be placed with some birds Or with birds with hard beaks if the cage is wide enough.

general information

John Scott Haldane) in the late nineteenth century using small animals such as mice and canaries to monitor the buildup of carbon monoxide; Because their small size and the speed of metabolism in their bodies are affected by the accumulation of this gas in the mine before humans are affected by it, and it is preferable to use canaries for this task more than mice; Because they show signs of being bothered even in the presence of very small amounts of carbon monoxide, which gives the workers the opportunity to use gas masks or leave the mine, and thus the canaries saved the lives of many miners.