To someone who doesn’t know much about canaries, a canary is a pretty yellow singing bird. The more you find out about canaries however, the more you realize that there is a lot more to them than just a pretty yellow singing bird.

The original wild canary came from the Canary Island, off the coast of Africa. This was a greenish/brown bird that had a pretty little song. After many years of selective breeding, there are now several different types of canaries. All male canaries sing, but some of the breeds are known for their singing ability and some of them are more known for the way they look.

Some of the singing canaries are:
1) The Roller
2) The Belgium Waterslager
3) The Spanish Timbrado
4) American Singer
5) Chopper
The different types of singers have different sounds. These birds come in various colours, but their value lies in their singing ability.

Some of the colour bred and type canaries are:
1) Border
2) Gloster
3) Red Factor
4) Norwich
5) Yorkshire
6) Parisian Frill
7) Red Factor
8) Lizard
Although these birds can & do sing, it is more the looks that attract people to them.

By breeding a singing bird with a bird that is valued for its type, some interesting canaries have been bred. The American Singer, for example is a cross between a Border and a Roller. Many of the canaries that are for sale today are crosses between the different breeds and they are beautiful little singing birds that will keep you company and fill your home with sound.

Canaries need a varied diet that consists of a mix of seed and/or pellets, some fruit and/or vegetable and they must have cuttlebone available. They need fresh water daily for drinking and also enjoy additional water for having a bath each day as well. A cage for a canary should be longer than tall as a canary does not climb the bars, but will hope or fly across from perch to perch.

Canaries are best kept as a single pet. Males will fight with each other, although 2 females should get along fine together. Females are not singers, but their happy little chirps can be a welcome sound if you find a male’s singing too loud. Unless you are planning on breeding canaries and have researched the proper way of doing so, it is not recommended to keep a male & female.

For a good basic book about canaries, please visit Amazon.ca and take a look at a book called The Canary: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet


Take the Canary & Finch Quiz to see how much you know about these birds.

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