There are many canary shows all over the world. A show bird must have a unique band on its leg indicating the year of birth, the band number, and the club to which the breeder belongs. Birds can only be shown by the persons who raised them. This means that in the Northern Hemisphere the show season generally begins in October or November and runs through December or January. Competitions Ĭanaries are judged in competitions following the annual molt in the summer. An estimated 500 canaries, which have retained their bright yellow plumage, are resident on Sand Island. Midway Atoll is home to a colony of feral yellow canaries, descended from pet birds introduced in 1909 by employees of the Commercial Pacific Cable Company. canaria domestica) and the black-chinned siskin ( Spinus barbatus) in captivity. Evidence of hybridization has also been found between the domestic canary ( S. While wild canaries are a yellowish-green colour, domestic canaries have been selectively bred for a wide variety of colours, such as yellow, orange, brown, black, white, and red (the colour red was introduced to the domestic canary through hybridisation with the red siskin ( Spinus cucullatus), a species of South American finch). Song canaries (bred for their unique and specific song patterns – Spanish Timbrado, German Roller (also known as Harz Roller), Waterslager (also known as 'Malinois'), American Singer, Russian Singer, Persian Singer).

Type canaries (bred for their shape and conformation – Australian plainhead, Berner, Border, Fife, Gibber Italicus, Gloster, Lancashire, Raza Española, Yorkshire, etc.).Colour-bred canaries (bred for their many colour mutations – Ino, Eumo, Satinette, Bronze, Ivory, Onyx, Mosaic, Brown, red factor, Green (Wild Type): darkest black and brown melanin shade in yellow ground birds, Yellow Melanin: mutation showing yellow ground colour with brown and black pigment, Yellow Lipochrome: mutation creating the loss of brown and black pigment, leaving yellow ground colour etc.).ĭomestic canaries are generally divided into three main groups: The birds are named after Spain's Canary Islands, which derive their name from the Latin Insula Canaria (after one of the larger islands, Gran Canaria), meaning 'island of dogs', due to its 'vast multitudes of dogs of very large size'. Given proper housing and care, a canary's lifespan ranges from 10 to 15 years. Typically, the domestic canary is kept as a popular cage and aviary bird. Many breeds arose through selective breeding, and they are still very popular today for their voices.įrom the 18th up to the 20th centuries, canaries and finches were used in the UK, Canada and the US in the coal mining industry to detect carbon monoxide. First the birds were only owned by the rich, but eventually the local citizens started to breed them and, again, they became very popular. This made them very popular, resulting in many breeds arising, and the birds being bred all over Europe. Eventually, Italians obtained hens and were able to breed the birds.

This kept the birds in short supply and drove the price up. Monks started breeding them and only sold the males (which sing). This bird became expensive and fashionable to breed in courts of Spanish and English kings. The domestic canary, often simply known as the canary ( Serinus canaria forma domestica ), is a domesticated form of the wild canary, a small songbird in the finch family originating from the Macaronesian Islands (the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands).Ĭanaries were first bred in captivity in the 17th century, having been brought to Europe by Spanish sailors. Serinus canarius domesticus Linnaeus 1758, I.

Canari frise