Monday 21 November 2011

Canaries on The Canaries

What trip to the Canary Islands is complete without seeing this lovely little finch, which is the original form of the domestic Canary? This bird is pretty common on Tenerife and can be seen almost anywhere, from the forests on Mount Teide to the chain link fences in the town of Puerto de la Cruz. It breeds on all of the Canary Islands (except Fuerteventura and Lanzarote) and also on the island of Madeira.

Compared to the domestic Canary this bird is quite dull, but for me is the more beautiful. The male still sings quite beautifully and when you hear this beautiful song in the wild you would never want to see one of these birds in a cage again.








18 comments:

  1. Yep, it is a lovely bird, and, well taken John.

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  2. Thanks for sharing John. As you say looks dull compared to the caged birds. No birds belong in a cage.

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  3. "when you hear this beautiful song in the wild you would never want to see one of these birds in a cage again." Amen to that!

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  4. Hi John...It is a lovely song, one that must be wonderful to hear in the wild, and like you said I to prefer the more natural looking bird to the poor little fellars in a cage!!

    Grace

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  5. Beautiful birds John, and lovely shots of them.

    I always remember, way back as a kid in the late '50's, my granddad had these and Linnets in small cages, indoors, for their beauty and songs. It always made me feel sad to see them imprisoned like that.
    Thankfully some things and ideas, have moved on a bit since those days.

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  6. Top Dragon looks more like a Broad Scarlet (Crocothemis erythrea)

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  7. Part Siskin, part Greenfinch. You got some good shots of them John.

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  8. Thankyou Bob, they are lovely little birds!
    J

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  9. Hi Mike,
    Quite dull, but no less beautiful. Their song is something to behold!
    J

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  10. Hi Grace,
    It is lovely to hear in the wild, far better than in someones front room!
    J

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  11. Thanks Keith,
    Yes, thankfully some things have changed, although I still don`t like to see any bird in a cage, no matter how big that cage!
    J

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  12. Hi Rich, Thanks for that. As I said, I am just getting to grips with U.K. dragonflies, so any pointers are greatly received.
    J

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  13. Thanks Roy,
    Yes, they are somewhere between the two, with a little bit of Serin thrown in for good measure!
    J

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  14. Hi John. I spent my honeymoon in Puerto de la Cruz and the only bird I noticed (besides the wife!) was the bird-of-paradise flowers!
    This little chap looks charming though. Maybe if Great Britain keeps warming up we may see his kind here.
    Click here for Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

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  15. A wonderful post John... beautiful little birds to see.

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  16. Hi bazza,
    Lucky you, Puerto is a lovely little town! There was an awful lot of bird-of-paradise flowers still present (we were told that this is the national flower of the Canary Islands).
    Wild Canaries are lovely little birds, but I think we might have a wait on our hands. No `true` wild Canaries have ever been found in the U.K.
    J

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  17. Thanks Andrew, they are lovely little things, even more so when they are flying free!
    J

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