Meet the canary!


I've been telling some of you about my canary. I decided to introduce the bird properly! Any canary fans out there?And here's the story!

When I was a child we kept birds as pets. In my father and mother's house birds were around until I made it to Law school or even after that. It was budgerigars (budgies), not canaries. The colorful and noisy birds were my favorite for a long time. It never crossed my mind to get a canary as a pet. In my opinion, they lacked character. Some of that parakeet were sweet, some were happy, some were nasty. One of them was a killer! A green female with red eyes! She killed a few partners, yes she did! She was kind of a Green Widow! They were all different and so cute! The yellow feathers were not that attractive when compared with blues and greens with white and black dots I grew accustomed to. 

Of course, there was the singing. Everybody knows that a canary has melodious singing. Male ones are the better singers. This I learned after the little feather guy dropped by my door one year ago. I knew nothing about canaries except that they are yellow and sing well! Males sing to attract the female. This one also sings but not as good as expected. They sing to mark their territory and to find a ladybird friend. 

I picked up the yellow bird and run to the pet store where I bought a cage, a seeds mixture and asked how to identify if I got a bird male or a female. It was a male. But for a long time, he did not sing. It seems that when they are young they do not sing. They don’t sing when it’s molting season, the time when he loses his feathers and gets new ones. It’s a two-month period of time more or less. I played canary singing audio for him a few times but it had no effect! 

Anyway, I wanted to buy a bigger cage but the pet store did not have a bigger one. I don’t like the idea of a bird inside a cage anymore, you know? But if he stayed on the street he would not have lived much. (They live 5 to 9 years by the way.) We have lots of cats around in the neighborhood. Once I was at Porto and I was sitting at a coffee table near Douro river chatting with friends. Then I saw a canary flying and the next moment I saw a black cat with a canary in its mouth! Poor bird! So I am glad the bird knocked at my door. Suddenly I owned a Tweety Bird. 

One year ago I started reading about canaries. At first, because I didn’t know anything about canaries. Then because it got sick! I read a lot trying to understand what to do. I did not want to go to the vet. It’s very expensive. I went to the vet lots of times when my sister got her first dog. I was picturing myself in the waiting room with the little fellow surrounded by dogs and cats!OMG!

One of the first things I noticed while searching for info was that canaries can be yellow, red-orange, pink, white, and brownish. I knew only about the yellow ones. And to my surprise, I discovered that men are the most interested in the bird. I found a lot of men having blogs dedicated to the canary. And at last, I got my answer in a forum from a man also. I bought medicine for the canary on the internet and twice a week I would grab the little bird and put the ointment in its tiny paws. The red areas soon disappeared. I was grateful for the help! The little bird was saved, yeah! If you have never held a bird in your hands you must know that they are almost weightless. It’s incredible how an animal so fragile can endure so much! One year and two months after here it is. 
He sings better now but in no way he’s a Caruso. But I like him a lot. He’s curious and chirps back when I reach to him. He adores apples and greens! I have a mystery to solve. He stopped taking his daily bath. It was so fun to watch. But I think he’s ok and enjoys being around. Maybe because of the presence of the bird my interest in all birds increased enormously. I’ve been reading guides, I’ve been getting to know Portuguese birds and during the summer I did some bird watching but with little success. My biggest success was that I was able to identify a bird I spotted on the beach! Hilarious don’t you think? And for Christmas, I am thinking to ask Santa for a pair of binoculars and a good book about birds! What about you? Do you like birds? Or do you have ornithophobia?! Tell me!

I found a few Zazzle products inspired by the yellow bird! Unfortunately the search mechanism of the site isn't working properly, it did not allow me to browse many pages. Have a look!


Yellow Bird Shirts
Yellow Bird Shirts by SelinaStudio
View more Yellow T-Shirts at zazzle.com

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