The finches family combines a large number of subspecies. All of them are very beautiful and have a melodic unforgettable voice. Most of them have a wide range of residence, ranging from the African coast, the Canary Islands and Asia.
Appearance
A canary reel for uninitiated people may seem similar to a sparrow, but an unusual bright yellow or greenish color. A small bird with a maximum height of up to 14 cm. It has a strong beak and thin clawed feet.
The color is quite diverse, as each species has its own individual characteristics. Thanks to these small, at first glance, distinguishing features, an experienced ornithologist can distinguish a female from a male at a glance.
Bright colored feathers interspersed with dark gray or brown. Most often, the abdomen is light, may be white. Females are distinguished by a more modest plumage color.
Habitat
The yellow-bellied canary finch, distinguished by its "sunny" color of the abdomen, lives in South Africa. Its favorite nesting sites are bushes, tall grasses and sparse woods.
Canarian canary finch comes fromwarm Canary Islands. Thanks to his singing abilities, he became widespread on the island of Madeira and the Azores. The difference between the Canary finch and other subspecies is the dark stripes on the wings and tail.
The Mozambican Canary Finch is distributed throughout much of South Africa. It is one of the traditional poultry. It has over ten varieties. It can be seen in Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Orange River Basin.
Differences and features of each species
The canary finch has differences not only in plumage color and habitats. These cute birds acquired many habits due to the peculiarities of the nature around them. First of all, this was reflected in their diet, and secondly, in their nesting sites.
The Mozambican finch loves to nest in savannahs, rare forests, and in cities they take a fancy to parks, gardens, squares. If the time to hatch offspring has not yet come, these songbirds gather in flocks and flutter around. They feed on small seeds and insects. Their favorite delicacy is grubs and cereals.
Canarian finch settles most often in bushes and tall grasses. The basis of the diet of this species is plant foods: fruit fruits with soft pulp, young greens and small seeds.
The yellow-bellied finch is a resident of meadows overgrown with tall grasses. There he makes his nests and hatches offspring. It feeds on seeds of cereals, midges and larvae. Lives in flocks, the members of which are often offspring from previous clutches.
Reproduction and nesting
The canary finch differs from other species in that during the summer period it can create and incubate two clutches of eggs. Depending on the region, the nesting period starts from January to April and takes only 13 days per clutch.
In a small nest of twigs and feathers, finches line the middle with hair, feathers and down. To hide from prying eyes, they mask it with grass and moss. There are three to five eggs in a clutch.
Small eggs of a bluish hue with dark specks from the blunt end are incubated by females. The incubation period for chicks is only three days. But parents continue to feed the babies for another two weeks, until they start to get their own food.
If the female leaves the nest during the incubation period, the males of the finches easily replace her. They heat the masonry, feed the offspring and protect their territory from the encroachments of strangers.
Canarian finches were crossed by Darwin with other types of finches. Crossbreeds with siskin and goldfinch gave very beautiful individuals, but with a complete lack of breeding abilities. None of the hybrids became the ancestor of a new breed of canaries.
The Canary Finch in History
The canary reel was used by miners to track the purity of the air in the adits. Cages with these birds were hung in all branches of the working. Due to their sensitivity to methane air pollution, workers could not worryfor their lives. The long silence of the birds served as a signal for a rapid rise to the surface. After all, they can often sing incessantly for quite a long time.
The new technology used to determine the purity of the air has also been named canaries after these little singers.
The first domestic canaries were imported from the Canary Islands. Such a bird was expensive. To keep the price from falling, merchants preferred to put up for sale only kenars. Thus, they had a monopoly on the sale of these birds. But an accidental shipwreck off the coast of Spain with a cargo of these birds was the beginning of the breeding of a new species of canaries. Kenars brought from America began to interbreed with local varieties of finches, and the offspring born were no less vociferous than the ancestors.
