by Pajarita » Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:56 am
I ADORE canaries! They were my original passion, I came into parrots later in life and by sheer coincidence even though I used to help my grandmother raise quakers when I was a little girl. But canaries... Ahhh, there is nothing like the song of a canary! It literally fills my heart with joy no matter how sad, overwhelmed or worried I might be. It has a magical effect on me and, as far as I am concerned, a house is not a home if it doesn't have a canary singing in it. But no, canaries (and most other passerines) are not interactive - even if you handfeed them (which should NEVER be done unless there is no other way of keeping the babies alive), they would still be very flighty and distrustful of people. But, in my personal opinion, the fact that they do their own thing is part of their attraction! Canaries are a domesticated species that still behaves like a wild one and that, to me, it's a beautiful thing! I started learning about them when I was only 8 years old (and I know more about canaries than I will ever know about parrots). My cousin's grandfather (on her mother side of the family, she was related to me through her father) used to breed them and I used to go help him with them every day during the summer school vacations which started my education on them (not that canary culturists did such a good job back then!). I got my first canary as a gift on my 13th birthday - it was a purebred Hartz Roller, son of the South American Song champion. I am into Spanish Timbrados now but I gave away all my canaries when I was planning on moving back home so I don't have any right now and I really miss having them (I am waiting for this virus thing to be over so I can get more).
Yes, East Asia has a fascination with songbirds but, going by what I have read, it seems they are not very responsible about it because they trap wild birds for it and keep them under inadequate conditions (super small cages, bad diet, etc). And yes, mynahs are excellent talkers - VERY smart birds and very social, too.